When a jewelry store employee shamed a man for buying a cheap engagement ring, his fiancee came up with the perfect response ever.
Unlike most of the brides, Ariel Desiree McRae isn’t obsessed with gold or diamond rings. The young woman, from Nashville, Tennessee, believes that engagement ring is just a symbolic thing and it’s the love behind it which matters.
While many people will agree to Ariel’s thoughts, a rude employee at Pandora didn’t.
Impassive to the feelings of the couple, the employee remarked that the $130 ring which Ariel’s fiance was about to buy was ‘pathetic’.
Though Ariel was incredibly hurt, she did not want to create a scene.
But when the couple returned home, Ariel took to Facebook to share a powerful message in which she jotted down all the reasons which made that situation so wrong.
And her post soon went viral, with hundreds of thousands of people sharing it across the globe.
“My husband doesn’t have a lot, neither of us does,” she wrote in her post.
“We scrape and scrape to pay bills and put food in our bellies, but after almost 2 years of dating we decided that we couldn’t wait anymore, so we didn’t.
“I wasn’t even thinking about rings, I just wanted to marry my best friend, but he wouldn’t have it. He scraped up just enough money to buy me two matching rings from Pandora. Sterling silver and CZ to be exact.
“That’s what sits on my ring finger, and I am so in love with them.
“While we were purchasing my rings, however, another lady that was working there came over to help the lady selling them to us.
“She said, ‘Y’all can you believe that some men get these as engagement rings? How pathetic.’ When she said that I watched my now husband’s face fall.
“He already felt bad because he couldn’t afford the pear-shaped set that so obviously had my heart and covered my Pinterest page. He already felt like a failure, asking me again and again ‘Are you sure you’ll be happy with these? Are you sure this is okay?’
“He was so upset at the idea of not making me happy enough and of me not wanting to marry him because my rings didn’t cost enough money or weren’t flashy enough.
“Old Ariel would have ripped that woman a new one. Mature Ariel said, ‘It isn’t the ring that matters, it is the love that goes into buying one that matters.’ We bought the rings and left.”
“Y’all I would have gotten married to this man if it had been a 25¢ gum ball machine ring,” she continued.
“When did our nation fall so far to think the only way a man can truly love a woman is if he buys her $3,000+ jewelry and makes a public decree of his affection with a said flashy ring?
“Sure they are nice, sure the sentiment is wonderful and I’m not trying to cut down any of your experiences, but when did it come to all that? Why do material possessions equate love?
“But here I am though, Court-House married, $130 ring set, the love of my life by my side and happier than I could ever imagine.”
After her powerful post went viral online, she shared an update.
“This post keeps growing much to my surprise, and I’ve been asked a thousand times how we met,” she wrote.
“So here is the short version! My husband and I met online at the age of 20, talked on the phone (and I mean actually talked not text) for 6+ hours a day for two days.
“He then drove an hour out of his way to take me on a date.
“I wore a tacky Christmas sweater (if you think I am lying, ask him) We ate wings, had a burping contest, and drove around listening to music and singing. I fell in love with him on the first date.
“If he had asked me to marry him the first time we met, I probably would have said yes.
“To be honest, we had wanted to elope three months into dating, but decided to take some extra time to get established beforehand.
“Ultimately we couldn’t wait any longer.. so we eloped. I’ve never been this happy in my life and I couldn’t imagine spending it with anyone else ever.”
Ariel’s beautiful story won the hearts of internet users, many of whom also shared their own stories.
