A US woman has been applauded worldwide for sharing a photo of her modest, US$130 engagement ring after a shop assistant labelled it "pathetic".
Ariel McRae was shopping in a Pandora jewellery store with her partner of two years, Quinn, when she found a ring she was "so in love with".
However, when the Tennessee couple were looking at the rings, another shop assistant interrupted and said: "Y'all can you believe that some men get these as engagement rings? How pathetic."
In a Facebook post that has been shared nearly 50,000 times, McRae said her husband's face fell at the remark.
"My husband doesn't have a lot, neither of us do. We scrape and scrape to pay bills and put food in our bellies ... I wasn't even thinking about rings, I just wanted to marry my best friend," the 22-year-old wrote.
"He already felt like a failure, asking me again and again 'Are you sure you'll be happy with these? Are you sure this is okay?' But it isn't the ring that matters, it is the love that goes into buying one that is.
"My husband was so afraid of me not wanting him because he couldn't afford a piece of jewelry. He was afraid that the love I have for him would pale because he couldn't afford the wedding set I wanted. The world has made it this way and it is so sad.
"But here I am though, Court-House married, $130 ring set, the love of my life by my side and happier than I could ever imagine."
Her post has attracted a lot of support and strangers from around the world have shared pictures of their small, non-traditional engagement rings.
"My rings are from Walmart, I didn't care about the cost, I just wanted to marry the love of my life," one woman wrote.
"My grandparents did get married with bubble gum machine rings! They were happy! They stayed married and faithful their whole lives," another said.