Dueling Engagement Rings

A few months back I attended a local wedding fair with my Future Husband and his mom (you'll learn through out this process my mom isn't as detail oriented as I am, so most of my planning is done with my Future MIL..Mother in Law)

As I entered the atrium of the wedding fair I saw an old friend, someone I knew through an ex but was still very very sweet nonetheless. We did the typical screaming-girlie-jumpy hello and then it happened, the worst and stupidest thing I've done in all my engaged days at the time....

We both showed off our rings, together.

Don't sound bad? Well, no I'm sure in most cases it's not - however our rings were very similar. Very similar, except for one little detail. Her ring was obnoxiously huge. The kind that makes you wonder if there's a hand under that rock.

Well I just had to do it, couldn't keep my big mouth shut - I said excitedly "OMG our rings are the same!"

Idiot.

Any fool could see that they weren't. And though I love my ring and it's exactly what I dreamed about having one day, size and all - she obviously had that "Big Ring Big Head" syndrome and rolled her eyes at me and said "uh, yeah" in the most uncertain and awkward tones possible.

Suddenly this sweet old friend of mine became the "I'm better then you because my ring is bigger" type. I was mortified. I could have said anything....why did I have to say that?

I think that people too often these days base the status of their relationship on the size ring they are lugging around. Sure hers was bigger, but why did I suddenly feel so intimidated by that? I hand picked the ideal design of my ring, my future husband had a designer create it exactly how he wanted it, he hand picked each and every diamond in it. He didn't walk into some store and pick one off a shelf. My band is made of platinum. My ring can't be matched in quality.

And my relationship was as perfect and pure and unique as the ring I had on my hand. How that ring came to be on my hand was the most amazing thing of all.

It makes me feel so stupid to think that the glimmer of an obnoxious diamond could make me forget all the things that made my ring the most perfect ring for me, even if it was only for that split second

So, before you let anyone make you feel like less of a bride because your ring is smaller then theirs remember this: The diamonds are not the most important part of your ring, it's the story behind them that makes that ring amazing.