My SO and I have been living together for nearly a year now and we’ll be heading on a small vacation together in a couple of weeks. There’s no way I can afford a nice ring any time in the near future, but this does seem like a great time to pop the question, since we rarely do anything really special.
Would it be in bad taste to do this without a ring to offer or does the asking matter more?
I’m a guy, never married, never proposed to a gal. FWIW I think it could still be very romantic. One of my best friends proposed to his g/f sans ring; they were lying there in bed one night and he just popped the question. I heard about this a few minutes later after they’d informed their parents. She certainly didn’t mind that there was no ring until later.
Cheap ring to fill in as a ‘promise ring’?
Empty ring box and a promise to fill it?
I think many women would appreciate the chance to help choose the ring. After all, they probably plan to wear it for a long time.
My husband proposed sans ring. Oh, wait, no, he didn’t exactly propose, either. Wait a sec, just how DID we end up married?! 
Seriously though, if it feels right, go for it. Chances are good that she’ll be so delighted she won’t even think about it until later, when you can tell her that you just knew she’d want the two of you to go ring shopping together 'cause it’d be so romantic!
I figure most girls will want to go ring shopping; I wouldn’t want to just be presented with a ring, myself.
One possibility is to get a silly cheap ring for the proposal and then go get a real ring together. A friend of mine was given a ring from Target that way. My husband proposed a while before he meant to (as in several months before he meant to) and so I wore a ring of his for a little while, with tape wadded around it to make it fit. I didn’t want a diamond, nor could we afford one anyway. At first we were going to get a cheap silver ring from the local street vendors, just for fun, but we didn’t find anything we liked and wound up getting a braid of white gold from a jeweler.
See, to me, this is one of things where, if I weren’t 100% sure of the answer, I’d have my doubts about the marriage in general. You don’t know if your possi-fiancee is traditional or not? If she likes jewelry? Have you talked weddings, in general? Her ideas about that (city hall vs. 1,000-person event) are probably a good indicator of what she’s looking for in a proposal.
If you know the woman in question well enough to want to marry her, you know her well enough to have a fair idea of whether she’d mind.
My own feeling is that engagement rings are an awful idea to begin with - but you aren’t proposing to me, so that doesn’t matter. Hard to believe she’d object to a ring-free proposal (one assumes she knows you can’t afford it) as long as you do something to make the occasion romantic and memorable.
Sounds like me and my husband, WhyNot…after a while, it just became pretty obvious that we ought to stick together.
I can’t understand why anyone would want to be proposed to WITH a ring. My engagement ring is about an order of magnitude more expensive than any other piece of jewellery I’ve ever owned - I want input, dammit!
However, my husband has observed that I’m “about as romantic as the average brick” - an assessment which I heartily endorse - so this may possibly skew my thinking.
As far as I know the Social Correctness Mavens have yet to completely taken over the process of how to propose to someone. You’re still allowed to do it however you like.
Absolutely not! It’s a wonderful memory you’ll always have, ring or no ring 
I proposed without a ring. The impact of the proposal was in no way lessened by not having a ring on hand – she was delighted, and then we were both all giggly and happy at the idea of being fiances.
We went ring shopping later that weekend and had a lot of fun picking out the ring together.
I did it. We’d already been living together for 8 years. We were both about to finish college, so we just decided we might as well get married (I actually don’t even remember who brought it up. It was a topic of discussion off and on for years, there was really no formal “proposal”).
After we decided, she told me not to get a ring. She’s not much into jewery and thought it would be a waste of money. She didn’t have to tell me twice. We got a couple of simple gold wedding bands, and that was that. She never wore an engagement ring.
In my opinion, it’s the tradition of having to give the woman a shiny rock that’s tacky, but I can’t guess how your SO will feel. My guess is that a proposal with an offer to take her ring shopping later would be fine with most women.
Test her love. Get this ring.
Since I can’t stand rings (I like them, but my hands seem to change sizes several times along the day), I would considered a proposal without a ring as a sign that The Gentleman has noticed the li’l problem
In Spain, betrothal rings have been out since before my parents got engaged (1963). Since Dad was so old-fashioned even diplodoci would have found him old-fashioned and Mom loved that about him, they did the whole formal she-bang, with him and his brother/best friend/bestman going to ask her parents for her hand and all; she gave him a watch (not gold), he gave her a very thin bracelet (gold).
Marriedbro bought matching silver bands for himself and his gf to celebrate their first month together; there was never a formal request, they just set a wedding date after seven years together. At the wedding they traded the silver bands for gold ones. No betrothal gifts.
Watch Breakfast at Tiffany’s on DVD with her and then give her a box of Crackerjacks and a plastic ring. She will love it! Nothing could be more romantic.
Hey, it’s the asking that counts. My best wishes to you!
My (now-)husband proposed without a ring - but that’s because he knew I didn’t want one, however I know plenty of other couples who did the proposal then buy ring thing.
I like the idea of a comedy ring (like a cheap plastic ring) with a promise to replace it with a ‘proper’ ring, chosen together.
Hope it all goes well! Exciting times!
I didn’t have a ring (we still don’t). It works for us, that’s what’s important.
Didn’t have a ring because we were going to get hers custom made. Now she’s got it and she’s happy as a clam and showing it off to all her friends, giving the lie to the claim she made when we first met that she wasn’t big about people buying her jewelry and she preferred to buy her own! Pah! Suckered in!
She’s not low maintenance either!
Will the lies never end!
I proposed without a ring. I only decided to take the plunge there and then - my girlfriend had been dropping plenty of none-to-subtle hints that it was about time I asked, but I wanted the actual timing to be spontaneous and a surprise.
Considering where we were at the time, it’s a good thing I didn’t have a ring with me, as I would surely have dropped it. (We were skinny-dipping in the moonlight here when I asked. 
)
We went ring shopping together when we were back home - and incredibly, her favourite ring turned out to be one of the cheapest we looked at. Win-win! 
PS It worked - we’re getting married in less than eight weeks!
That is great place! I skinny-dipped there myself with a past girlfriend, and I’ve been trying to convince the fiance to go there too because it’s so so beautiful. I spent a week on Mljet and I will never forget it, even if I want to forget who I went there with.
Remember in “Four Weddings and a Funeral” when they couldn’t find the ring?
http://www.gonemovies.com/www/Drama/Drama/FourWRing.jpg
Speaking of movies I guess you could tell her Frodo has the ring.
When I proposed to my ex, I didn’t have a ring. For one thing it wasn’t planned:
Me: Want to get married?
Her: OK.
Then we went and picked one out together. Especially for gents who don’t have a lot of money (I sure didn’t), buying a ring she doesn’t like seemed very wasteful to me. I knew she’d have to wear it for a long time.
