I think it was Friday morning when I was watching either Today or the Early Show and the one or the other did a segment about rings. They started out by covering the 4 Cs (cut, carat, clarity, and cost) and then gave the results of an informal poll.
Quantity
For women, they said, it’s all about the cut. Not necessarily the shape, but the bigger the ring the better.
Didn’t matter if it was flawed. If their guy could afford a honkin’ two-carat, that’s what they wanted. Even though for the same price they could still get a very nice one and quarter carat with better clarity and thus value.
Quality
Men, on the other hand, wanted value for their money, not size. That meant they would choose that one and a quarter carat stone over the two-carat.
Quantity vs. Quality
I can sort of understand wanting to have the bigger ring, but I wouldn’t settle for it.
“Say what? Settle for a bigger ring? You’d be settling if you went with the smaller one.”
I know a lot of people who feel this way. But here’s two reasons why I don’t:
Reason A.
Now that I’m a little bit older, I’ve also gleaned a little bit of wisdom from people and experiences I’ve had thus far. Whenever this issue of quantity vs. quality comes up, I can’t help but think of my friend, Joelle.
I wrote about her in Engagement Rings: Size Doesn’t Matter. She’s the one who gave me the sage advice that “a bigger ring doesn’t make you any more married or guarantee you’ll be any happier.”
As I’ve had more time to reflect on this, I’ve come to realize she’s right. In fact, the people with the largest rings are often the ones who file for the Big D the quickest.
Reason B.
In The Search for the Perfect Engagement Ring, I told how Wayne and I came to pick my ring. (Together. Unfortunately. It was not the surprise proposal I’d always dreamed of.)
Wayne definitely was searching for a diamond with a very high rating and was not giving any consideration to size. I didn’t really care what we picked. I was just tickled pink to finally and officially be planning our life together.
But looking back, I’m glad Wayne took the time to buy the best quality diamond he could. He could have afforded something much bigger size-wise, but he spent all those hours being so choosey not only to make sure he got the best value for his dollar, but because he wanted to make the best investment –in us.
After all, from quality (stable, solid relationship) comes quantity (as in number of years together). That’s what getting married should truly be all about and what a ring should reflect.
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