It’s time to pop some bubbly and celebrate the news­–you’re getting married! The knee has been bent, the ring is on your finger, the “YES” has been emphatically stated. Planning an event is the perfect way to share your excitement with friends and family, and we’ve got great engagement party ideas below to help you get started.

Pick Your Host

First things first, decide who will be planning your engagement party event. It can be you and your partner, or anyone you both trust and who will be happy to arrange the details. They can deal with vendors and location managers, then do all of the heavy lifting of hosting the event so that you get to relax and enjoy it. If you’re looking to do something really special, this is the perfect moment to hire a party planner to create an event to remember.

Set the Date for Your Engagement Party

You’ll both be feeling excited from your good news, so we believe there is no time like the present to celebrate! Choose a date for the party that’s within the first few months of getting engaged. You want it to be close to the proposal to keep it relevant and before you all your focus is needed for planning a wedding­.

Create the Guestlist

It’s always best to have a smaller engagement party full of people you’ll be inviting to the wedding too. That way, you have a great place to start when planning your wedding guestlist. If someone else is hosting for you, always discuss the guests with them too so you’re happy with who will be joining the celebrations.

Choose a Suitable Venue

Look for a venue that will have the right amount of space for all your guests and think about how formal or casual you want it to be. It might be a private function at a restaurant or hotel, or a smaller engagement party at your house. It could be somewhere that takes you back to a certain time in your relationship. If you’ve enlisted the help of a professional party planner, they’ll have helpful suggestions ready to help you choose!

Set Up a Gift Registry

As soon as your loved ones hear the good news, they will want to send you gifts to show they’re excited for you! It’s a great idea to set up gift registry and have it ready before the invites go out for your engagement party. Your guests will appreciate the organization and will help them know the best way to say congratulations.

Send Out Engagement Party Invitations

The invites should reflect the style of the event, so your guests know what style of event to expect. It will help them plan accordingly by dressing appropriately, knowing if they can bring their children, and if they can bring a date. Send out traditional paper invites or beautifully designed paperless invites using websites such as Paperless Post.

Give at least a month’s notice for an engagement party and remember to add the RSVP with a date. The RSVP date gives a deadline for you to know who will be attending in advance, which means less time spent following up with prospective guests, and more time to organize catering and other details.

Book Your Vendors

When you have an idea of guest numbers and have a venue booked, you or your host can arrange some of the fun details of the engagement party. Think about how you would like to set the scene. Maybe you like the idea of a themed event, or to keep it simple with some flower arrangements and candles for ambiance.

More importantly, figure out what you’ll be feeding your guests. Depending on the size of your event, plan out a menu for a dinner event or appetizers for a more informal gathering. Also, if you’d like to capture all your loved ones being in one place, don’t forget to book a local event photographer!

Consider Special Moments

Your engagement party is the ideal time and place to formally ask your best man and maid of honour if they will be a part of your wedding, along with groomsmen and bridesmaids. If you have someone unconventional you would like to walk you down the aisle, or a loved one you might even want to preside over the wedding, that’s an option too. It’s up to you whether you want these to be intimate moments with the individuals or share the excitement with everyone.

Now you have the know-how to planning an engagement party, you might be excited to start organizing right away. If you’re looking for further guidance to make it happen, we’re here to help you every step of the way. Contact us today for a complimentary consultation to hear how we can make your event extra special!

If you enjoyed reading this, see our last post on how to make events eco-friendly.