There is a seemingly endless supply of options for wedding rings.
Everyone can pick the one that perfectly fits their life, aesthetic preferences, and love story.
But that doesn’t stop other people from judging or misinterpreting our choices.
One woman, Rachel Pederson, took to social media after years of people making unwelcome comments about the size of her wedding ring.
In a post that’s gone viral, she explains why she will never “upgrade” her smaller ring for one bigger.
Her explanation is a beautiful reminder of what is important in love, marriage, and life.
Her family and friends had all chimed in with unwelcome opinions.
Our loved ones are liable to share their opinions with us. They care and they want to see us live our best lives.
But over the years, Rachel’s family and friends had pestered her to upgrade her wedding ring. It was starting to wear on her, because she really didn’t feel the need to make the change and she didn’t like the assumption that she should.
So she decided to shut them down once and for all.
The ring is representative of her love story.
Rachel is deeply in love with her husband and the story of how they got to where they are in life is special to her.
What became a beautiful marriage comes from down-to-earth roots and a blind date.
Her best friend decided to set her up with her husband’s brother, and the two spent the whole night talking at a local diner.
They fell fast and said “I love you” by the next week. 13 days after meeting, they were engaged. They eloped and have been happily married ever since.
Rachel explained to The Knot:
“Initially we were going to wait 6 months so people didn’t think we were crazy. Just a few days after that, we determined we would elope and get started on our life together.”
They met at a humble time in their lives and Rachel never wants to forget that.
Rachel, who’s currently a Marketing Expert, is not embarrassed about her life.
When she met her husband, she was a single mom. For his part, he was working as a window-washer, so they both were working class.
Rachel’s engagement ring and wedding band ended up costing less than $1,000, which is far below the average costs.
For many people, engagement rings are a way of professing wealth and status; for Rachel and her husband, it was a simple gesture of commitment.
But despite how much Rachel loved her love story and her ring, onlookers kept making snide comments.
People did not hold back from sharing their opinions on her ring. In Rachel’s post, she even quotes one acquaintance as saying:
“You could wear a bigger ring for important events, so people don’t think you’re not successful.”
These types of comments were shocking to Rachel, because the love in her marriage was always her focus.
She didn’t like that her ring made statements about her marriage that did not represent their love story.
Rachel used her post as an opportunity to revel in the passion and happiness that her marriage has brought her, and to show that you don’t need shiny things to have a great life.
Rachel wanted to set the record straight and show people that she felt no need to upgrade her ring.
For her, her marriage being strong and loving was so much more important than a fancy ring.
She hoped that her post would end all the comments and let her and her husband tell their love story on their own terms.
Rachel reflects on her marriage and her husband’s love, and she ends the post with the sweetest affirmation of their life choices and priorities. She writes:
“He drained his savings to gift me with a small token of his love.
I say small, only because it pales in comparison with how big his love is, even now, after years of marriage.