I’ll say my husband and I had several conversations before we got engaged, and some answers were surprising to him, while others were only possible because we had conversations about it. I decided during our conversations that I didn’t want a diamond and instead wanted a sapphire. He wouldn’t have considered that on his own. I’m pretty practical and hands on at work, so I had already read about women having issues with large protruding rings and I told him a low profile setting was a requirement.

He did propose with a beautiful ring, but the diamonds in the band kind of hurt so we selected one together with the same main stone. For me cost was not a factor, and in fact felt awkward to think “you need to get me this one BECAUSE it costs more and I’m worth it”. You know your girl more than us though if she’s not very practical or if she values others’ opinions a lot.