AITA for ruining my boyfriend’s proposal?
My boyfriend (30M) and I (30F) started shopping for engagement rings a few months ago. It should be an incredibly exciting time, but I’m pretty sure I just ruined our relationship.
For context: We work at the same company (not frowned upon at our firm) and make good money. He grew up upper middle class, my family was working class immigrants. Many of our friends have also recently gotten engaged and talk about their $30-40K engagement rings. I’m happy for them, but in my mind that’s an unbelievable waste of money. I would prefer a modest sized lab grown diamond, closer to $5-10K max. He, on the other hand, thinks that would make him look “cheap” in front of friends and coworkers. We’ve tried to discuss and compromise, but I’m still so uncomfortable with the idea of owning something so expensive that has… basically no utility?
Our disagreement on this has been escalating and last night I finally blew up at him. I told him “the ring will be on MY finger, so you get the ring I want or none at all”. He looked shocked, went silent for a while, and finally went into the bedroom and came back with a box containing a ring he had already purchased. He practically threw it at me, didn’t say anything, and left our apartment to go god knows where. Well, I opened the box and the ring was everything I didn’t want. It looks comically big on my finger and seemed far, far too expensive. I know I should be grateful, but I just couldn’t stop thinking about how that could have been a down payment for an apartment for saving for our future kids. Honestly, I was mad that he completely disregarded my wishes.
After a few hours, I started to get worried and texted him to apologize. No response. He eventually came home, but hasn’t spoken to me all day today. I told a few close friends what happened and they think I ruined a proposal because I’m stubborn and irrational. They don’t understand how wasteful this is to me when I grew up not being able to afford basic essentials or much needed medical care.
I’ve been so clear about my boundaries from the beginning, and I honestly think my opinion should matter more for a ring I’m going to wear. So AITA for ruining my relationship over a ring? Should I have been grateful and not fought him on this?