Should You Throw an Engagement Party?

Factors That Determine Whether to Throw an Engagement Party Before Your Wedding

Brides often debate whether they should “splurge” and throw an engagement party. After all, you’ve already made your announcements and let the world know that you’re engaged. Is it really necessary to have an engagement party?

The answer to that question will depend on a number of factors:

• Have your families already met? Some couples end up getting engaged very early in their relationship. When you know, you know – and there’s no need for a long build-up before making the commitment to spend the rest of your life with your partner. But a quick engagement might mean that your families have never met, whether it’s close family or extended family. If that’s the case for your families, it might make sense to throw an engagement party so that the in-laws and other relatives can break the ice and get to know each other in advance of the wedding ceremony.
• Have your friends met? Just as it’s important for your family members to be familiar with each other before the wedding, it will also be helpful for your close friends to be acquainted when the wedding date arrives. Depending on certain contextual factors such as where everyone lives and how long you’ve been dating, it’s very possible that your friends and your future spouse’s friends have never been in the same room together – let alone had an opportunity to truly communicate. What better opportunity to make that happen than at an engagement party? This way, they can interact and get to know each other before the big day.
• What is your wedding budget? One major factor in your decision to throw an engagement party is likely to be the total budget you’ve allocated for your wedding and wedding-related events. You already know that there will be a wedding ceremony, and there may also be a rehearsal dinner, bridal shower, bachelorette party, bachelor party, and wedding reception. Depending on your budgetary constraints and the affordability of throwing an engagement party, you might want to minimize the total number of events that you have to pay for.
• Do you want a “trial run” for planning your wedding? Planning a wedding is not easy, even when you’ve got a professional planner helping to guide you throughout the planning process. An engagement party could provide you with the perfect opportunity to assess your ability to plan a “mini-wedding” of sorts, while also allowing you to test vendors and give your possible wedding venue a run-through before committing to anything for the actual big day. Think of the engagement party as a good pre-planning exercise.