The engagement ring carries more significance than the wedding band, The Daily Telegraph’s journalist writes. It costs more and means more. According to Kate Gielgud, the actress, writer and great-niece of Sir John Gielgud, the engagement ring is the young girl’s dream.
“I have wanted an engagement ring for as long as I can remember,” says Gielgud, who has been engaged three times, once at 17. “My first impression is of storybook princes giving storybook princesses vast sparkly rings. So I knew from a very early age that it meant being loved, desired, respected and secure… It was very important to me to have a concrete symbol of being adored and wanted.”
Ring styles differ from country to country. “American consumers favour the largest rocks possible, as demonstrated by Hollywood starlets,” says Ruth Donaldson, the UK manager of Platinum Guild International. “British consumers are still living up to their more austere reputation. Ladies like a better class of diamond and lean towards the best metals being used to secure their jewels. It is strongly felt by brides that their fiancés are getting it wrong if they are just selecting the biggest rock.”
By tradition, men pay for the ring. According to De Beers, a man should spend one to two months’ salary; in Britain, the average spend is $3,000. One socialite, who wishes to remain anonymous, succinctly sums up the situation, “Words are cheap and you can only truly judge how important you are to another person by the amount of money they are willing to spend on you.”
The journalist has not missed the chance to add that like increasing numbers of women she wouldn’t want a “blood diamond” sold to finance some warlord.
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