[shiroiuma]

This of course is true and makes sense, but you could also say the same thing about eating dinner in a restaurant: you could save money by skipping a meal, or by getting a frozen meal at the supermarket. A restaurant meal at a decent restaurant isn't that expensive (though it is pretty bad in the US these days; other countries are much better).

A ring doesn't have to be expensive: you can get a nice titanium ring for under $100. And unlike some other rings, it has some major benefits: 1) it's super-lightweight, so you can barely feel it (gold is heavy), 2) it's hypo-allergenic, in case you might have a sensitivity to anything in other rings, and best of all, 3) if you're stuck in an undersea oil rig that's flooding and one of the automatic flood doors is closing and about to trap you inside, you can stick your hand with the ring in the door and prevent it from closing, so you can escape.

[dbrgn]

The decent restaurant is a good example: For the price of a 9000$ diamond ring, you can eat a fancy dinner at a 300$ restaurant every year for the next 30 years of your marriage. And the money is probably spent much better that way. You'll build up memories of shared experiences.

[Semaphor]

For her engagement ring, we got a ring with some kinds of slightly bigger green stones (don’t ask me) on Etsy for maybe 100€, for the wedding bands we went with titanium, 3 small colorless stones (again, don’t ask me which) for her, no stones for me, that came in at slightly over $100 for both. Can recommend titanium.

[marssaxman]

If you are like me and actually prefer the substantial feeling of a heavy ring, you can get a nice tungsten ring for under $100, too!

[trogdor]

I have a three inch tungsten cube. It’s the best thing I have ever wasted money on.

[GTP]

Number 3 seems a good idea for a 007 movie :D

[mrec]

I think GP was referring to that exact thing happening in The Abyss.

[shiroiuma]

I forgot to add the reason why there's a moral imperative to wearing a titanium ring instead of a diamond one: after saving yourself from drowning with the titanium ring, you can then descend to the ocean floor in an experimental diving suit, disarm a nuclear bomb dropped there by some nutcase that threatens a bunch of ocean-dwelling aliens, and impress them with your intended sacrifice (since your suit only has enough oxygen for a one-way trip) that they decide not to wipe out much of humanity with simultaneous tsunamis.

[mrec]

Oh, I know. If I had a dollar for every time that's happened to me, I'd have $3, but it's weird that it happened thrice.