Diamonds Are Bullshit

You can always game the system. My wife purchased a lab-made champagne diamond (colouring is from nitrogen IIRC). It was a pretty damn big rock, had only VVS inclusions and was cheap. Slap that thing in a gold band and your wife-to-be has a real diamond - your average jeweler won't have the tools to spot that it's artificial unless it's tagged. Thing was, my wife was a chem student at the time and thought it was cool. I was a young bloke with something to prove so I purchased the real-deal and spent the next three years paying it off.

Moral: marry nerds. And perhaps swallow your pride.

did it, and it was awesome. My personal feelings is that if get into the habit of spending money on illogical things, then it is going to continue onward and forever. My wife is on the same page, so...