Quote Originally Posted by UG
sarbox's advice would work but I don't think spoon is dating a dude. girls think differently, and some girls care about that type of shit. my wife knew waaaay before we started dating the exact type of ring she wanted. nothing too big or elaborate, but it's not a $50 ring from Wal-Mart either. financially I could afford it after saving for a while, so I made her happy and got it. would she have been happy with a cheaper ring? of course, but she wanted this ring. Because she wanted this certain ring, *I* wanted to get it for her...

I wish sarbox's advice was universal and that it'd work for all girls....but it doesn't.
All I'll say in addition to what I already said is that you can lean a lot about your girl's priorities, financial common sense and what you got to look forward to in these areas as a lifetime partner. If preference for ring and wedding party supersedes thoughts about starting life off together in as financially stable a spot as possible (esp in this f-d up economy), beware... that sh!t don't ever get better once the party's over.

It's not so much the size of the ring or the wedding... it's how much they become the emphasis at the expense of other sh!t that'll prove the most helpful clues. Refusing to buy into dropping most of your savings into a piece of jewelry just forces the question and gets u some answers a little sooner rather than later....