In the article, the guy mentions he's earning low 6 figures, but supporting several of his family and his company had layoffs. He's a lucky man to dodge Miss Spendypants for sure! If she didn't like a $3,000 ring from such a guy, then perhaps a pig-ring is more suitable. Geez!
As a guy, my wife and I bought my simple gold band ring at Service Merchandise for $99 plus tax (I remember sitting with her and waiting at their God awful "take a number" style counter like it was yesterday). But, the ring has done quite well for 32 years and our annual net out of pocket cost is now down to at about $3 per year and decreasing (Though this does exclude the opportunity cost of capital... and more importantly, the additional cost of not buying it which is my girlfriend would have killed me at the time! So it was quite a good deal for sure! ;-)