The Diamond Ring

I am a traditionalist, and I think the engagement ring is a very important symbol. It is a guarantee to the girl that you won't be stringing her along and then drop her.

Now if you can't afford a ring, maybe you should think about whether you can afford to support a family. If the answer is still yes, hope is not lost and creative alternatives are available. It's also not the worst thing to forgo the diamond ring altogether.

Now I recommend surprising the girl, to an extent. When we knew we were going to get engaged, but that it was a while off, I took my girlfriend (now wife) to jewelry store on 34th street and let her show me what sort of thing she liked. I took notes, and started looking.

I found out that every Jewish person has a connection to a diamond dealer. Ask friends and family what yours is. Basically you can go to the diamond dealer, tell him how much you want to spend, and he finds the right rock. Then you show him what kind of setting you want, and he'll get it ready in about two weeks. Just make sure you have enough money to pay him - he'll want cash!

So how much do you spend on the ring? I went with two months salary which seemed like it made sense to me, and it worked out very well. After all, you don't want the girl to love the ring more than she loves you, right?