It's been awhile since I've been on here. I 've been overwhelmed with work, my son's health issues & him starting 1st grade, funerals, family reunion, and my fiance still out of work. Now things are trying to calm down & I can get back to wedding planning. First up is our engagement party 9/22. It will be a small backyard gathering of our closest family & friends at my parents house. With all of the unexpected expenses that keep coming up, this party will be on a strict budget. My dad will grill and mom will cook all of the other dishes (hot wings, bbq wings, meatballs, ribs, spaghetti, mac n cheese, deviled eggs, fruits/veggies, and maybe some shrimp or chicken skewers. I'm waiting to hear back from someone who have made very detailed cakes for me in the past, but if I don't hear from her soon, I'll probably make cupcakes and decorate them really cute as I've done in the past for our family events. Most likely I will because it's very inexpensive. My mom does catering from time to time so we have the equipment and nice serving supplies to pull off a cheap but beautiful party. All the food will be lined up buffet style on the enclosed patio. Theres a full sized bar in the rec room fully stocked with every drink imaginable for guests. I'll also set up a few signature drinks outside as well as non alcoholic beverages.
I plan on having a guest table with a guestbook, our engagement story framed, photos from the night we got engaged, childhood photos of us, and other props to make it look nice. The party decorations will be in similar colors to our wedding (blue, black & white). I'm hoping guests will wear those colors to the party. I've seen some really nice pics where the guests dressed in a specific color scheme and the pics looked amazing. I know my guests won't cooperate, but a girl can dream right? I like the always & forever party theme at party city, so i'll probably use that theme (pictured). I'll have the balloons, table cloths, plates, napkins, and cups. The tables will have some sort of flower & candle centerpieces. I will probably hang some pom poms from the trees or paper lanterns.
I plan to start the party off with a greeting, hopefully my officiant whose a family friend will make it and do the blessing, then eat. During dinner our parents and/or fiance will give a toast. Then we'll play a few games such trivia of how we met, etc, maybe 2 truths & a lie, as well as hang a poster board and have guests write on it throughout the night...one half will have advice from the men & advice from the women. Sometime during the night I plan on officially inviting our wedding party to participate with cards i made that says "will you be my..." It lists the role, responsibilities, and attire information. Towards the end of the night my fiance's twins who are in a music group will perform a few songs.
So far thats what i have planned. If you have any other ideas or suggestions for my engagement party please feel free to share!
