Weddingbee Blog

As news of the engagement hit at work, people exclaimed, “Congratulations! Where’s the ring??” And truth be told, it was a bit awkward, bees.

My colleagues would look at my left ring finger and I would uncomfortably point them to my middle finger on my right hand and explain how the silver band was my temporary ring and we were starting to shop for “the real engagement ring.”

“That’s niiice,” they would say in a patronizing tone. I could tell they were absolutely unimpressed with my ring situation. There would be no replacing their excitement to see the ring after hearing the news the first time. No redo for their reactions.

Now, I know I shouldn’t care what anybody else thinks about my ring situation (besides Mr FC, that is) but my colleagues’ lack of enthusiasm about my ring reflected my own dissatisfaction with the piece of metal wrapped round my finger.

Fact is, I did not like this ring. I wanted to like it, even if it was just temporary. Mr Funnel Cake bought it, just for me, as a sign of his love. But I found I simply did not care for the hard cut of the metal band. The edges were uncomfortably sharp for my tastes. Even if we sized it for my fingers, it was not a ring I would have picked out for myself to wear for all eternity and it was not my idea of an engagement ring.

Mr Funnel Cake bought this ring before either of us knew what “comfort fit” was and he also bought it before we had ever talked about rings with each other. He did not spend months planning and figuring out what I would have loved, which he might have done if we hadn’t been pressed by Swiss immigration to marry early. He spontaneously bought something affordable in Brazil so that he could propose to me when he got home, which is still incredibly romantic to me. And I appreciate (more than you’ll know, bees) the sweet efforts he made when he selected a temporary ring for me. For those reasons, I’ll never be able to let go of this ring.

I had actually never thought about what kind of engagement ring would suit me. I just knew I wanted an engagement ring and a wedding band like my mother’s. Call me traditional.

Around this time we began discussing rings and a conversation something along the following lines occurred:

Bees, we were at the start of a culture clash here. I can tell you now, ring shopping was not going to be fun…

Be honest, did you experience any strife over rings?