Planning a wedding engagement party
Having an engagement party is a convenient way to introduce your fiancé/fiancée to your family and friends. Today, in our mobile society, the bride and groom may not live near family or old friends, so having an engagement party is a quick way to introduce a future spouse to a group of people at one time. The following tips will help you plan a successful party.
- The parents of the either the bride or groom usually host the party, though a grandparent, an aunt and uncle, a close friend of the parents, or a godparent may choose to host it instead. If both sets of parents live in the same community and are acquainted, they might co-host the party. The bride and groom do not host their own engagement party. However, they might have an informal party with their friends at which they share their good news.
- It is okay to have two engagement parties, each hosted by one set of parents, if the parents of the bride and groom live in different communities and have different friends. If both families live in the same community, only one party is held and both sets of parents are invited. However, only the friends and family of the hosting parents are invited unless both sets of parents co-host the party.
- The purpose of the party is to celebrate the engagement. Therefore, the party should be held shortly after the engagement occurs and several months before the wedding. One of the hosting parents, usually the father, announces the engagement at the party and welcomes the groom/bride into their family.
- Invite only close friends and family who are also friends of the bride or groom, not just the parent’s friends. Don’t invite people you don’t intend to invite to the wedding.
- Keep the party simple and relaxed. You might have a barbeque or a cocktail party without a pre-planned program and at which guests can mingle and visit with the couple.
- Gifts aren’t usually given at engagement parties (that’s what showers are for). If they are, it is most often a bottle of wine or a wedding planning book for the bride. If someone brings a gift, the couple might accept it, then put it aside to be opened at a later time so guests who didn’t bring anything aren’t embarrassed. Gifts of wine or food do not need to be served at the party.
Having an engagement party is one way to officially “kick off” the wedding planning process, so enjoy your time as you get better acquainted with each other’s families and friends before you become embroiled in all the planning details.
-© 2006, Glenna Tooman, Memory Makers Event Planning, LLC; all rights reserved