How To Decide When To Throw Your Engagement Party

Once you’re engaged, you may immediately open a bottle of champagne and rush to your parents house to tell them the good news. After all, it is a day to be celebrated! But once you’ve told your closest loved ones and shared your ring selfies and just engaged snaps on social media, you may be planning to invite your more extended circle to join you in the celebrations with an engagement party. 

While an engagement party isn’t a mandatory part of the planning process, many couples do choose to take this extra step. An engagement party will be the real kick-off into your wedding planning and the guest list may help to dictate the guest list at your wedding. However, unlike a wedding there are less traditional customs and rules that dictate your planning as not every couple chooses to throw an engagement party. Therefore, your festivities can be as elaborate or as simple as you wish, with a large number of guests or an intimate group. The most important question to begin with is when should you be throwing this party. 

A number of factors will impact the timing of your engagement party. First, your need to determine who will be throwing your engagement party. While it’s not uncommon for the engaged couple to throw their own party, it may also be hosted by friends or family as a gift to the happy couple. This may impact the timing of the party as they will be the ones pulling the strings and dictating the party with your help. Some couples also opt to throw more than one party if their families live in different places or they've moved away from home. 

A good rule of thumb for the timeline for your engagement party is one or two months after the engagement. This gives you time to adjust to being engaged and enjoy the moment of your new relationship status before you start down the road of wedding planning. You don't want to jump into your engagement celebration too soon without having time to celebrate with your partner and enjoy this transition. Within this two month period of time, you’re not yet in the throes of the actual wedding planning, which makes it perfect for this smaller celebration. Your engagement party can be a trial run at planning a smaller party before the big day and you can also test out themes or ideas you're considering for the ceremony. 

If you are planning on having a shorter engagement, then this party date should be moved up to adjust for time so that your engagement party and wedding date aren't too close together. No matter when you plan your engagement party, make sure to give your guests as much notice as possible. This will be the first real step into your wedding festivities and all of your loved ones should be there to enjoy it with you.