Did you have an engagement party?

CLTKate · July 2010

What type of engagement party did you have? Who did you invite and where did you go? Is it common to have an engagement party?

alliegator8 · July 2010

We just had an engagement party hosted for us at FIs parent's fartm this past weekend. We weren't expecting to have one, but our parents we nice enough to organize one for us. We invite some close friends and our parents invited who they wanted. FI mom's pretty much took care of everything and it was very very lovely.

My friend, who got married last year, threw an engagement party/ open house party for her and her FI. It was a lot of fun.

So I would say it is not unusual.

pirategal03 · July 2010

No one offered to throw us one so we didn't have one.

I've never been to one, so I don't think they're common in my social circle.

lynettas720 · July 2010

We were thinking of doing an engagement/housing warming party but we ended up not having one. I thought I wanted one but I'm ok with not having it.

Pinky09 · July 2010

We didn't have one. I was offered either an engagment party or a bridal shower, I picked bridal shower!

I've never been to an engagement party, don't really see the point. Our parents/family took us to a nice dinner when we got engaged!

Beth0882 · July 2010

We didn't mean to have one. We did have a housewarming party around Christmas-time (also a second annual Christmas party). We bought the house in Sept, got engaged in Nov., and then by the time we had the house in order it was time for the annual party anyway. We had no intention of making it an engagement party, but a lot of people referred to it that way (invites said housewarming) and brought us engagement/housewarming presents and cards.

CJ4578 · July 2010

My mom threw us an engagement cocktail party a couple months after we got engaged. I actually really loved it because we invited a lot of our friends and family friends who live out of state and we hadn't seen them since we got engaged. It was great to celebrate with them. My mom chose to have it at the place we got engaged (The Carolina Inn) so that it was really easy on her (she just had them run with it) and everyone thought it was cute to be able to "re-live" our engagement.

Oh, also she chose to have it around the holidays so we didn't worry too much about decor because the hotel was decked out.

I will say, I totally loved it, but I've only actually been to mine, none of my other engaged friends have had them, and so I would say it's definitely not required. If you wanted to do one but weren't sure about it, you can always have a "couple's shower" (which we also did, FIs mom wanted to throw a party but didn't want to be around me without her son there, so... yeah.) It's similar to an engagement party, but of course there is more emphasis on gifts.

HTH!

meredithl618 · July 2010

Yes! We had an engagement party in October of 2008, so a few months after we got engaged but a long ways before the wedding. It was a cocktail party hosted at my parent's house with about 60 people in attendance. I thought it was really great and enjoyed seeing a lot of family and friends that made the trip for it.

I think it's a great idea if the wedding is still a long ways off, so at the beginning of the engagement. But, it's not good for guests if you're having showers and other wedding related parties around the same time, closer to the wedding, that's just too many parties.

ks3pink · July 2010

We had one last September when we offically set a date. We had been engaged two years but since we had finally chosen a date I asked my parents about it and they thought it was a great idea. We had it outside at me parents house, the kids played and we had music and lots of conversation. We invited our families, pastors at our church and close friends. My dad cooked, we had bbq, boiled potatoes, green beans and cole slaw. It was awesome!

GirlieGirl27320 · July 2010

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_north-carolina_did-engagement-party?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local Wedding BoardsForum:115Discussion:2d93d81c-9d52-42c7-86c0-91d12ffc5d53Post:e0c59459-af93-4bdf-a095-a216d102cb44">Re: Did you have an engagement party?</a>:
[QUOTE]No one offered to throw us one so we didn't have one. I've never been to one, so I don't think they're common in my social circle.
Posted by pirategal03[/QUOTE]
Same here. I had never even heard of one until TK.

CLTKate · July 2010

thank you for all the info!! I had never really heard of them until fi was invited to an engagement dinner a couple of years ago. ... we were wondering if it was expected/normal to do a dinner or party to celebrate.

ks3- i love the idea of a casual outdoor bbq!!

although i wouldnt want anyone to bring gifts.

CJ4578 · July 2010

A note on gifts- I actually didn't think one brought gifts to an engagement party (reading etiquette after it says gifts are optional for an e-party), but a couple people did to mine. I felt bad because I hadn't put anything on the invite saying don't bring gifts, so I would recommend either saying no gifts on the invite or do it word-of-mouth style.

CLTKate · July 2010

thanks CJ! we need to add "no gifts" to our wedding invites too. I'll have to remember that.

Did you have an engagement party?

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