Now, THIS is what I call a Surprise!!:
From our friends over at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternity_ring
usedtobe: Cheerfully providing rain water at no cost to the consumer OR taxpayer since 1970!
I have an engagement ring that has a pattern that goes all the way around. My only advice is that if you have to have it resized (due to weight changes or whatever), it will be much more expensive than resizing a ring with a plain area.
If you are really confident in your taste, go for it. However, I let my (now) husband know that if a man proposed to me with a **bad **ring, I might just say no. If he didn’t know me well enough to pick out jewelry I didn’t hate, then perhaps we weren’t such a great match. He sought my input after that. (hey, what can I say, his previous wedding bands were two tone white and yellow gold!)
I got my wife one because she wanted it. Means nothing, she can wear that ring for eternity if she wants but the deal is “Until death do we part”.
Find out how much they cost, and ask her if there is anything else she’d rather have. With the same Eternity Sentiment attached.
His wife didn’t say there was something else she wanted. She wants the ring. Why is that such a problem for you?
TriPolar has already alluded to this, but I have often quipped that the wedding ring is only “Till death do us part” - eternity is a lot longer than that. Should I somehow end up in an afterlife I don’t believe in, I’ll be delighted to spend it with my wife.
The way I understood the OP was that she would be surprised by it. Maybe I have a problem understanding the word “surprise”. My very fist response was that some people don’t always like those kinds of surprises.
Mrs OP definitely wants to be “surprised” by an Eternity Ring. She’s been fairly clear. Unlike the wives who say they *want *to be surprised–and react poorly to the installation of a gas-powered generator. Here where hurricanes can knock out power for weeks–and it’s a drag to schlep gasoline to a noisy portable generator–some wives would be thrilled by that generator.
The “Eternity Ring” idea may have been cooked up by jewelers. But it seems Mr & Mrs OP have a marriage based on communication. Congrats!
Just to be clear, Mrs Smurf has made it clear at various times in the past that she would like an eternity ring. So there will be no surprise in the context of “Why did you buy me this”. Rather the planned surprise will be A) the exact specifics of the design of the ring, and B) that it will be this particular special occasion where I plan to give it to her.
Obviously, if I was to choose to seek her input, it would completely remove any of the surprise element, and I must admit I rather enjoy seeing her reactions to surprises. (Good surprises, I’m not much of a prankster) So I was essentially seeking an informal straw poll, from random people on the Dope, if they prefer a surprise or would rather forgo the delight and surprise angle and get exactly what they want in a ring which I’m confident will become a daily wear item.
Congratulations on your upcoming anniversary!
To discuss this question, it might be helpful to know a bit more about your gift-buying history. Did you propose to your wife with an engagement ring? If so, did she pick out the ring, or did you? If you picked it out, and she liked it, she might be expecting you to pick out this one as well. In the time you’ve been together, have you generally picked out gifts for her, or mostly gotten her things she told you she wanted? Do you feel like you know her taste?
Also, if you’re going to pick it out yourself, but you’re really not sure what to get, I like Bridget Burke’s idea of taking a picture of her current rings to a jewelry store so they can help you pick out something that will match.