Engagement Party Basics

You’re engaged! Congratulations! Now onto the first bit of planning you must do: the engagement party. This party is the perfect time for you to celebrate this new phase of your relationship with all of your loved ones. Here are some steps you need to take to ensure your engagement party is everything you want it to be and more!

1. Appoint a host

(Micheile Henderson via unsplash)

Seems easy enough. Usually, the parents of the bride are the hosts of the engagement party, but you can choose if you would like to host it yourself, or if a sibling wants to take on the task, or some friends, this is all up to you! Settling on a host is key to having an organized and stressless party. The host will help you determine almost every other aspect of this list, so this is truly an important first step.

2. Pick the venue and date

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The venue can be anywhere you want; you can pick a restaurant, a family member’s backyard, or you can convince your friend with the nice camp to let you host your engagement party there. You want to find a place that suits you and your partner; holding the party at someone’s house can give you the laid back and relaxed vibe you might be looking for, while reserving a table at your favorite restaurant can add a more intimate and elegant atmosphere. Settling on the at-home party experience can give you more opportunities to add a little DIY within your surroundings. Many people take the engagement party as a time to showcase the style and theme of their actual wedding. For example, if you are dying to have a rustic theme for your wedding, you might hold the engagement party in someone’s backyard with barn tables and decor to match and that will help create a cohesive wedding experience.

3. Create a guest list

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The guest list is important. As a general rule, the guest list to your engagement party should mirror the guest list to your actual wedding ceremony. This is not the time to add every person you have ever met, college friends you don’t really keep in touch with at all (but always said you would), instead, this is the space for all the people that truly love you and your partner to come together and celebrate the next phase of your relationship. When you have settled on a guest list, you must decide how you will spread the word. Physical invitations can help create an overarching theme for your guests to expect. If you are not into formal invitations, an e-vite or Facebook event could be more your speed and just as effective.

4. Choose an outfit

(Burgess Milner via unsplash)

Once you have settled on the larger aspects of your party, you can now focus on yourself! Deciding what to wear to your engagement party can be tricky. Do you and your partner want to be matchy-matchy, or do you want to play off of each other and have an interesting look, or are these things so trivial and you want to wear what you feel most comfortable in? Incorporating a piece of flattering shapewear into your look can enhance not only your comfort level but the energy you are radiating in the room as well. As this is your first big appearance as an engaged couple, you want to put together a look that gives you confidence and helps radiate the newly-engaged “glow” you are giving off.

Your engagement party is one of the first steps to planning the rest of your wedding. You want to use this event as a learning opportunity; figure what you liked planning, what you didn’t, what gave you the most stress, and what was the most fun. Conquering your engagement party will help you get excited about the long process of planning your wedding. So get started and enjoy!