Wonderful Jewelry Designs for Your Engagement

When a man proposes to a woman, he usually presents her with a ring which would seal their pledge to get married officially in the near future. A lot of men and women think that they should look into diamonds as they symbolize ‘forever’ being a very hard stone, but what you do not know is that the diamond presented as a wedding ring is not the rule, neither is it considered fortuitous in some cultures.

It was only in the 20th century that diamonds became the traditional engagement rings and men would fall in line and empty their pockets just to present their girlfriends with one. Unfortunately, this has set a bad trend for many men cannot afford one carat diamonds and anything less than a carat is really not that great an engagement ring.

Then you get surprised with the fact that Prince William presented his girlfriend of 10 years with the ring of his mother, the Princess Diana, a ring that is an oval shaped sapphire surrounded with small diamonds. You then think, why? Why a sapphire, why not a diamond?

The truth is, there are no such things as the only stone to set on an engagement ring. In fact, some cultures see the diamond as something ‘too harsh’ for many brides. Some cultures present their brides with huge pearl rings or their birthstones. In the American Indian culture, the turquoise is considered the stone to present their bride.

And then consider that in a lot of cultures, the groom does not present the bride with just one engagement ring. There are cultures where the family of the groom presents the bride with a table filled with all sorts of jewelry from necklaces, to bracelets and pendants and others.

So when you are thinking about an engagement ring, talk it over with your bride-to-be. Does she have any personal preference? And if she does, both of you should choose and settle on the jewelry that would look good on her hand and fits her personality, not the society’s expectations.