A Cheeky Practical Joke To Play When Presenting Engagement Rings

I was talking with a friend the other day, who has already had the daunting task of shopping for an engagement ring for his partner. Initially he was prepared to spend way more than necessary, but after speaking to his Dad he found that was he estimated (£4K) was more than double what he could actually get for the engagement ring if he shopped around. It turns out his Dad had a contact who runs a diamond engagement ring website which was selling the same ring he was looking at on the high street for a fraction of what he was looking at, a much more reasonable price - £1700 (with a slight discount seeing as it was through a family connection).

Anyway, he had a great idea for when it came to presenting the engagement ring, which could potentially backfire (depending on your partner's sense of humour). His idea was to buy a cheap ass engagement ring from a well known catalogue company, and first present this. It would be a great test of reactions, and a gauge of how well your partner can hide their true emotions. On the other hand, it could be a sure fire way to end the relationship there and then. Either way, quite a funny idea I thought. But would you have the nerve to do it?

Here's some useful reading on the subject of popping the question and some engagement rings on the more affordable side of the spectrum:
Will You Marry Me?: Popping the Question With Romance And Style
Popping the question ..