The ring is firmly on the finger, and now you get to gather your friends and family together for your engagement party! Depending on your combined personalities as a couple and your idea of fun, the engagement party can be anything from a high-end, black-tie affair at an upscale event venue to a more casual, laid-back gathering at home. No matter what, make sure you plan a party that will celebrate your love and make you both happy.
If you’re looking for a little creative direction and some quick power tips for your engagement party planning, check out our tips below.
Theme It!
Lots of couples enjoy hosting a themed engagement party instead of more formal or traditional events. Having a theme can still be classy, for example, a “chocolate and champagne” party—or it can be silly and light, such as a luau theme. Or it can be somewhere in between, such as a “famous couples in history” party.
Image: buildabirthday.com
Maybe you want some sort of a theme, but you also want to keep it fairly simple. If this is the case, you can hold a simple wine tasting party. Or if you already know your wedding colors (unlikely, but hey—some couples have been thinking about this since they started dating), one idea is to use those colors as the main theme for your engagement party.
Invite With Plenty Of Advance
Whether you go traditional with your invites and physically mail them out or you decide to invite your guests online through Facebook or another event platform, make sure to give people enough of a heads-up. This is a critical part of engagement party planning in order to make sure everyone knows in time.
Three weeks before the engagement party is normal, but some couples choose to send them out a month beforehand. And as a general rule of thumb, don’t invite anyone to the engagement party that you’re not inviting to the wedding.
Cater Creatively
At an engagement party, there’s usually no need for a big sit-down meal. Most couples decide to just serve hors d’oeuvres or have fruit tables and desserts.
A fun way to get creative with this is to serve foods that say something about you as a couple—such as catering from your favorite restaurant together, or maybe the restaurant where you had your first date. Some couples even decide to serve their favorite foods from their childhoods, like French fries, PB&Js, pizza, and ice cream.
Image Source: Austin Food Magazine
If you want a certain type of catering, consider building your party around it. For example, if you want to have Mexican food, create a “Mexican fiesta” with traditional music, décor, and attire.
And as far as sweets, if you want to serve something more interesting than the regular expected cake or cupcakes, try something a little more trendy and unpredictable, like macaron ice cream sandwiches, loop churros, or mini mason jar apple pies.
Attire Formality Should Be Clear
These days, “engagement party” can mean anything from a fancy champagne event to a backyard barbecue. Because both formal and casual engagement parties are common, it’s important to let your guests know what they should wear.
Image Source: thespruce.com
This is usually one of the first questions that guests will ask after being invited. No one wants to show up to a beachside engagement party in an evening gown, so make sure the attire guidelines are clear to everyone. It may seem trivial, but this is an important part of engagement party planning.
Inform Guests About Gifts
Gifts are usually reserved for the bridal shower and the actual wedding, but many people still think they need to bring a present to the engagement party.
Because of this common misunderstanding, it’s a good idea to say somewhere on the invitation that gifts are not expected at the engagement party. The last thing you want are guests who feel awkward at your party because they either brought something, or didn’t.
Image Source: BrightEyedBirdie
If you’re starting your engagement party planning and you’re interested in hosting your party with us at Hollywood Banquet Hall, contact us to learn about pricing and availability! We would love to celebrate with you.