When I was 23 (I'm 30 now) I bought my wife a $45,000 wedding ring that looks like a $45,000 wedding (if you know what I mean). It has one large center stone with two smaller stones on the side, 5ct total. It looks amazing, but...<p>Fucking stupid right? I thought the same thing, but I was ultra-frugal and had a hard time thinking of better things to spend my money on than making my wife happy, especially with how often I was gone (which was a lot).<p>I justified it to myself a few ways. First, by how much her eyes lit up when she first saw it. Second, we decided not to have a wedding because of how silly it was: pay tens of thousands for a few hours, not to mention the hassle in planning it. Third, this thing would make her smile every day for the next ~80 years. Lastly it wouldn't cause undue financial strain. I wasn't rich, but I was ultra frugal and had a comfortable amount in savings. For example I still have the same car (a now 10yr old Honda Civic) I had then. I also bought her a little ring cleaner so it always looks great because every time I see an $80,000+ car that's dirty I think, "What's the point?"<p>We've been married around 7 years now. Every time she looks at it it makes her smile. Everytime she looks at it she thinks of us and what we have. She <i>still</i> gets compliments on it all the time. How much is all that worth? How much will it all have been worth when we're in our 80's? There aren't too many ways to buy happiness, but if you could see how happy it makes her you'd see that this is one.<p>The interesting thing is that my wife isn't into jewelry or expensive stuff. She also has an old Honda Civic, still has the same clothes she wore in college, etc. She doesn't care about that kind of stuff and hated shopping until she was in her mid-30's and work required a change of attire. But our marriage is important to her and a wedding ring represents that for her.<p>If I could afford it, I would have easily paid 2-3x what I paid for the ring because it's worth it. I agree, it's stupid and it's just a rock, but it wasn't for me--it was for her and it means a lot to her. Every time I see her look at it, smile, then look at me (which she still does 7 years later) I think of how it was worth every penny.<p>You can buy a lot of mediocre stuff and have a lot of mediocre experiences with your wife, or you can go above and beyond with one thing that will last forever. If I bought her a $2,000 ring instead I could spend $500,000 in clothes, purses, shoes, etc. for her over 10 years and none of it would make her as happy as this thing does. It's the <i>only</i> thing that she <i>always</i> wears.<p>What kind of ring did I get you ask? I got a ~$25 ring from Walmart.