Bride’s Best Friend Loses Her Engagement Ring and Wedding Band

It’s a universal phenomenon nearly all engaged or married women will experience: Shortly after the proposal or wedding, you’ll be spending time with friends and notice a pal eyeing those sparkly rings on the fourth finger of your left hand. When they ask to try them on, you’ll happily agree; after all, you’re excited to show off your shiny new accessories and what harm could really come from your friend, who is sitting right next to, trying the rings on for just a moment? According to a recent bride, who shared her story on Reddit’s r/Advice forum, quite a lot.

In a post titled “Best friend lost my engagement & wedding rings,” a recent bride shared her story of allowing her longtime friend the chance to try on her big-day jewels. “A few months ago, I was visiting my friend who lives 1.5hrs away for the weekend. She asked me if she could try on my rings and of course I said yes and let her. We were drinking and we both forgot that she had them on her hand,” the bride recalls. She left the next morning, forgetting that her friend still had the rings in her possession. Somehow, she didn’t realize until the friend sent a photo of the rings, saying she’d bring them to the original poster next time they were together. “I knew I’d see her within the next few weeks. Anyway, next time I see her I ask her if she can bring the rings back to me and says, ‘Yes, of course packing them now.'”

Unfortunately, the rings never made it back to her. The pal told the OP that she “forgot” them at home, so the bride offered to drive up to her house the following weekend to retrieve them. She made the trip as planned, but the rings were no where to be found when she arrived at her friend’s place. After weeks of back and forth, it was clear the rings were missing. “She doesn’t really even seem sorry about it either. Doesn’t really apologize just asks me to calm down and says, ‘I’m sure they’ll turn up..’ We literally turned her place upside down and don’t find them. She lives alone but has a boyfriend.”

The two women, who are in their early 20s, have been friends since high school, the OP explains, and she notes that her friend has never been an overwhelmingly forgetful person. She also explained that the friend has taken items of her clothing in the past, which she dismissed as “innocent” at the time. Now, the bride’s husband is upset with her over the fact that her engagement ring and wedding band—which are worth around $11,000—are gone.

While other Reddit users sympathize with her loss, most agree that she should have never left the rings behind in the first place. “No offense, but you really shouldn’t take those rings off,” one user wrote. “She’s stolen from you in the past, you remained friends and voluntarily gave her two pieces of jewelry?” Others suggested she check area pawn shops and online resellers, as it seems as if the friend may have sold the jewelry.