I’ve never really been fond of diamonds - I like colored stones (my engagement ring was Topaz - oops! we were poor, so it’s actually Citrine!) - and I’ve always thought that the whole ‘Diamond Engagement Ring’ thing was a created social construct, designed to Make Money for someone.
Somebody even appears to have written a thesis about it:
http://ncf.sobek.ufl.edu/NCFE003838/00001
All this time I thought they were peanuts! Better buy some more Preparation H....
When we got married in 1973, I could not afford an engagement ring. That was OK as my wife had already picked out the whole set. She just bought it herself.
A few days before the wedding we went shopping for a new car. I knew she had maybe a thousand in the bank but since she had just graduated college, I wondered how she would finance it.
It turned out her favorite Uncle was president of the bank.
I completely agree with you! Sapphires would be much prettier for engagement rings!