You’re engaged – congratulations! Let's celebrate with an engagement party that'll live long in the memories!
We’ve rounded up the very best ideas and advice on how to throw the best engagement party ever.
How to Throw an Engagement Party
Organising your own engagement party can be a challenge, especially when you're already making a start on wedding planning. But we've curated the ultimate guide on how to throw an engagement party to help you get started!
Engagement Party Etiquette: Everything you Need to Know
An engagement party is the perfect chance to share and celebrate your good news with your loved ones, not to mention practise some event-planning skills before the big day!
Not sure where to start, or who to invite? Whether you want to stick to tradition or throw out the rulebook, here’s a few tips and ideas to get your engagement party-planning started.
Who should host an engagement party?
It’s traditional for the bride’s family to host the engagement party, which means they should have an input on the date and location. Whether it takes place in your home
town, or maybe where you've moved to.
Of course, if you’d rather have total control of your engagement party, there’s nothing wrong with hosting it yourselves.
Who should you invite to an engagement party?
Think carefully about who you want to invite, as anyone invited to the engagement party will expect an invitation to the wedding!
If someone besides you is hosting, you should also expect them to have a say in the guest list. There’s no harm in inviting friends or colleagues to a separate affair. Those people who wouldn't necessarily make the ‘cut’ for your actual wedding day, but who you'd like to celebrate with more informally.
Work out your engagement party budget
The budget is a key factor in determining what type of engagement party you can have, as well as where you can host it. With this in mind, it's best to establish how much you have to spend early on.
The major things you'll need to cover are likely to be catering, invitations and possibly venue hire. If you do have a smaller budget, that doesn’t mean you need to have a less-good engagement party. Simply craft your guest list and catering requirements around your event. For example, switch a formal sit-down meal with canapés and champagne cocktails to an upstairs bar/room in a nice pub.
Set a date
Choose a time and date that works best for you and your closest friends and family. While also considering how long you’d like to wait between the engagement and the celebration.
Our advice is to wait a few weeks before announcing a date to give you both a chance to reveal the engagement first and just enjoy being engaged. You want everyone to know that you intend to tie the knot, then give them something else to get excited about!
Pick your party style
Would you prefer a low-key and laid-back barbecue in the garden (weather permitting!), or a house party at a country manor/pub? When it comes to engagement party ideas, the choice is entirely yours.
Prioritise selecting a venue to suit the style of your celebration. You could even consider a venue totally off the scale, like an art gallery or the top of the Shard.
Think about where you’d like your wedding to take place, and keep your engagement party distinctively different. As much as you want this party to be the party of the year, it's best not to upstage the main event! Or wipe out your big day budget!
Send out the invitations, and don’t forget to clarify the dress code!
Give your guests plenty of time to reply, as this may be a determining factor in your entertainment and food plans. You may even want to wait until you know the exact numbers before revealing the location, just so you can plan the venue more appropriately.
If you’re having a luxury engagement party, ensure your guests know it and don’t be afraid to tell them. You don’t want them to turn up in casual attire, when you have put so much effort into planning such a lavish event!
Let guests know what to expect food wise. If you’re having drinks and canapés, tell them, or if it’s a luxury afternoon tea and cake in the garden, make that clear too.
Designate roles and responsibilities
Assign roles and responsibilities ahead of the event. Who will make formal introductions between guests that don’t know each other? Who will make the toasts?
Guests may bring you engagement gifts, so ask someone to take responsibility for them. If you’re not having a formal photographer, think about asking a couple of trusted guests to capture the evening for you.
Decide on entertainment
Nothing says ‘party’ like good music! Choose the entertainment to match the theme – if you’re after elegance, perhaps choose classic, acoustic sounds, but if it’s dancing you want, opt for a band to get everyone on the dance floor.
Engagement party time!
Finally, it’s party time. The venue is decorated, your guests have arrived, and the Prosecco corks have been popped. It’s time to toast to your engagement, and have the best night ever with your nearest and dearest – what better way to get everyone excited about your big day than by partying the night away!
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