Your engagement is one of the firsts steps towards planning your dream wedding. But, before you dive nose deep into planning, you need to celebrate your engagement with friends and family.
A modern engagement party should serve two main purposes:
- Bring your family and friends that will be sharing your special day with you together, and
- Celebrating your engagement.
To make sure your engagement party successful, take a look at the advice for modern bride and grooms below:
Whose the party host?
Back in the past, the bride’s parents would host a party to announce the couple’s engagement but, nowadays, with social media and instant messaging, most people hear the news before you get a chance to tell them yourself.
Because the party is a fun celebration rather than a formal announcement, the bride’s parents aren’t held responsible anymore - any family member or friend can host the party.
Who’s invited?
Usually, the most important people who are going to be at your wedding should also be at your engagement party. This includes family members, close friends and the bridal party.
How should the invites be sent out?
While the traditional way to send out invitations is in postbox; however, there are modern ways that make way more sense:
- Wedding website - you can provide guests with all wedding information as well as get people to RSVP for the events on one platform.
- Email - this is especially useful if you have guests that stay a long way away and ensures a quicker response to your invitation.
- Whatsapp group - this is an informal way to communicate with the guests that you want to invite to your party.
Should the guests bring gifts?
Guests do not need to bring gifts to an engagement party - this should be stated in the invite. However, a few guests may choose to bring gifts anyway.
What activities/proceedings should be planned for the party?
You don’t have to plan too many activities as the main point of the party is to get people to mingle and get to know each other. If is entirely up to you if you want to plan engagement party games and activities. See engagement party games here.
The two important proceedings that do need to happen at the party are:
- If the parents of the bride and groom haven’t met before, introduce them as soon as they arrive at the party.
- Schedule announcements and toasts.
What about alcohol?
It’s a party! Of course you can serve alcohol at your engagement party, unless some family members are completely against it. Just make sure you serve non-alcoholic drinks too.
What about food?
Food brings people together - you need to make sure your guests are well fed and watered. To save money, consider platters as opposed to à la carte options, especially if your engagement party is at a restaurant. If you’re having the party at a private location, hire a catering service to serve your guests. You need to make sure that all your guests dietary needs or preferences are catered for, this includes providing gluten-free or vegetarian food if needed.
Have you planned your engagement party? Let us know what you did in the comments.