Study Says If He Spends More Than This On A Ring, Plan For Divorce

The ancient Romans and Greeks believed that diamonds were tears cried by the gods or splinters from falling stars. Isn't that beautiful? Romans also believed that Cupid's arrows were tipped with diamonds (possibly the first known association between diamonds and love).

The word diamond comes from the Greek word adamas, which means invincible or indestructible. Ah, if only a diamond could guarantee that a marriage would also be unbreakable.

In the study "'A Diamond is Forever' and other Fairy Tales: The Relationship Between Wedding Expenses and Marriage Duration" by Emory University, economic professors Andrew M. Francis and Hugo M. Mialon found that the more money a couple spent on their wedding and engagement rings, the more likely they were to divorce.

I'm sure that bit of news isn't going to make the Bridezillas happy.

3,370 American adults (who have been married at some point in their lives) were surveyed, and the researchers discovered that participants who had spent a ton of money on engagement rings and/or their weddings were more likely to end up divorced.

The study found that men who spent $2,000 to $4,000 on engagement rings were 1.3 times more likely to end up divorced than men who spent $500 to $2,000. Women who received expensive engagement rings also experienced higher rates of divorce.

The researchers also found that women whose weddings cost $20,000 or more were 3.5 times more likely to end up divorced than women who spent $5,000 to $10,000. Wow!

So, it isn't good for a marriage to spend too much on a ring or the wedding. But the study also found that it wasn't good to spend too little. You just can't win, can you?

If the man spent less than $500 on the ring, there was a higher likelihood of divorce. But just to mess with an already frazzled bride and groom-to-be, if $1,000 or less was spent on a wedding, that significantly reduced the risk of divorce — meaning elope or go down to the courthouse if you really want your marriage to last.

But why would the expense of the ring and/or the wedding mean bad times ahead for the marriage? The authors hypothesize that the connection between super-expensive weddings and engagement costs could gift the bride and groom with a lot of financial stress that could affect the couple and their relationship. 

Some couples, determined to spare no cost even though they couldn't afford it, would suffer the consequences in their marriage. Financial stress is known to be a marriage-killer.

An engagement ring is supposed to be a symbol of your never-ending love, not a major stressor of your marriage.