Engagement time-table

joshack

Hi all,

Recently engaged... almost a month now.. wow! We're planning on a January 2013 wedding. At what point do we start thinking about an engagement party and all the stuff the goes on before the big day? How early is too early to start planning?

I work best if I have a timeline and I am feeling so overwhelmed by everything. Any and all advice would be helpful!!

Thanks!

ivyrose13

You just plan the wedding, someone else plans the engagement party and all the pre-wedding stuff. 

SuMmErKuTiE

Usually the engagement party is at the begining of the engagement within the first few months. But don't worry about that, since it's a party that should be thrown for you just like all other pre-wedding parties and showers since it's bad etiquette to throw a party in honor of yourself.

The bridal shower and bachelorette party are usually in the weeks leading up to the wedding (usually about 4-8 weeks before). These parties are also thrown for you and planned by others so you get to just show up and enjoy them. Like pp mentioned, just worry about planning the wedding and the other parties will be planned for you if someone offers to host them for you. HTH!

marissa_claire

Ditto PP.  Someone else will throw you an engagement party.  It's in bad taste to throw it for yourself.  

At this point in time, I would focus more on the relationship than the wedding.  You might be excited for the wedding, but thinking about the wedding day two years out is bound to set you up for disappointment.  Before you take any actions, I would recommend sticking around the Knot and looking for good ideas, advice on picking the bridal party, when to book things, etc.  You'll find a lot of experience around here that can help!

SaraAndrew2010

Ditto PPs about not throwing your own engagement party.  I would also offer the advice to be careful with the guest list if someone does offer to throw you an engagement party.  Anyone invited to a pre-wedding party, such as an engagement party, must also be invited to the wedding.  Obviously with your wedding so far off it's hard to know how big the guest list will be.  So I would advise keeping any engagement parties fairly small.  You wouldn't want to invite a bunch of people who 2 years from now you decide you don't want to invite to the wedding.

joshack

Thanks ladies.

I know about the party etiquette- no worries there... I'm not that self centered. Just excited.

It's going to be a big event... theres at least 100 immediate family members! It's funny... I thought my guy would be a typical guy and slink away from the pre planning... but he's diving into this with the same gusto as me!