When I was getting married a few years ago, I remember thinking fuck real diamonds lab-grown are literally the same thing. I remember getting some push back from some weirdos about how "real" diamonds are some how better or how people will think I'm a cheapskate or how people will feel bad for my wife...
Well, fast forward a few years and literally nobody cares, thinks about, or has said anything negative about my wife's ring. We are both 1000000% happy and satisfied with the decision to buy lab grown.
We decided on some cheap silver rings. We really didn't want to carry around something extremely valuable everywhere. Go swimming and lose 5000€ in the lake? Do some yard work and lose your diamond ring there? Getting mugged and the robber is getting something really expensive? No, thank you.
Expensive wedding rings & jewelery did make sense in the past when women were not allowed their own money, bank accounts etc. as a way to escape an abusive husband. Pawn your expensive wedding ring, get cash for the getaway. But we're not living in the 50s, my wife has her own bank account, is earning her own money, so no need for something like that.
We decided on some cheap silver rings. We really didn’t want to carry around something extremely valuable everywhere. Go swimming and lose 5000€ in the lake? Do some yard work and lose your diamond ring there? Getting mugged and the robber is getting something really expensive? No, thank you.
Yeah, on a similar note it is really nice to finally have a new phone, but I'll miss the fact that losing my old phone would only set me back $50.
I got us bare tungsten carbide bands. If "Diamonds are forever", then tungsten carbide is 9.5/10ths of forever, and it's the whole band instead of just a small easily-detachable part of it. More practically, it won't get beat to hell like the white gold ring from my first marriage. Plus, if I ever need a really strong connector for jury-rigging something, I'm now carrying one with me at all times!
I gave my wife an engagement ring with natural diamonds, but it belonged to my great-grandmother who died in the 1940s, so I didn't feel that there was an ethical issue.
I've unfortunately lost my wedding ring in palladium. My wife is planning to offer me a new one but this time I want a steel ring made by a local jeweler.
Not because it is cheaper but because I am using my money in the right place.
Precious metal/stones is a social flex saying "Look ! I can afford the labor of X African slaves that have worked in the mine to extract this mineral" (plus the ecological impact of mining)
I'd rather spend money to buy the labor of a local artisan than buy African slave labor through a myriad of intermediaries