imma stop you both right there and please hear me out.
the proper pairing for eating tulips is Belgian ale.
because Belgian ales are served in…
wait for it…
a tulip glass!
oh, and to stay on topic: diamonds, as pushed by DeBeers, Antwerp, Belgium,… beer, Belgium… Belgian ale… tulip glass.
Not forgetting the crazy eternity ring business was dreamt up by De Beers in the 1960s to absorb a huge surge in small diamonds coming from the Soviet Union. The slogan was: “She married you for richer or poorer. Let her know how it’s going.”
And when they needed new markets they sold the idea of diamond engagement rings to Japan and then China as something especially luxurious to aspire towards.
Yep.
I’ve got one friend who was quite well paid and went into noteworthy debt to pay for his amazing wedding ceremony. Divorced in six months.
My brother-in-law spent $5k on the entire wedding ceremony including outfits, the venue, and food and drinks for around 50 guests. That was about 15 years ago. Still together.
It’s not scientific, just an opinion: the more you spend on a wedding, the more you hope money will fix things.
Money can fix a leaky roof. People are inherently strange and problematic and messy inside, and keeping things ok between people takes a lot more than just money.
I think there is a correlation with how much one posts on social media about their love and amazing marriage. And randomly changing their profile pic, or posting pics from their wedding at random years to show how much in love they still are at 4 years and 84 days after their wedding.
Usually divorce is imminent.
I thought that everyone on the internet ;] had read that article “Have you tried to sell a diamond?” when it was being posted everywhere a few years ago.
Yeah, somebody was coving for their theft. Unless the paper was made of magnesium, it didn’t ignite diamonds, which have an ignition point above 1500 degrees F. Paper can reach less than 1000 degrees F unless there is some driving force to make it hotter like pressurized oxygen.
When my wife and I got married 20 years ago (my second, her first) we had a very low-key affair at a hotel. Indoor/outdoor, 50 people, catered by their restaurant - they even baked the cake for us for like 150 bucks. My first time 'round was… not a small gathering and too much.
I’m not sure the exact amount we spent, but we specifically kept it low key so as to not go into debt for a party. And we’re happily married still, so perhaps you’re right. 
My niece got married by her sister on the stoop of her apt. building in Brooklyn NY this September and the party was in a nice bar where they ordered in pizza. NYC will sell anyone a license to officiate, good for one day, for under 200$.
The wedding ring I bought for my wife is an emerald, (with teensy inexpensive diamond chips on each side just to fulfil the requisite diamond symbolism). And my wife got the gold wedding bands done by a family friend in her home country for a fraction of the cost in the US. More sentimental value for less money.
Also wedding planning protip: any item such as cake or flowers automatically and significantly go up in price if the word “wedding” is in the description. Whatever a wedding cake costs, you can get the exact same cake for less if it’s not called “wedding cake”
Her dress was from a consignment store, we used our backyard, total cost was something like $2400 25 years ago.
There are also expensive weddings that are more about one or more parents showing off for friends and business associates than they are about the bride and groom. Whether it’s that or an over-compensating couple, the wedding-industrial complex (including De Beers) profits.
Artificial gems.
Moissanite costs 10x Cubic Zirconia for same size. Hardly anyone would be able to tell the difference. Seems like Moissanite is the hipster version of tacky but practical CZ.
A paper fire can reach over 1600 degrees F. I read the story 40 years ago. It may have been more than just wrapped in paper.
Yes…if. If it’s in an oxygen-rich environment or with pressurized air blowing at it, but not just some paper burning in a box.
Yeah, I’ve seen a science experiment where in pure oxygen they were able to burn diamond. Pretty neat.
That’s a double-whammy, since the ignition source is hotter and the diamond really really wants to burn in that O2.
I got the wife’s engagement ring at Sears. Star Sapphire, with four teenie diamonds on the sides. $300 with a coupon.
Sir Humphry Davy (one of the greatest chemists of the first half of the 19th Century) believed that carbon and diamond were chemically identical. In 1814, he conducted an experiment with a solar furnace that allowed him to burn a diamond in air. There was no residue, and the only product was carbon dioxide. Score another one for Davy.
His paper is here:
