Engagement rings/jewelry for the men ?
How many people have given engagement gifts to their male partners? Is this
very common?
I got a beautiful diamond from him. :-) He had just gotten his ear
pierced so I got him a pair of gold studs. Not quite equivalent, but he
likes them, and, I think, will wear one at the wedding.
I don't know how common it is, but I got my fiance an inexpensive gold-filled
ring as a symbol. He had asked me to marry him long before, and I told him
that my answer wasn't no, it was "not yet." So he waited, for over a year.
Finally, when I decided yes, I gave him the ring as my answer. Now he wants
to use it as his wedding ring; I keep telling him that the gold will
eventually wear off, that I'd like him to have a good ring, but he's
stubborn.
The one we picked out together
for me is a large sapphire flanked by three tiny diamonds on each side,
in a tapering wide gold band; his is a brushed gold with a star sapphire
and one (miniscule) diamond) on either side. It was less expensive than
mine. He loves it...and is going to switch it to his right hand after
we're married (he'll wear a wedding band on his left). I'll probably
do the same with my engagement band (it doesn't lend itself to wearing
another band with it because of the shape of the band).
A few years ago I gave my now-fiancee a "promise ring" as a sort of
pre-engagement type of thing. (similar to the class ring tradition, but
with more meaning for the two of us) So, when I proposed and gave her a
diamond engagement ring, she gave me the promise ring on a gold chain
(it was fit for her ring finger which the diamond is now on). I love having
an "engagement ring" of my own because people ask me about it all the time
and every time I look in the mirror I see it and it reminds me of her.
(we live about 260 miles apart right now.)
When I proposed to my fiance, I did so with a cheap ring. We then chose a
nice permanent engagement ring for him when the time and price was right.
(It's a large 8.5 gram 18K gold signet ring, with our initials (B &J
intertwined) engraved in the middle, flanked by ropes of white gold on
either side.)
We figured since we're both engaged, we both should have engagement
rings...and we'll both have wedding rings too.
I also gave Mark an engagement ring - a silver ring with Black Hills
Gold leaves and grapes, no stone (he just doesn't like stones). My
rings (actually, all of my jewelry) are Black Hills Gold.
I was a surprise for him. We had seen it at the Del Mar Fair (a local,
county agricultural type fair) at a Landstrom's booth. He really like
it, but as a wedding band. The silver is really a good choice for his
skin but he wanted his band to at least be the same metal as mine (he
ended up with a gold band from ArtCarved). So I snuck over and bought
it, then presented it to him that weekend (same weekend as our
engagement party). Boy, was he surprised!
The funniest thing was at the party, everyone saw Mark's ring and
thought that we had eloped! They just couldn't believe that a MAN was
wearing an engagement ring! All of the women liked it, most of the men
didn't (particularly the single ones).
He did get many comments on it from people that he worked with and
clients - but they were all women. Sort of proved my theory to him that
women do notice if men are wearing a wedding band!