<p>Having shopped for wedding bands lately 
yes, lots of choices, especially in guys rings. Tungsten and Titanium seem to be popular. Some with carbon fiber insets. (And no, I didn’t go for either of those.)</p>
<p>Thank you notes for a funeral? It would never have crossed my mind that anyone would send me a thank you note for coming to a funeral (or expect me to send on if I am unfortunate enough to, er, “host” a funeral.)</p>
<p>I do need to jog my daughter’s memory about thank you notes after her wedding. Thanks for the reminder.</p>
<p>The notes you write after a funeral are for the sympathy cards you get. I believe it’s optional, but some of my mother’s friends wrote such charming letters that we wanted to answer them (we divided them among ourselves). After my son’s death, I wrote notes to the women who’d written me to tell me about their own losses; many of them had also lost newborn babies and I found their notes very moving. (I’ve had occasion to write those notes myself now, twice, and I hope I was also helpful. Life goes in cycles.)</p>
<p>As for engagement rings, I have a friend whose daughter just got engaged. They are both college students about to graduate. Daughter has a wealthy Dad who paid everything for an expensive private out of pocket. Fiance does not have wealthy parents and is $100k in debt for college. He paid $3500 (using part of his student loans) for the engagement ring. Knowing the girl, i imagine he felt some (by which I mean LOTS of) pressure to buy a “nice” ring. The kicker is that the stone is not even a real diamond but a CZ, to be replaced with a diamond later. </p>
<p>Mom, who is very down to earth, was horrified, as was I. The girl just can’t see why we think he shouldn’t have added to his already huge debt to buy the ring. </p>
<p>My daughter is happy as a clam with her ring which is small, but it is her engagement ring and she loves it. She has also said this will always be her engagement ring and she has no plans to “upgrade” it later. So proud of her for feeling that way.</p>
<p>dmd77 - Oh, ok - that makes more sense. Especially if you receive thoughtful cards like that.</p>
<p>Ooh, so sorry for your loss, dmd. I hadn’t remembered that.</p>
<p>I always offer to help write thank your condolence notes (for food, donations, etc) for my freinds. I found it a great help when my parents died. Many of the people would not know my handwriting, so we wrote a generic script to write in the cards, sat at the kitchen table and cranked them out. It is a difficult time and help is greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>When DH and I married, we has a rubber stamp made that said :
Dear ___________________ (blank)
Just sending cards to a few of our special friends. Thinking of you.
Love,
XXX and XXX</p>
<p>Most people picked up on our dry sense of humor (ie we were sending out canned, fill-in-the blank cards to our “special friends”). Well, we thought it was funny…</p>
<p>swim, IMO, that might not bode well for the future of that couple. Although I wish them all the best.</p>
<p>After a death, you also send thank you cards to those who brought food to the house, sent flowers, or made a memorial donation.</p>
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<p>I guess I’m having a hard time figuring out how a band with no real stone costs $3500. Is it for the Tiffany box?</p>
<p>Wow, $3500 for a CZ–the person selling it made a KILLING! Does he want to buy anything else? How do we contact the guy to offer him more CZs? The girl doesn’t sound like much of a keeper. Wow!</p>
<p>DH paid over $3000 for the platinum setting for my ring. That would be about the right price for a nice setting with some detail.</p>
<p>The diamond industry has done a great job of guilting guys into spending more than they should. They tell the word a guy should spend 3 months salary on a ring. Crazy!</p>
<p>Even ethical diamonds are cheaper than that.</p>
<p>Diamonds are currently considered more precious than other gems because of a successful advertising campaign.</p>
<p>I like opals better.</p>
<p>[HowStuffWorks</a> “Diamond Marketing”](<a href=“Marketing Diamonds - Diamond Marketing | HowStuffWorks”>Marketing Diamonds - Diamond Marketing | HowStuffWorks)</p>
<p>I like this company.
<a href=“http://www.greenkarat.com/[/url]”>http://www.greenkarat.com/</a></p>
<p>But I bet you can also find local jewelers that can help you to design a piece.</p>
<p>Oh… ek, I like those. </p>
<p>I like [Canadian</a> Diamonds, Conflict-Free Diamonds Jewelry | Brilliant Earth](<a href=“http://www.brilliantearth.com/]Canadian”>http://www.brilliantearth.com/) because I am a huge sapphire fan. Too expensive for me right now though haha.</p>
<p>I wish there were family jewelry or something handed down that I could make a ring out of. My mom’s mom liked pearls and we hate pearls. We have SO MANY PEARLS lol.</p>
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<p>Take a look at the men’s bands available at Kay Jewelers:</p>
<p>[Kay</a> - Men’s Bands](<a href=“http://www.kay.com/categoryProducts|10101|10001|-1|15114|0|1|Category|15114|15051|15051.15058.15114]Kay”>http://www.kay.com/categoryProducts|10101|10001|-1|15114|0|1|Category|15114|15051|15051.15058.15114)</p>
<p>Maybe for men, but for women?</p>
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<p>I paid $850 for a one-ounce platinum eagle (I keep it with me) which would probably be enough for several rings. It’s worth about $1625 right now. Probably way cheaper when we got married.</p>
<p>I handed her a bunch of 10-pack one-ounce gold eagles and one-ounce gold maples. Bought these when gold was $250 to $300/ounce. She hasn’t asked for any jewelry since.</p>
<p>I guess that it would be more practical to get one of these non-precious metals rings and spend the rest on efficient PMs but marriage isn’t always about practicality.</p>
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<p>I agree - they do a great job on marketing and managing markets.</p>
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<p>I had a look at the women’s section - the mix is more towards precious metals but there are still a lot of non-PM options. I noticed that the price goes up much faster on the women’s side too.</p>
<p>[Kay</a> - Women’s Wedding](<a href=“http://www.kay.com/categoryProducts|10101|10001|-1|15111|0|1|Category|15111|15051|15051.15058.15111]Kay”>http://www.kay.com/categoryProducts|10101|10001|-1|15111|0|1|Category|15111|15051|15051.15058.15111)</p>
<p>Have always liked matching his & hers wedding bands. That said, H hasn’t worn his wedding ring much – it is dangerous with the work he does. My brother & SIL don’t wear theirs much either, as they are frequently scrubbing up for their work as MDs. Mine is pretty comfortable & I wear it with my engagement ring most of the time.</p>
<p>If the couple can’t afford rings, they may have a lot of other things they won’t be able to afford as well.</p>
<p>My mom’s platinum wedding ring is very narrow & simple. She wear it & has managed to keep it all these decades, even tho she has lost several engagement rings, complete with diamonds. 
Dad has never worn a wedding ring in my memory.</p>
<p>Our wedding bands were somewhere around $70 or $80 which I didn’t think of as being a lot back then. The same bands look to be $500 to $800 today. It seems that the price of one-caret diamonds hasn’t changed a lot over the past 20 years. I think that there were years of over-supply in that market.</p>
<p>I wear my ring from time to time but it spends a lot of time in my gym bag. I take it off to lift and then eventually put it back on but it can be a day or two or longer for that to happen.</p>