It’s traditional for a man to buy his partner an engagement ring. Taking out that beautiful diamond, offering it to the delighted bride to be … it’s the stuff of Hollywood. But is it still relevant today? Are couples still getting engaged the traditional way, or are some new ways of doing things becoming more popular? After all, couples are now more likely to share responsibility for their home rent or mortgage, their grocery bills, even romantic meals out, so why not engagement rings?

share your love

According to some sources, it’s getting increasingly likely that women will share the cost of the ring with their partner – or even consider buying their own ring! That’s one sure fire way to make sure they get a ring they truly love, but what about romance? Does the modern way take the romance out of an engagement?

According to a poll by Today, nearly half of women would be happy to share the cost of an engagement ring. It’s quite a challenge to accepted traditions and women who embrace this hands-on approach (pun totally intended) may well find their friends and family looking at them askance when they delightedly show off the ring they helped to buy. But when you really think about it, it makes sense. If marriage is a partnership and both couples are contributing to the household coffers, why should the responsibility for a major purchase fall to only one partner?

There will be some who decry the idea of course. After all, an engagement ring is a gift, a demonstration of how much a man loves a woman. In times gone by, it was seen as a sign of being willing to invest in their partner and give her something flashy to show who she belonged to. Probably not the best values to espouse in our society today! So where does this leave engagement rings? Are they a delightful sign of romance and commitment, or are they becoming less relevant?

For some couples, there’s no doubt that an engagement ring is a gesture they both really appreciate, a way of showing the world they’re ready to commit. Perhaps in those cases, splitting the cost evens the score and brings the tradition into line with the modern world. But do we really need it? Thankfully, brides are no longer expected to be sweet, compliant and totally dependent on their new man to take care of them. The name of the game is finding a compatible partner to share life with, not grabbing yourself a trophy wife or well to do husband to show off.

So does this work for you ?
Let go of the old traditions and find new and more modern ways to announce that you’re ready to get married? you could still have the romance of asking the question, but in a different way. Certainly todays society is all about focus on equality so why not start building up new traditions that celebrate what each couple has together, instead of trying to mold today’s young lovers into yesterday’s old traditions.