Much ado about engagement rings

Like any other girl I can appreciate the beauty of a nice engagement ring although they are not really my style, which is why by popular request I started the rings & rocks series to shed some light on the process of choosing a ring. However I'll start by saying I personally do not wear an engagement ring.  That's right. I love all things wedding related except engagement rings.  I guess you could call me the scrooge of engagement rings?
 I'll tell you why. 
Firstly aside from my wedding band, I don't wear any jewelry; no ear rings, bracelets, necklaces or rings.  I've never been that girly girl that has to desire to be sparkly at all times so engagement rings never appealed to me in that sense.  Secondly engagement rings seem a tad outdated to me and  if I must be 100% percent honest I don't really understand the point of them. 

-From my understanding, engagement rings symbolize the fact that you are betrothed; promised in marriage to another, so then why do we continue to wear them once the wedding is over and we are officially married.  If they symbolize engagement then maybe we should only wear them during the engagement period?
- I do understand that they hold sentimental value and that's why people wear them for a lifetime in combination with their wedding band,  but why are they more expensive, more valuable and more of a big deal than the wedding band? To the extent that people actually spend all their savings or go into debt for the perfect engagement ring, but spend only a fraction of that amount on the wedding band. Is the promise to marry, more important than the marriage vow itself?
-In my traditional West African culture, both rings are really only meant be worn after they have been presented to the bride on the day of the traditional marriage ceremony, at which point since you are already married, what is the purpose of the engagement ring?

All in all I like a nice classy ring, but I'm not convinced that engagement rings are worth all the time, money and worry that goes into them...

And while we are on the topic of engagement rings, I can't help but comment on the newest celebrity engagement ring: Kelly Clarkson. I love her voice and style of singing and even had one of her songs in my wedding, but I have no words for her engagement ring!  She managed to combine all the features I like the least.  I guess she wanted to be original with the colored stone but the combination of the halo, size, color cut and band, is just way too much going on.  Sorry Kelly but my eyes are offended.. Congrats all the same :)