If you’re a celebrity singer, you insure your voice and if you’re a professional athelete, you insure your body.  If you’re like me and everyone else on this planet, we insure our properties such as our cars and homes, or insure certain events in our lives such as critical illness and traveling abroad.  Nowadays, the trend is insuring your weddings.

I never insured my wedding, but I’ve read that wedding insurance could cost from $100 to $1,000 depending on the type of coverage.  The coverage could be for damage to wedding halls and reception facilities or cancelation due to bad weather such as snowstorms.  I could see protecting yourself from the “day after” the reception if you have intoxicated guests that caused damage to the reception hall.   Some even insure against the possibility of a “change of heart” by either the bride or the groom.

Wow… insurance is smart, and it’s especially good protection for individuals who have a lot at stake in the event.  We always hope for the best but rarely plan for the worst, especially on our wedding day.

What does it mean to receive and accept an engagement ring?  Does acceptance of the ring mean it is a gift from the guy to the girl?  Or is acceptance of the ring conditional on the requirement that you consent to the marriage?  I recently read that a man is suing his ex-fiancee to get his $64k ring back after she broke off the engagement.

In my mind, the word “engagement” is synomous with the word “commitment.”  A ring, in my mind, is a symbol of the commitment between the couple.  In non-western cultures, other symbols or approaches are used to get engaged  (i.e., this could include the guy’s family giving gifts to the bride-to-be’s family and asking for their acceptance).  So, when a guy decides to be commited to a girl and gives her a ring, this should simply mean he has given her a “gift” of his commitment.  And, when a girl decides to accept his gift and reciprocates her commitment, that constitutes the engagement phase.  There is no requirement that a ring be given in order for an engagement to exist.  Therefore, when a guy gives a girl a ring, that ring is simply a gift, no more no less. 

So, to me, a gift is a gift.  In legal terms, a gift should have no conditions attached to it; if it does, it would not be a gift.  So, once a donor gifts the gift, he no longer has ownership over it.  In summary, I think that it’s crazy to pursue legal actions to get a gift back once you’ve already gifted it to someone (even though it may be an expensive gift… such as a $64k ring… albeit this sounds to me like the gift was used to buy love instead of showing love).  Notwithstanding the above, as a kind gesture, if you’ve changed your mind about a guy and the gift is that expensive, you should give back the ring out of courtesy.