Tony 'rings in' a fashion trend

Helen and Tony Petersen, who have been married for 33 years, gave each other engagement rings.

Nev Madsen

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• Man-gagement has a ring to it

MOST men never get an engagement ring.

But Westbrook man Tony Petersen is the exception.

Mr Petersen and his wife Helen got engaged on Christmas Eve 1977, after knowing each other for only seven weeks.

They decided to do something a little bit different to most couples at that time.

"We bought her (Helen's) ring first and then she decided she wanted to get me one too," Mr Petersen said.

And he had no objections.

Mrs Petersen said she was not a particularly strong traditionalist and just felt it only seemed fair her partner got something too.

"Men's engagement rings weren't available then so she bought a signet ring, had the stone replaced with a small diamond and gave it to me as an engagement ring," Mr Petersen said.

He said he wore the ring as an engagement ring until the couple was married on Christmas Eve of 1978, but after that could not fit it on his finger with the wedding ring, so whenever the two went out, he wore it on his other hand.

"A couple of years later I lost my wedding ring in the surf and instead of buying another I started to wear my engagement ring as my wedding ring, and I still do," he said.

Essential Grooms.com.au editor Matthew Paroz said the rise in "man-gagement" rings was due to same sex marriages and an increase in women proposing to their men.

He said men choosing to wear an engagement ring was all about a sense of equality for new age couples and a way to say they were taken and off the market.