The diamond industry is a weird one.

Yes, diamonds are very pretty, and also very durable, which makes them great jewelry.

But we also have to remember that the idea that your marriage is only worth something if you buy a very very expensive rock is ultimately the result of generations of marketing.

Because when we get too wrapped up in the rocks, things go awry, like in this story.

WIBTA for not following my fiancé’s family tradition?

Me (27F) and my fiancé (30M) are getting married in October, we’re planning everything pretty extensively so we can have more peace when it’s closer to the wedding date.

For some context, I am a very spiritual person, he knew this going into our relationship and it has never been a problem until now.

I believe that everything has a sort of spiritual connection and can impact your life in some way (ie: crystals having power in your life.)

Look, I know that the crystal nonsense is no more inherently silly than any other woo, but for some reason it especially bothers me.

Maybe because it’s such a privileged form of bull; buying way overpriced rocks and insisting that those who don’t are spiritually lacking.

Anyway. She goes on.

Anyways, while discussing wedding plans I mentioned where we were going to get the rings, because my friend is a jeweller and offered free custom rings as a gift, he looked at me very confused and said we were going to his parents rings because they have been passed down from his great grandparents and it was tradition for the eldest child to marry using them.

He had never expressed wanting to do this before, though I did know about the tradition, I just assumed he didn’t want to participate.

I told him I didn’t want to use their rings since his parents got divorced and I believe that would bring bad karma into our marriage which I don’t want.

It got very heated and he ended up saying that my dumb beliefs were the only thing ruining our soon to be marriage.

Hey man, I agree this is dumb, but I’m not engaged to her.

What’s your deal?

I left and went to my parents house to cool off and got a couple calls from his mom which I didn’t pick up because I was upset, I then got a few dozen nasty texts from her pretty much saying I was ruining tradition and how she knew I wasn’t right for her son from the start.

I’m super confused, upset, and now I’m second guessing my decisions.

Would I in the wrong for ruining his family tradition and not using the rings?

Nobody in the comments was terribly sympathetic to anyone in the story:

This is life on the fringe.

But geez, what a mess.

This person laid out why EVERYONE sucked, individually:

Yikes. Just yikes.

If you enjoyed that story, read this one about a mom who was forced to bring her three kids with her to apply for government benefits, but ended up getting the job of her dreams.