For those who married young or are currently engaged

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  • odusgolp
    odusgolp Posts: 10,477 Member
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    To all who are urging me not to marry at 18, I have no intention of marrying at 18. :P I am really in love with this girl though, so I'm thinking ahead. I don't intend on fully marrying until she's out of college. However, I have been with her for a few years now and I feel that it's time I'm thinking ahead and acquainting myself with how everything works so that I'm not blindsided in the future. When I am eventually getting a ring, I don't want to be scammed or pressured by idealized fantasies. I'm listening to you because you are all people who've had experience and have lived (and are living) real lives. I don't think there's anything wrong with that.

    All of your responses are fascinating, though! Personally, I'm ethically opposed to Blood Diamonds. Have any of you had experience with factory-made diamonds? Hypothetically, would you be opposed to receiving one?

    Canadian diamonds aren't blood diamonds. They're mined in the arctic of Canada. I have one and I love it.

    The diamond I got was mined at Santa's workshop in the North Pole by a special type of mining elf. It's really rare but she loves it.

    I want Elf Diamond!!
  • devil_in_a_blue_dress
    devil_in_a_blue_dress Posts: 5,214 Member
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    To all who are urging me not to marry at 18, I have no intention of marrying at 18. :P I am really in love with this girl though, so I'm thinking ahead. I don't intend on fully marrying until she's out of college. However, I have been with her for a few years now and I feel that it's time I'm thinking ahead and acquainting myself with how everything works so that I'm not blindsided in the future. When I am eventually getting a ring, I don't want to be scammed or pressured by idealized fantasies. I'm listening to you because you are all people who've had experience and have lived (and are living) real lives. I don't think there's anything wrong with that.

    All of your responses are fascinating, though! Personally, I'm ethically opposed to Blood Diamonds. Have any of you had experience with factory-made diamonds? Hypothetically, would you be opposed to receiving one?

    Have you talked with your girlfriend about what she wants in a ring and if your plan speaks to her wants for the future? You know, so she's not blindsided by a proposal?

    I know you probably think I sounds like a jerk and maybe I do. But in reading this, at no point do I see a "we" in your plan. Just "I".

    When I was 16, I was with somebody who, after we'd dated a year or so, started talking about getting married after I finished college. I didn't even know what I wanted to major in, in college. I loved him with all my heart, but it was way too much pressure and expectation.

    I'd listen to her ^^^

    She's been married like 8 times.

    Only once!

    Though, I was engaged a few times.

    Which reminds me, I have a form for you to fill out....
  • BinaryPulsar
    BinaryPulsar Posts: 8,927 Member
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    My husband proposed without a ring. Everyone else wanted to "see the ring", so we got a silver ring with cubic zirconia from a sidewalk sale in San Francisco (it was from India and very beautiful). But, then his mother gave him her mother's ring. It is incredibly beautiful. But, the setting was made for a bigger finger. There is nothing that can be done to make it small enough. I have been married for 14 years and have gotten into the habit of not wearing a ring. I do have a thin platinum wedding band.
  • Jacwhite22
    Jacwhite22 Posts: 7,012 Member
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    To all who are urging me not to marry at 18, I have no intention of marrying at 18. :P I am really in love with this girl though, so I'm thinking ahead. I don't intend on fully marrying until she's out of college. However, I have been with her for a few years now and I feel that it's time I'm thinking ahead and acquainting myself with how everything works so that I'm not blindsided in the future. When I am eventually getting a ring, I don't want to be scammed or pressured by idealized fantasies. I'm listening to you because you are all people who've had experience and have lived (and are living) real lives. I don't think there's anything wrong with that.

    All of your responses are fascinating, though! Personally, I'm ethically opposed to Blood Diamonds. Have any of you had experience with factory-made diamonds? Hypothetically, would you be opposed to receiving one?

    Canadian diamonds aren't blood diamonds. They're mined in the arctic of Canada. I have one and I love it.

    The diamond I got was mined at Santa's workshop in the North Pole by a special type of mining elf. It's really rare but she loves it.

    I want Elf Diamond!!

    Everyone does......That's why they are so rare.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,867 Member
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    I didn't get married young, but at 30 I was still pretty much broke. The engagement ring I bought my wife was not cheap (relatively speaking) but certainly wasn't what one would generally consider to be expensive. It was pretty simple and combined with the wedding ring (which did not cost a fortune either) is really simply elegant. Fortunately my wife isn't an, "I need the biggest rock on the planet" kinda girl...in fact, while she likes diamonds, she likes other stones much more. She's a big fan of Moldavite for example...which kinda sucks because Moldavite jewelry can be hard to come by...much harder to come by than diamonds anyway. Gaspeite is a good go to though and a bit easier to find and she likes that as well...
  • TeachTheGirl
    TeachTheGirl Posts: 2,091 Member
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    I bought my own. I worked at a jewelery department. A ring I loved went on sale. I bought it. Voila.
  • katimorris87
    katimorris87 Posts: 65 Member
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    $105 CZ set from wal-maaaaart! I get so many freaking compliments on them. Nobody needs to know how geniune and expensive your stuff is, but you. I didn't marry him for a diamond.
  • ritan7471
    ritan7471 Posts: 99 Member
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    Wish I could find that video I saw about the truth behind engagement rings...

    It's really just the most successful advertising scam in history. Diamonds aren't rare, they aren't valuable. People are buried in them every day. Jewelry companies needed a way to unload them. Throw together some slick advertising and ta da! Now we think diamond engagement rings are a necessary tradition handed down through the ages.

    But there's no fighting it. It's a successful enough advertising campaing that society is now convinced that the size of a diamond equates to how much you love a person. And slaves labor away in mines under horrible conditions to allow this nonsense to go on.

    Raise your hand if you're shocked that I'm not married. :frown: :wink:

    Not shocked. Where I live now, the tradition is that the engagement ring is a plain gold ring and then the wedding ring might have some diamonds. Nowadays more and more women are going with the big diamonds, but I'm happy with my wedding set.

    I was married before in the States and had a small diamond engagement ring and plain gold band. To the poster who said "if it feels right, it probably is". You are right. But so many young people get married and they know it's not quite right but they do it anyway. I know I did. This time around I had no reservations. Last time, I was walking up the aisle and thinking, "WTF am I doing?!?!"
  • Grendel07
    Grendel07 Posts: 112 Member
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    My husband and I got engaged and married young. He was 21 and I was 20.
    My husband did not have a lot of money but he bought me a single diamond ring with a beautiful design as an engagment ring. We later went and shopped at other stores and found another ring with a similar ring design and had the jewler attach the rings to each other to make one complete wedding ring. It actually works and flows really well.
    All in all we spent about $250 bucks. My husband ended up getting a wedding band for about $100
  • lscalone95
    lscalone95 Posts: 16
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    To all who are urging me not to marry at 18, I have no intention of marrying at 18. :P I am really in love with this girl though, so I'm thinking ahead. I don't intend on fully marrying until she's out of college. However, I have been with her for a few years now and I feel that it's time I'm thinking ahead and acquainting myself with how everything works so that I'm not blindsided in the future. When I am eventually getting a ring, I don't want to be scammed or pressured by idealized fantasies. I'm listening to you because you are all people who've had experience and have lived (and are living) real lives. I don't think there's anything wrong with that.

    All of your responses are fascinating, though! Personally, I'm ethically opposed to Blood Diamonds. Have any of you had experience with factory-made diamonds? Hypothetically, would you be opposed to receiving one?

    Have you talked with your girlfriend about what she wants in a ring and if your plan speaks to her wants for the future? You know, so she's not blindsided by a proposal?

    I know you probably think I sounds like a jerk and maybe I do. But in reading this, at no point do I see a "we" in your plan. Just "I".

    When I was 16, I was with somebody who, after we'd dated a year or so, started talking about getting married after I finished college. I didn't even know what I wanted to major in, in college. I loved him with all my heart, but it was way too much pressure and expectation.

    You aren't being a jerk, by any means. I completely understand where you are coming from.

    I wouldn't be blindsiding her, as we've talked about our expectations for the future extensively. She has outright told me that she hopes we get married someday, and we've talked about how fast would be "too fast." When I said I don't plan on getting married until she's out of college, I was talking about a decision that was made by both of us together. We also decided that it wouldn't hurt to get engaged while in school, as long as we are both comfortable with it. I'm currently transferring schools, so engagement is out of the window for at least another year (I'll be twenty, and I know that it's still young and "another year" really isn't that long). I just want to make sure we're still comfortable after all of these changes before we take such big steps forward.

    I apologize for digressing, but yeah, we've talked about it a lot.

    To everyone who is showing their concern, thank you. I can tell that you're all looking out for me and I'm thankful for that. I'm reading everything that you are all saying and analyzing it as thoughtfully as I can. Again, thank you do much. :)
  • IPAkiller
    IPAkiller Posts: 711 Member
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    To all who are urging me not to marry at 18, I have no intention of marrying at 18. :P I am really in love with this girl though, so I'm thinking ahead. I don't intend on fully marrying until she's out of college. However, I have been with her for a few years now and I feel that it's time I'm thinking ahead and acquainting myself with how everything works so that I'm not blindsided in the future. When I am eventually getting a ring, I don't want to be scammed or pressured by idealized fantasies. I'm listening to you because you are all people who've had experience and have lived (and are living) real lives. I don't think there's anything wrong with that.

    All of your responses are fascinating, though! Personally, I'm ethically opposed to Blood Diamonds. Have any of you had experience with factory-made diamonds? Hypothetically, would you be opposed to receiving one?

    Canadian diamonds aren't blood diamonds. They're mined in the arctic of Canada. I have one and I love it.

    The diamond I got was mined at Santa's workshop in the North Pole by a special type of mining elf. It's really rare but she loves it.

    I want Elf Diamond!!
    You can't get them anymore. The Mining Elves Unionized, overthrew management, declared a 3 day work week, a 200% pay increase with medical/dental and no co-pays. They went out of business in less than a year.
    13.gif
  • KaelaLee88
    KaelaLee88 Posts: 229 Member
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    We got engaged at 21 years old and we were totally broke!

    We ended up getting a ring from a cheap shop for about £29.00 and it's still going strong today!

    Our Wedding rings were a little more difficult and after a bad ring purchase, we ended up getting a cheap one off the internet (About £3.00 per ring)!

    Now that we're both slimmer, our rings are too loose. We've already found cheap rings on e-bay and we shall be buying again in a few months :)

    Kaela x
  • _lyndseybrooke_
    _lyndseybrooke_ Posts: 2,561 Member
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    What's "young"? I met my husband when we were 17, got engaged and moved in together at 20, and got married at 22.

    He went to a jewelry store and bought me a very pretty, simple, princess cut diamond ring (I believe it's 1/4 carat). It was around $1000-1200 and he paid for it out of his checking account. We've been married for two years and I'm still wearing it, so it looks like it was a solid pick.
  • odusgolp
    odusgolp Posts: 10,477 Member
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    To all who are urging me not to marry at 18, I have no intention of marrying at 18. :P I am really in love with this girl though, so I'm thinking ahead. I don't intend on fully marrying until she's out of college. However, I have been with her for a few years now and I feel that it's time I'm thinking ahead and acquainting myself with how everything works so that I'm not blindsided in the future. When I am eventually getting a ring, I don't want to be scammed or pressured by idealized fantasies. I'm listening to you because you are all people who've had experience and have lived (and are living) real lives. I don't think there's anything wrong with that.

    All of your responses are fascinating, though! Personally, I'm ethically opposed to Blood Diamonds. Have any of you had experience with factory-made diamonds? Hypothetically, would you be opposed to receiving one?

    Canadian diamonds aren't blood diamonds. They're mined in the arctic of Canada. I have one and I love it.

    The diamond I got was mined at Santa's workshop in the North Pole by a special type of mining elf. It's really rare but she loves it.

    I want Elf Diamond!!
    You can't get them anymore. The Mining Elves Unionized, overthrew management, declared a 3 day work week, a 200% pay increase with medical/dental and no co-pays. They went out of business in less than a year.
    13.gif

    407444.gif
  • eddiesmith1
    eddiesmith1 Posts: 1,550 Member
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    We've lived together since I was 20, We never did the engagement ring thing, but when we married 31/2 years later I had a diamond and obsidian made by my cousin who was making jewelry at that time. My ring was made by a friend of my wife and was a knockoff of a Cartier rolling ring. We used to leave the Rings at home at Christmas as working in retail they were prone to getting painfully caught oin things at our busiest time of year. They were stolen in a break in.We never replaced mine, but I replaced my wife's with this one from Tiffany since finances were much better after 20 years. This year will be 29 years since we got married and our 33 anniversary of living together passed a couple of months back

    fvUG-v8A.B
  • LolBroScience
    LolBroScience Posts: 4,537 Member
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    Not much more can happen now. We've been together 7 years, have 2 kids, lived together for 6 of the years. Fought, vacationed, etc. Not all marriages are destined to fail!

    Congrats.... you're in the minority then. I can't count how many friends I know who were married young, and are now in their early to mid 20's and divorced already.
  • Toblave
    Toblave Posts: 244 Member
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    My sister is a silversmith. I bought the stones, then she and I designed it and she made it :-)

    ETA: My Wife and I have been together since 1987, we married in 1995 at 25 years old.
  • Eyesee
    Eyesee Posts: 111 Member
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    When I got engaged on my 21st birthday, we got a lab created diamond set from here:

    http://www.diamondnexus.com/engagement-wedding-rings

    It was really elaborate and way bigger than anything we could have afforded, it had beautiful craftmanship, and we didn't have to deal with the ethical problem or the crazy-expensive diamonds mined elsewhere.

    Needless to say, that relationship didn't work out for many reasons (the ring not being one of them, lol) but I don't presume to think that my relationship not working out means that yours won't. I'm actually engaged again now (to someone I've known for a decade and lived with for 6 years-- I've learned and grown up a lot!) and he got me a "real" diamond that he financed and pays off every month. (Kay Outlet does 0% interest for the first year.) It was important to him to get this ring for me and it's insanely beautiful, so I'm really happy with that choice.

    That being said, no one (including very outspoken and pretentious family members) had any idea about the previous ring being lab created and it really didn't look too shiny like CZ or too rainbow-y like Moissanite, so I would recommend that as an option if you guys want to save money for more important things.

    Good luck!
  • MysteriousMerlin
    MysteriousMerlin Posts: 2,270 Member
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    Engaged at 22, married at 24. He went to Walmart for the ring, but he was a college student at the time and only worked summers due to student teaching during the year. Totally surprised me with it :smooched:
  • Eyesee
    Eyesee Posts: 111 Member
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    Oh, and here's another resource that might work for you. The site ensures authenticity independently so it's more reliable than eBay or something if you want to go the preowned route: http://www.idonowidont.com/buy-discount-engagement-rings