In fact, they do. While engagement rings symbolize the intent to spend the rest of your lives together, promise rings mean something a little different. The traditional purpose of a promise ring is to declare your intent to marry sometime in the future, but does not mean you are engaged. Instead, they symbolize love and a willingness to let the relationship evolve.

The True Symbolism of Promise Rings

While a promise ring is a special symbol of love, the ring means nothing if the intent behind the ring isn’t true. An empty promise doesn’t strengthen a relationship, so promise rings should only be given when a couple truly plans to help that relationship reach a higher level sometime in the future.

If there are any concerns or trepidation on anyone’s part, those concerns should be talked about before a promise ring is given. Both partners must be willing to work on the future of the relationship and have the same goals in mind for a promise ring to mean anything.

Types of Promise Rings

Just as the meaning behind promise rings and engagement rings are different, so to are the styles of each type of ring. Promise rings are traditionally more understated, but can still be just as beautiful.

Diamond promise rings are the most popular type of promise ring to give. They differ from diamond engagement rings in that the stones in promise rings are much smaller to avoid any confusion on the intent behind the ring.

Furthermore, diamond promise rings are always surrounded by other gemstones or details to further differentiate them from engagement rings. That is why you will not see a diamond solitaire promise ring, because these are almost exclusively considered engagement rings and not promise rings.

Gemstones other than diamonds can also be used, and many like to use birthstones to give the promise ring even more meaning. When choosing any type of promise ring, you should be just as familiar with judging gemstone quality and other factors to choose a beautiful ring, just like you would with an engagement or wedding band.

Designs to Avoid

While beautiful promise rings abound, there are certain styles you should pass on to avoid the ring being confused with an engagement ring.

Promise rings only use small gemstones. Larger stones are reserved for engagement rings, so you do not want the intent behind the ring to be misread. Similarly, elaborate designs should be avoided or the ring can be misinterpreted as something it is not.

Regardless of the type of ring you choose, a promise ring is a beautiful symbol between two people. Whether you choose a small diamond ring, a different kind of gemstone, or another design entirely, promise rings are beautiful because of the sentiment behind them and are a great way to symbolize your commitment to the future of the relationship.

Choosing an engagement ring is a very personal and special moment, so the overall symbolism of the design can definitely be a factor when choosing the perfect engagement ring to seal the deal.

The Overall Symbolism of an Engagement Ring

Engagement rings can be traced back to the ancient Romans and Egyptians. In fact, the Romans were the first culture thought to use the practice of placing an engagement or wedding band on the fourth finger of the left hand, where it would be closest to the heart. This tradition still carries on to this day, just as the double wedding ring ceremony.

For example, brides were usually the only party to be given wedding rings on their big day, but World War II changed all that and began the tradition of presenting a ring to both the bride and groom. Today, nearly all marriages are commemorated with a double ring ceremony.

Believe it or not, the circle is actually heavy with symbolism as well. The circle (which is essentially your engagement ring; a circle of metal) actually symbolizes eternity and wholeness because they have no beginning or end. This symbolism is a beautiful way to think of an impending marriage; a beautiful union that will see no end, and will be held together through eternity and beyond.

What About Personal Symbolism?

An engagement ring is rife with symbolism overall, but how does personal symbolism fit into the equation?

If you use an heirloom engagement ring, you are choosing a ring that has likely been passed down through the generations until it gets to you. This is very symbolic, and is a beautiful tradition to continue. Celtic engagement rings or other rings designed for a specific culture or group are also heavily symbolic, especially if they are the group or culture you and your partner identify with.

Adding a special word, phrase or date to the band of an engagement ring via engraving is also a great way to personalize the ring and make it special and unique to you. Incorporating birthstones into the design is also a beautiful sentiment, and is a unique alternative to traditional diamonds.

Choosing a three stone engagement ring, which represents the past, present and future of a relationship, is an obvious symbolic choice as well.

Engagement rings have been symbolic of love and fidelity since ancient times, but they can easily take on a more personal meaning as well. Whether you incorporate your birthstones, use an heirloom or antique ring or engrave a special sentiment on the band, engagement rings can be as meaningful as you choose.

No matter what type of symbolism you incorporate into the design of your engagement ring, it will undoubtedly be a cherished possession and all the more special because it is personal to you and the person you will spend the rest of your life with.

In fact, many couples are starting to choose to propose without an engagement ring. Their choices for doing so vary; for example, not wanting to choose the wrong ring.

The fact remains that a marriage proposal doesn’t have to include an engagement ring, and couples shouldn’t feel pressured to buy one if that is not in their best interests.

Proposing without a Ring

Whether you are unable to afford an engagement ring or have another reason for proposing without one, your are not alone. In fact, there are many reasons for not proposing with a ring.

• With the rising cost of living and other day to day expenses, budgeting for an engagement ring may be an insurmountable financial problem at this point.
• If you are unsure how the bride-to-be will react to the engagement ring you pick out, you may want to hold off until after you propose to allow her to choose her own ring.
• Maybe you want to customize a ring, and have your bride-to-be’s input throughout the process.
• Finally, you may not think an engagement ring is that big of a deal, an instead choose to focus on the relationship and proposal itself rather than a piece of jewelry to “seal the deal.”

As you can see, the reasons for proposing without an engagement ring are varied, and there’s no rule that says you must use one. In fact, proposing without a ring allows the couple to focus on the actual commitment they are making, rather than the ring itself.

The Benefits of Proposing without a Ring

If you plan to purchase an engagement ring but would like the bride-to-be’s input beforehand, proposing without an engagement ring is the perfect way to ensure she loves her ring. After all, she’ll be the one wearing it!

Additionally, involving both partners in the decision will allow each of you the chance to get to know the others styles and taste preferences when it comes to jewelry, and make sure the ring that is purchased will be the perfect one for the bride-to-be.

While proposing without an engagement ring may be unorthodox, it’s certainly not a “bad” thing to do, especially if you are unable to budget for a ring at the moment or want to make absolutely sure she will love the ring she will be wearing every day.

Choosing to propose without an engagement ring is not a bad decision to make, and actually allows the couple to focus more on the implications of the question on that relationship than a material “symbol,” instead.

While it may feel weird initially to propose without the ring, it is a very personal decision and allows the couples to choose the ring together afterwards, leading to the perfect foundation for a lifelong relationship that was based on true love, not a sparkly ring!

Things to Avoid

By avoiding certain things that can dull your ring, you will have to clean it less often and will be able to maintain the ring’s sparkle and brilliance more effectively.

Avoid doing household chores while wearing your engagement ring, and take the ring off before applying lotion, makeup, hair products or other beauty aids or household cleaning products to prevent a build up of grime, oils and dirt.

Of course, your ring will accumulate dirt and debris through regular wear and tear, but avoiding household cleaners, beauty products and other products can help protect your ring and allow you to maintain a brilliant appearance with less cleaning required.

Cleaning the Engagement Ring

Even if you are very diligent in protecting your ring from harsh chemicals and greasy beauty products or household cleaners, normal wear and tear will cause the ring to become dirty. A monthly cleaning should suffice, but if you lead a more active lifestyle you may want to clean the ring more frequently.

Before you attempt to clean the ring yourself, you need to understand every component of your ring and how best to treat it. Even if you are familiar with how to clean diamonds, if there are other gemstones in your ring it is important to know what is safe to use and what could potentially damage the stones.

If your ring contains treated diamonds, you may need to clean the ring in a special way to avoid discoloring the stones or damaging the overall ring. Certain types of metals are cleaned differently as well, so it’s important to speak with a professional jeweler who will be able to advise you on the proper cleaning regimen for your engagement ring.

Once you know how to clean your ring, you should carefully examine it beforehand to check for cracks, loose stones or other damage. If there is any damage to your ring at all, it is important to have it repaired or you run the risk of further damage to the ring if you clean it before it’s fixed.

Even if you clean your engagement ring at home, it is still a good idea to take the ring into a professional jeweler and have it cleaned there at least two times a year. If you are uncomfortable cleaning the ring yourself, this is also a great way to ensure your ring remains as beautiful as the first day you put it on and you won’t worry about damaging it somehow.

Taking care of your engagement ring is very important. Your engagement ring is an investment, and with the proper care and cleaning techniques your ring will be as sparkling and brilliant as ever.

Pave Settings

Pave setting engagement rings are simply stunning, and when done properly can actually enhance a stone and make it appear larger than it actually is. Pave settings use smaller stones adjacent to a larger central stone, or simply use small diamonds or other gemstones across the surface of the band.

Channel Settings

With channel settings, a small opening (or “trench”) is cut into the band, whereby small gemstones are placed inside the trench to form a beautiful row of gemstones within the band. Channel settings can either have an open back or a closed back, both of which have their own unique characteristics. A closed back keeps the stones more secure, while an open back allows more light through to the gemstones.

Flush Settings

Flush settings are a beautiful, unique engagement ring setting that looks absolutely amazing when done properly. This setting is ideal for women who lead a very active lifestyle, because the gemstones are placed into the band of the ring so only the tops of the stones are visible. Flush settings are similar to channel settings, but instead of forming one line of gemstones, stones can be scattered throughout the width of a wider band.

Cluster Setting

Cluster settings are delicate, breathtaking and a highly unique setting for any engagement ring. A collection of stones are used, typically to form some type of pattern (similar to a figural engagement ring,) or create the illusion of one big gemstone. Oftentimes, a cluster setting uses several levels of gemstones to elevate the design rather than a single, uniform level of stones.

Invisible Settings

Invisible settings should only be created by the most experienced jewelers, as a poorly done setting can cause the stones to become loose and fall out with regular wear. These settings are exceptionally unique, and are used to create the illusion of a larger stone. To create this type of setting, a frame for the gemstones is cut into the band (below the surface), whereby the stones can fit snugly against one another. Smaller stones are used to complete the illusion that the ring is actually made up of one large stone.

Even though unique engagement ring settings offer a beautiful alternative to a traditional setting as well as a personalized touch, make sure whichever setting you choose suits your bride-to-be’s finger. You also want to ensure that the setting you choose shows off the gemstones in the best way possible, as this is an investment that will ideally last a lifetime.

No matter what type of setting you choose for an engagement ring, it is sure to be a piece of jewelry that will be loved and cherished throughout your relationship.

The Importance of Determining Ring Size

When you present an engagement ring to your bride-to-be, you need to make sure it has been properly sized to ensure the correct fit. If you intend on keeping the proposal a secret, slipping a perfectly sized ring on her finger shows initiative, and she will undoubtedly be surprised that you were able to determine her size without bringing her along. Practical reasons exist for accurate sizing as well, because more elaborate settings and designs cannot normally be resized once they have been purchased.

How to Determine Ring Size

There are several ways to determine ring size. Even for secret proposals, you can still ensure you have an accurately sized ring using one of these methods.

• Charts

Many websites offer printable ring size charts to help determine an accurate size. Simply print the chart and use it to measure an existing ring your bride-to-be wears.

• Jewelers

A jeweler can measure an existing ring to determine its size or use a special tool to measure your bride-to-be’s ring finger to get an accurate number. This is definitely the most accurate method, but won’t work for proposals that are being kept a secret.

How Certain Conditions Affect Ring Size

Believe it or not, there are optimal times to measure your finger for an engagement ring. Having your finger sized only once is probably not enough, because an engagement ring may be sized differently than a wedding band depending on how elaborate the style is. More elaborate designs are usually harder to take on and off than simple bands, and may require a larger size.

The best time to have your measurement taken is during the afternoon, as your fingers tend to be narrower in the morning and more swollen during the evening. An afternoon measurement will give the most accurate representation of your correct ring size.

Avoid having your ring size taken if your fingers are swollen from exercise or another health condition, and ensure your hands are not too hot or too cold as this can affect a measurement as well.

Even if you try your hardest to get an accurate size for an engagement ring, it still may not fit. Provided the ring isn’t too elaborate, you can easily have it resized without much hassle. Luckily, most jewelers have a repair plan as part of the purchase of a ring and will typically offer resizing for free or at minimal cost. Check with the jeweler before your purchase to see what guarantees and maintenance plans they offer.

While it may be challenging to determine an accurate ring size (especially if you aren’t involving the bride-to-be,) there are several ways that can help you find the perfect ring size. When you slip that beautiful engagement ring on your bride-to-be’s finger and see her light up with joy, any effort you spent will be well worth it!

Sterling Silver

When sterling silver tarnishes, the result can be dark black stains on your finger that are unsightly to say the least. While some sterling silver pieces are coated to avoid this problem, the coating will eventually wear off.

Copper

While the engagement ring you’re wearing isn’t likely made from pure copper, many metals are mixed with copper which can result in that familiar green stain around your finger. Some people seem to be more prone to this kind of reaction than others.

Nickel

Many people are sensitive to nickel, but skin discoloration isn’t the only thing people with nickel sensitivity should be worried about. Red, itchy and irritated skin is a common problem, as well.

Gold

Gold will not stain your skin, but the metals mixed with gold can sometimes cause problems. Nickel, silver and copper are commonly mixed with cold – the lower the karat, the more of these metals are present in your ring, which can potentially lead to skin discoloration. Gold plated jewelry can wear away, allowing the brass underneath to stain your skin.

How to Avoid Potential Problems

Skin discoloration can definitely be a nuisance, but there are a few things you can to combat the issue or eliminate the problem completely. If you can afford to, upgrade your gold ring to an 18k model, which contains more pure gold and less of the metals which can potentially stain your skin. If you have a nickel allergy, it’s especially vital you switch to a higher carat gold or even platinum. Yes, it’s more expensive – but irritated, red skin isn’t worth it.

You can even switch to a titanium ring, which doesn’t stain. This option works especially well for people who are allergic to certain metals.

If you can’t afford to upgrade you ring, ask a jeweler if they can coat your ring with a new layer of metal or a protective film that will protect your finger and prevent the metals from reacting to your skin. You can do this yourself by painting a thin coat of clear nail polish against the base of the band that touches your finger, but this will have to be done several times a week once the polish wears off.

Regularly cleaning your ring and keeping it dry can help prevent the metal from reacting with harsh chemicals and other common household cleaners, which can cause your ring to become damaged and wear away.

While it’s not always possible to completely change your ring to avoid skin discoloration, there are other things you can do to help combat the annoying problem. Find a method that works for you, and you can wear your engagement ring proudly!

So when you make a decision in life that involves a significant expenditure, and that decision affects you and only you, it is most certainly a very big deal and you have to do your research, be patient, and choose wisely. But if you were to become impetuous on a lazy and boring Saturday afternoon and buy yourself a convertible, and find some months later that perhaps you would have been better off with a four-wheel-drive truck, the decision that you made only affects you. But when you buy an engagement ring, as you can see, the decision impacts others as well, most immediately the woman who will be wearing it for the rest of her life: your fiancée-to-be.

The engagement ring that you choose will also be looked upon by your parents, and your future in-laws, as an expression of your love and commitment to marriage. And it will be a symbol of your new family and the love that is at its root to your children should you find yourself so blessed at some time in the future.

With this in mind, it is a good idea to try to get an idea of what types of engagement rings seem to catch her eye, and over the months leading up to the proposal one can talk casually about the subject as though you are discussing some sort of distant daydream without “spilling the beans.” You may want to page through a magazine together that has some engagement ring ads and see if she seems to prefer platinum engagement rings to gold engagement rings, or palladium engagement rings to silver engagement rings. You may find that she finds titanium engagement rings, or even tungsten engagement rings to be especially appealing. She is the person who is going to be wearing the ring, so when you are pretty certain that at some point down the line you are going to be making that ultimate proposal, it is time to start picking her brain in a very offhanded and subtle manner.

When the time comes to go shopping for the perfect engagement ring, you will find that there are many choices out there. The best strategy is to have some idea of what types of rings the love of your life seems to ooh and ah over, and use that information accordingly.

I struck up a conversation with the woman and asked her how she liked her titanium engagement ring, and why she chose a titanium ring rather than a gold engagement ring, or even a silver engagement ring, because her titanium ring was the same color, more or less, than a silver engagement ring. She told me that frankly, the purchase of a titanium engagement ring was not her own choice. She was surprised by her fiancé and she actually didn’t know much at all about titanium before she was presented with her titanium engagement ring. She had learned in school that it was a very hard and sturdy metal that is lightweight and used in the aerospace and automobile industries. She also said she owned a titanium tennis racket. She did mention that she had heard something about titanium being used to make jewelry, but not being a big jewelry person, she just hadn’t looked into it.

The ring that she was wearing was simple in a way, but creatively elegant and as I say it really got my attention, so much so that I was compelled to approach her about it. I asked her about the comfort of the ring when you are wearing it all the time, and she said that her ring was designed with what was called a “semi-comfort fit.” The inner edges of the titanium engagement ring that she had were rounded like the full fledged “comfort fit,” but not as extremely, so the ring fit very comfortably, but it slipped onto her finger firmly. She said that in terms of fit, her titanium engagement ring was the perfect marriage of comfort and the secure feeling that her ring would not fall off of her finger, or be easily removed by the adept hands of a surprise thief.

She also added that even though she was not very familiar with titanium engagement rings before she got hers, she was absolutely stunned when she saw it for the first time. She confided that her fiancé had been struggling with the tough economy when he was shopping for her engagement ring, and he was just blown away when the jeweler introduced him to titanium engagement rings. He was concerned that a gold engagement ring or a platinum engagement ring might set him back even further and drive him deeper into debt just when he was preparing to get married. But he honestly loved the titanium engagement ring that he would up buying and felt in the end that he really wasn’t compromising at all.

There are many engagement ring choices out there, and though the traditional gold, silver, and platinum or palladium engagement rings will never go out of style, this couple’s experience demonstrates the fact that a titanium engagement ring is a viable alternative as well.

Anyone who is a big fan of baseball would know that the Philadelphia Phillies are the “losingest” franchise in the history of sports, indeed, the only American professional sports team that has lost 10,000 games. Prior to last season they had gotten to wear World Series rings just once in their history. But Phillies fans, long suffering as they may be, are among the most loyal and rabid fans in all of sports.

My friend was telling me that his brother is a lifetime fan of the Phillies, and the woman he’s been with for the last five years is also a big Phillies fan. She had been half jokingly asking him when she was going to get her engagement ring for a couple of years. My friend’s brother knew that she really wanted a platinum engagement ring with a rather large, certified diamond, so he was dutifully saving up his money and waiting for the right moment.

As you might imagine, they were both extremely excited when the Phillies made another late season surge and made it into the playoffs. The Phillies were swept out of the postseason the previous year by the Rockies in three straight, so that made the 27th straight season that a Phillies team would go home without a World Series ring. However, in 2008, they beat the Brewers to get to the National League Championship Series against the Dodgers, and they won that too to get to the World Series for the first time since 1993.

The Phillies won the last game of that Dodgers series on the very same day that my friend’s brother purchased the platinum engagement ring. He has been saving up for two years.

The Phillies got ahead by three games to one in the World Series, and Game 5 was in Philadelphia, but it was delayed by rain with the score tied. My friend’s brother couldn’t get a ticket, but he was given two tickets to go the game when it resumed a couple of days later. It was perfect timing.

The Phillies won the World Series for just the second time in their history that night. My friend’s brother and his girlfriend weren’t even born yet when the Phillies had won that lone World Series back in 1980. They were jubilant.

But then, in the middle of perhaps the largest celebration the City of Brotherly Love has ever seen, my friend got close to his girlfriend’s ear and said, through the din, “Will you marry me?” Then he took the engagement ring out of his pocket and showed it to her. To hear my friend tell it, they said that time seemed to stand still and that it felt like they had somehow found themselves in some sort of perfect dream.

It is said that getting engaged is a magical experience, and this couple certainly had a taste of it. They will never forget that their surreal engagement ring moment, and this is the way that such things are meant to be.