Small engagement rings unite!

While I must admit that my ring isn't what I imagined it would be at first, I wouldn't trade it for the world. My hands are very petite so it looks perfect and it came from the love of my life so that's good enough for me!

@ Samantha. My H is also Brazilian. Most of the Brazilian American women I know get 2 rings and place both on their right hand until the get married. I wore my engagement ring on my right until after our ceremony. DH got his band right after we got engaged and wore it on his right hand until we got married.

I picked my antique e-ring out (actually sent DH several suggestions since Brazilians don't do the whole extravagant proposal thing and he told me he wanted to marry me but was not comfortable picking out a ring) and anyone who knows me well reacted by saying "oh that is so you." Some coworkers said semi-rude things like "Did you want a non-traditional ring?" "Do you not like diamonds?" I would just smile and say "actually I picked out the ring and it's perfect for me."

@Hannah- Is that an opal? gorgeous!

Yes! It's an opal with 2 tiny diamonds on the sides. The only issue is that several jewelers have told me opals are relatively fragile. So I have to be careful with it. i don't wear it in the house usually and I take it off if I will be doing anything that might break it.

We picked our rings out together; I don't consider mine small, but average. I've thought about upgrading to 1.5-2 carats but I think I'm going to stick to what I have, I like it. It's just under a carat, something like .96 - but it's not a diamond. The markup on diamonds is ridiculous. Plus the stone (an ice blue sapphire) looks really good in the setting and compared to my skin tone. In England, gemstones are more prevalent as center stones and I've always liked that.

Not sure if mine is considered "small" but I absolutely LOVE it!! It has hearts under the diamonds and he got it engraved....he picked it out all by himself and I wouldn't trade it for the world!

I love my ring! My sister made some comments about it being small. I think it's just under a carat. I honestly have no idea. My FH always talks about upgrading it and one day it'll be bigger. I said well your not touching this ring its mine and its perfect and i love it just the way it is. He picked it out 100% himself and designed it with his friends mother who's a jeweler. I had no idea the only thing i told him was i don't like princess or marquis cut (for myself, don't get offended if you have that cut i've seen some gorgeous rings just not my style!)

@jerseyjen i'm in jersey too and its sickening how much the ring size matters to some people! I'm sorry but i'd much rather have a great marriage then a great ring!

LOVE all these rings and stories !!!!!!

@ Hannah- I also almost got an opal engagement ring but I was told they scratch and chip too easily for everyday wear so I ended up going with a white saphire instead. I'm probably going to get opal wedding jewelry though.

I love all the stories and such classic e-rings!

My FH was very, very careful to select my setting because we are both in the nursing field and put on and take off 5000 sets of gloves a day... So when people compare my ring to anyone else, at least I get to wear mine all the time!

I absolutely love mine! Don't care how big it is! FH chose it on his own and totally surprised me with a proposal! I had no clue and I wouldn't change it for anything else in the world!

For those of you with opals, it seriously depends on where your stones come from. Opal chemistry varies by region and while some opals fracture and break easily, other are quite durable. Opals are my absolute favorite and I have four white opals on my e-ring (from a mine in Southern Australia) and they are still as perfect as when we bought the ring over a year ago. I wear it everyday and only take it off when i shower (as i would do with any other piece jewelry). The mine they came from is know for more chemically resistant and durable opals and their flash is just fantastic!

I do have a pair of opal earrings where the opals came from a mine in Ethiopia, the jeweler warned me to be careful with them because they are brittle and would change if i exposed them to hash chemicals. I've taken his advice and they still look awesome . My advice is to know where your opals are coming from because they vary so much.

My ring is bigger than aything I would have chosen for myself. It's just under a carat. It is beautiful though, and I do love it. FH always gives me grief because my jewelry is typically small and understated. He jokingly accuses me of trying to make him look bad.

Ladies...watch the show "Adam ruins everything" about engagement rings...very eye opening! Personally I wanted a larger diamond, but it means absolutely nothing about your relationship or status. People focus on planning a wedding and forget to plan a marriage

People can be asshats and bigger doesn't mean better. In my opinion, once you start heading out beyond 1.5 carats, the majority of rings look guady. Yes, you can have too much bling.

I love my solitaire, my husband chose it all on his own and it's just what I wanted. I think it's 0.39 carat. It's my engagement ring so I'd never want to change or 'upgrade' it!

It always kills me when people expect people to "upgrade" their engagement ring. I'd never even heard of that before we started shopping for one and I was like what? why would I just ditch the ring he gave me?

I use to work in a jewelry store, more people than you would think returned Erings because it wasn't big enough/ not what they wanted.

I've mostly received positive comments, my friends tend to be practical when it comes to money (not that it's impractical to buy a ring with a larger stone; just doesn't fit our lifestyle).

I've gotten the occasional, "oh it's cute," but I can live with that :-)

Sorry some of you have encountered such rudeness!!

My .5 solitaire on a size 6 finger:

I get returning a ring because it's just not your style but not big enough? ugh. We don't want a repeat of yesterday's disasterous "Unhappy with ER" post...

To each their own taste in rings, I don't actually care what anyone else's rings look like beyond "ooh pretty!" but I pretty much based my expectations for FW's ring on my mom's wedding band. I don't know what her diamond was in terms of carats, but it was a solitaire, one of the square-ish cuts, I think, and it was no wider than the band which IIRC was about 4-5mm. Stones bigger than the band, or halos that make the setting overhang the band, look strange to me -- for one, I'm clumsy and if I wore something like that I'd catch it on things constantly.