Glad I missed that trend! I guess if the initial rings were meant to be stopgap measures, maybe? My first wife and I did that, but we went from engaged to married in three days — time was kinda tight, and the local jeweler had a sale...

With Deb, OTOH, we went the other way. Her engagement ring is my paternal grandmother's engagement ring (it's in the photo I used for "I Like Being Married") with an antique filigree that needs cleaning every few years. Our wedding rings we made from scratch, using grandma's diamonds from another ring. (My sister got her engagement ring done with the diamonds from yet another of grandma's rings — yes, grandma came from money — so it's not like we hogged all the jewelry.) History? We got history!