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Dont like diamonds much myself - last thing I bought for my wife was an ivory ring (don't worry - wasn't elephant, was mammoth).
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Dec 3, 2014 07:15
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| # ? Jun 6, 2024 14:35 |
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I don't like diamonds at all either, and I don't think my girl cares about them much either. we both talked about just getting some alternative gem or whatever, because it'd be more unique or more 'us' or whatever. In the end though, between parents expectations, societal expectations in the US, etc, I figure a large part of the significance of a wedding ring (and weddings in general) is its loving dumb part of playing the game of 'being normal and well received by peers'. Having been married just a year and a half or so, I feel like I'm still in a place to compare and contrast before and after. Nothing at all has changed in our relationship, but wearing a wedding band I can tell a noticeable difference in how I'm received by business colleagues, potential clients, folks older than myself, anyone in any service industry, etc. Like, really - it's some weird bonding thing I don't even understand. I took my wife's car in for service recently and said to the dude 'I'm here to get my wife's car fixed, and she's going to kill me if I can't get it turned around this week', and the look of deep understanding on that guy's face was absurd. I mean, my girl don't care if she gets the car this week or the next, but I guess the power of "being married" and "having a wife" is some universally understandable burden that all married men share? and he was like "i feel you bro, I'll move heaven and earth so you aren't sleeping on the couch". I don't even loving know. on the flip side, like I said, she doesn't care that much about diamonds, but she's a lawyer and supposed to hold a certain amount of gravatas or whatever, and wearing a blingy ring she gets compliments even from ladies 2x her age on 'how fortunate she is' or 'how thoughtful your husband must be' or whatever - and she thinks she's taken a bit more seriously also, compared with when she was just "dating". neither of us really care, but if other people in the world are really impressed that much by such a silly material/societal thing, why not take advantage of it as much as possible? I guess the retort to that is 'because stay authentic to yourself and don't care what anyone else thinks' - but frankly I like having money and being respected by my peers, and also really like the ring I designed and that my wife will magically get compliments on some petty loving materialistic thing I did for presumably the rest of our marriage, so whatever I guess.  life... life is so beautiful....
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Dec 3, 2014 08:21
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Mindphlux you're kind of a cute guy.
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Dec 3, 2014 10:49
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mindphlux posted:I don't like diamonds at all either, and I don't think my girl cares about them much either. we both talked about just getting some alternative gem or whatever, because it'd be more unique or more 'us' or whatever. Yeah, but you designed it yourself, for her, and you got a sweet deal on a huge fuckin' rock.
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Dec 3, 2014 11:59
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don't gently caress rocks, man
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Dec 3, 2014 13:19
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mindphlux posted:Nothing at all has changed in our relationship, but wearing a wedding band I can tell a noticeable difference in how I'm received by business colleagues, potential clients, folks older than myself, anyone in any service industry, etc. Yes this. We got married in August, but we've been together 10 years this May. There is a perceptible difference. I tell my husband he can use the "wife card" if he wants, but I'm not at all like that, like your wife. People take you more seriously, even though your relationship is exactly the same as it's ever been. It's weird. This is my ring set. I love it to loving pieces.  Don't mind my super, super dry hands.
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Dec 3, 2014 17:06
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Thanks for the recommendations, phlux. Nice ring, Echeveria! We've discussed alternate gemstones and she considered the idea briefly but wants a diamond. She's a very very intelligent woman and even after exposing her to all the information about how diamonds are not really rare and how their prices are artificially inflated to an extreme degree (not to mention the whole "blood diamond" tragedy), she still wants one. It's not even that I'm opposed to getting her one, it's more that I am a logical individual who doesn't enjoy taking part in what amounts to a ridiculous scam just because DeBeers are the world's best marketers. Yay, societal norms I suppose...
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Dec 3, 2014 18:31
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Kenning posted:Mindphlux you're kind of a cute guy.  oh no oh god oh god what is happening
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Dec 3, 2014 18:35
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You can buy non De Beers diamonds. I got my wife's ring at Brilliant Earth, they let you pick a diamond and then set it and mine was from a Canadian mine and used recycled gold. Also everything mindphlux said about society is right. Neither my wife or I care a ton about diamonds but here we are.
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Dec 3, 2014 23:05
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I think diamonds are nice but I like that my diamond was handed down to me by my mother in law more. It was in the ring my father in law proposed to her with (she has since gotten the upgrade to a 5 carat boulder) and I'm a sucker for things with history even if it only goes back one generation. I also have a simple diamond solitaire necklace, and that diamond has been passed down on my dad's side of the family since before the civil war. The other nice thing is that my ring was custom made and is insured for ten times as much as it cost. Free diamonds are the best diamonds.
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Dec 4, 2014 00:21
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The Midniter posted:We've discussed alternate gemstones and she considered the idea briefly but wants a diamond. She's a very very intelligent woman and even after exposing her to all the information about how diamonds are not really rare and how their prices are artificially inflated to an extreme degree (not to mention the whole "blood diamond" tragedy), she still wants one. It's not even that I'm opposed to getting her one, it's more that I am a logical individual who doesn't enjoy taking part in what amounts to a ridiculous scam just because DeBeers are the world's best marketers. Yay, societal norms I suppose... Does she want a diamond because DIAMOND! or does she want something that looks like a diamond so it reads like one socially? I have a moissanite in titanium ring and people mistake it for diamond and platinum all the time. I mean, a jeweler wouldn't, but I don't hang out with many jewelers.
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Dec 4, 2014 02:12
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Sphalerites also look remarkably like diamonds, but have more 'fire' - in other words, as long as the cut's the same, a sphalerite will look as good as or better than most diamonds.
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Dec 4, 2014 02:45
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Nicol Bolas posted:Does she want a diamond because DIAMOND! or does she want something that looks like a diamond so it reads like one socially? I have a moissanite in titanium ring and people mistake it for diamond and platinum all the time. I mean, a jeweler wouldn't, but I don't hang out with many jewelers. My wife and I decided mutually on moissanite for many of these reasons. We also would much rather spend extra on the craftsmanship of the setting than the controversial stone in it. It also has significantly more fire than a diamond. shameless wifering pic drop  top down varna by gtrwndr87, on Flickr  varna side filigree detail lowkey by gtrwndr87, on Flickr  varna ring side face filigree lowkey by gtrwndr87, on Flickr edit: moissanite fire comparison pic 
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Dec 4, 2014 03:40
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There's a bit of a long backstory, but my husband proposed to me with a ring that friends had drunkenly forced us to pretend propose with years before. So, we didn't have an actual engagement ring, but I went on Ebay and found a seller with several estate rings, and ended up buying 4 of them and had them resized for less than $150 total. I got to pick which ring I wanted to wear each morning and it was awesome. So, that's another option you can look into.
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Dec 4, 2014 04:51
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GrAviTy84 posted:My wife and I decided mutually on moissanite for many of these reasons. We also would much rather spend extra on the craftsmanship of the setting than the controversial stone in it. It also has significantly more fire than a diamond. That last pic is why I went with moissanite. Gorgeous. And god drat Grav, that ring is loving gorgeous. Who did it? What's the metal? How big is the center / side gems? (if you still have all that info, I mean.)
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Dec 4, 2014 05:30
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GrAviTy84 posted:shameless wifering pic drop I like the detail on the band. sometimes I think that can be overdone, but that's pretty tasteful and intricate. well I guess since I spent so much time on the thing I should do this too, might as well be internet-proud about it 
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Dec 4, 2014 05:31
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My wife, being a semi-field biologist, wisely chose to have a 10 pack of rings purchased from Amazon.
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Dec 4, 2014 05:38
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Main wife and I refuse to feed money into diamonds because it's an evil industry that has false supply/demand and encourages actual slavery. I offered her my Great-Great-Grandmother's ring which had since had my Great-Grandmother's wedding ring's diamond and my grandmother's diamond incorporated into it. Knowing how old it was (and how fat my Grandmother had gotten in her old age) I had to sign a waiver stating that I understood the gold could shatter when they tried to re size it. Apparently gold gets brittle if it gets to be really old since it was last formed. Worked out great and now she's wearing literally part of my family's history. She loves it.
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Dec 4, 2014 06:17
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mindphlux posted:I like the detail on the band. sometimes I think that can be overdone, but that's pretty tasteful and intricate. Dude, I got my wife's engagement ring from Bradley Harris! She's not super pleased with it. Originally, she wanted emerald for the main stone. They told her "no, no, emerald is too soft for everyday wear", and sold us on a green tourmaline instead. Well, that's getting beaten up too. Come to find out that tourmaline is only a skoch harder than emerald. The stone still looks good from a distance, but up close and personal, you can see a bunch of scratches and imperfections. I figure for our five year anniversary, we can replace the tourmaline with green sapphire.
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Dec 4, 2014 06:52
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Safety Dance posted:Dude, I got my wife's engagement ring from Bradley Harris! yeah, it might have actually been you that directed me to them, along with some google research. I definitely got a recommendation off these forums. they've since bought a couple workstations from my company and used us for some IT work, so it's worked out well.  thanks!
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Dec 4, 2014 07:06
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My girlfriend's sister got engaged last week, the diamond + setting cost 10k  . My girlfriend's reaction was "That's dumb, just get me a platinum band and a Vitamix".
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Dec 4, 2014 07:33
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Nicol Bolas posted:That last pic is why I went with moissanite. Gorgeous. And god drat Grav, that ring is loving gorgeous. Who did it? What's the metal? How big is the center / side gems? (if you still have all that info, I mean.) thanks! The designer is Varna (http://www.varna.com/), it's platinum, 1.25 ct equivalent moissanite. It's a solitaire. I'm a tad jealous, lol, I have a plain rose gold band.
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Dec 4, 2014 08:02
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVa2eLgkP-E
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Dec 4, 2014 08:38
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This is my engagement/wedding ring. Technically it is the second, I lost the first at a rest stop. I might have a grown-up version made one day but I am in no hurry to do that.
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Dec 4, 2014 17:20
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Safety Dance posted:I figure for our five year anniversary, we can replace the tourmaline with green sapphire. Emerald also can crack in half, but I don't know why they wouldn't have gone straight to suggesting a green sapphire. There are so many shades, with a little effort they could have found the perfect green one. I should try and find a proper picture of my ring, because the lovely camera picture I took doesn't do it justice. He hunted all over town and finally went to a local jeweler and saw this stone. He wasn't sure I'd like it because the color is quite different, so he had me go to the shop under the pretense of looking at a different ring. They showed me this stone, I snapped a picture of it and that was that. The 1.89 karat sapphire cost 900 dollars and the setting, including the hearts on fire side stones, was 600 dollars, but I think they cut us an enormous deal. So 1500 canadian for my engagement ring. My wedding band had to be custom made to lock into the stone, and it was 800.
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Dec 4, 2014 17:41
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 Turns out rubies are pricey as well
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Dec 4, 2014 17:57
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Appl posted:
I like the simplicity of that.
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Dec 4, 2014 18:23
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Appl posted:
Rubies are just sapphires that happen to be red. And yeah, that's a hot ring.
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Dec 4, 2014 18:25
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Dec 5, 2014 00:25
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I had to leave that group because the insanity hurt more than it amused.
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Dec 5, 2014 00:41
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GrAviTy84 posted:thanks! The designer is Varna (http://www.varna.com/), it's platinum, 1.25 ct equivalent moissanite. It's a solitaire. I'm a tad jealous, lol, I have a plain rose gold band. Dang, man. I'm a klutz and a person who loses stuff and I think when I end up inevitably losing my ring, I am gonna have to go for a bigger gem. Originally I wasn't even sure I wanted a ring, and then I thought I wanted a smallish gem (I think a half-carat or three-quarter carat equivalent?) but I should know better. In my makeup, I want glitter. In my body jewelry, I want huge flashy gems. Why the hell would my engagement ring be different? I can still fight the patriarchy just as well with a huge rainbow-throwing rock on my finger.
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Dec 5, 2014 01:44
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How do people lose rings? Just get one that fits and don't take it off.
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Dec 5, 2014 01:50
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Ring avulsion.
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Dec 5, 2014 01:56
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GWS General Chat: Let's talk about engagement rings!
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Dec 5, 2014 02:28
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The real question: is a ring, composed of a setting and one or more inset toppings, a sandwich?
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Dec 5, 2014 02:48
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SymmetryrtemmyS posted:The real question: is a ring, composed of a setting and one or more inset toppings, a sandwich? Only if it has beans
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Dec 5, 2014 02:56
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GrAviTy84 posted:Only if it has beans no, then it's chili
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Dec 5, 2014 14:33
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A ring can be a sandwich yes, but not all sandwiches are rings, nor are all rings sandwiches.
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Dec 5, 2014 19:01
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Help. I'm going to be in Chicago for dinner tonight, breakfast/lunch tomorrow, and breakfast Sunday. I want to cram as much awesome Chicago-ness in as possible, where should I go? I have a rec for deep dish pizza, but what about ramen? I wish I was there for dinner Saturday night so I could try and grab Alinea tickets. 
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Dec 5, 2014 20:35
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| # ? Jun 6, 2024 14:35 |
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Rurutia posted:Help. I'm going to be in Chicago for dinner tonight, breakfast/lunch tomorrow, and breakfast Sunday. I want to cram as much awesome Chicago-ness in as possible, where should I go? Why not kill two birds with one stone and get a ramen pizza?
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Dec 5, 2014 20:43
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