Getting Engaged in Russia. Do I Need an Engagement Ring?

If you have been dating a Russian, Belarussian or a Ukrainian woman for awhile and finally decided to make her your wife, CONGRATULATIONS! We wish you at least a hundred of happy years together.

You were probably already thinking about where you’ll live; where you’ll go for your honeymoon, where to buy a king-sized bed; who to invite for your wedding and maybe even how many children you would like to have. It is all good, but how about the engagement? Did you do your homework and learned how is it done in Russia and Eastern Europe?

If you already spent a fortune for airplane tickets, phone calls and flowers, here are good news. Russians don’t really have engagement ceremonies as Westerners do and Russian women do not expect diamond rings from their future husbands. Whew…

In Russia a guy just asks a woman if she is going to marry him and if she says yes, it is done, they are engaged. Now, he can do it on his knees, at home, at a restaurant, or on the roof. There are no rules. It all depends on his imagination and on the budget. The guy is usually dressed up and it is appropriate for him to give her flowers.

Sometimes, prior to the “engagement”, an old-fashioned guy would go to his bride’ father and ask him for her hand (just to clarify: he still wants the rest of her body).

As far as the rings go, Russian call their wedding bands the “engagement” rings, so there is no tradition to give a ring prior to the wedding.

However, you may still want to buy your Russian woman an engagement ring, just because she may be aware of the Western culture. You don’t have to go nuts, but it would be nice if you got her a classy ring, even if it is not diamond. A great place to buy beautiful clearance jewelry is Bidz.com. It is an auction site, where you can register for free and score a beautiful ring pretty cheap. Or check Buyz.com, which is not an action site, but is owned by the same company as Bidz, I believe.

However, God forbid telling your Russian bride that you got the ring on sale, even if you are very proud of yourself for getting a great deal. It is better not to say anything about the price.

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