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“A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person,” said American author Mignon McLaughlin. Although there are pessimists when it comes to the topic of love and marriage, millions of people all over the world make that giant leap to spending and sharing the rest of their lives with one person.
Getting married is one of the happiest times in a person’s life. Finding your true love, getting married and wearing a ring to signify your commitment to the other person is a romantic idea and one that has been kept a tradition for decades, even in our neoteric, cynical society.
In 2011, TheKnot.com and WeddingChannel.com published an in-depth report on engagement and wedding statistics in the United States. It looked at how much the engagement ring and wedding jewelry is worth, what kind of rings the grooms are purchasing and how people are proposing nowadays.
“Jewelry is a significant part of the wedding experience and the 2011 Engagement & Jewelry Study provides unparalleled insight into the multibillion-dollar industry,” said Kristyn Clement, Senior Director of The Knot Market Intelligence at XO Group Inc.
What was the average engagement ring and wedding band cost two years ago? $5,200 for an engagement ring and $1,126 for wedding bands for brides – a wedding ring for the groom had an average price tag of just $491.
The most popular forms of engagement rings were round (53 percent), princess (30 percent) and made of white gold (73 percent). Of course, it doesn’t take the average groom a couple of hours to find the perfect ring. Instead, it took roughly three months for the man to locate a ring that was just perfect for his bride-to-be.
Another important statistic is that even in this economy the groom hasn’t downsized the ring. In fact, only 14 percent of grooms admitted that they purchased an inferior ring due to the negative economic climate – about one-quarter of grooms said they spent more than they originally budgeted for.
It is true that white gold is still as popular as ever, but a significant number of couples are studying alternative metals. For instance, in 2011, more than one-quarter (27 percent) of grooms opted for tungsten and 16 percent decided to buy a titanium ring.
Grooms are also shopping around. It was reported that more than one-third (35 percent) purchased at least part of the ring from a nationally-recognized jewelry chain, while 39 percent purchased at least some of the ring at a local or independent jewelry shop. They aren’t heading online, though: only nine percent responded that they bought a ring for their bride from an online retailer.
Other takeaways from the study: a majority of grooms (77 percent) are still proposing on a bended knee, 71 percent seek to attain permission from the lady’s parents, a little more than half (57 percent) of grooms proposed privately – this fact shows a growing number of public proposals – and a growing number of grooms (five percent) are now wearing “man-gagement rings.”
For some, it might seem to be a waste to purchase an expensive wedding ring, but for others they see it quite differently: a symbol of how important that person means to them. Remember, wearing a ring on the fourth finger of your left hand originated from the Romans, who believed the vein from that finger ran to their heart.
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Source by Adam Maxum
