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Wednesday, September 17, 2014

So You're Engaged...Planning Your Engagement Party

I'm back for a second week of: So You're Engaged, Now What?



Besides picking our date (which we didn't stick with anyway), planning our engagement party was the very first thing I did when we got engaged. I knew my bridesmaids, but Iman wasn't sure on the number of his groomsmen and I really didn't want the number to be uneven. #ocdproblems

Now, give me a party to throw and I'm you're girl. I can throw together an impromptu party within an hour (complete with food, guests and some sort of decoration or theme). I can also spend forever picking out the perfect theme and creating everything.

My family is a party family. When we have parties it's not a little dinky dinner party (that's like, my ultimate goal), but a full blown occasion. Let's just say our birthday parties were "small" if there were only 75 people there - hence why our wedding was so large.

Note, take more pictures than I did. I literally have NONE with family

I spent quite some time agonizing over our engagement party before deciding: simple is better.

At least for me, I'm not a crazy glitter person, though I love to throw those parties for other people.

When you decide to plan your engagement party the first thing you need to think about is: How simple do you want it and who do you want to invite?

For us, we really wanted to get all of our family together to meet each other, finally. We also wanted to invite some friends. We looked at our engagement party as a chance to celebrate with some people who may not make the wedding guest list because of our budget. Some people send out wedding announcements for this, but we prefer to tell you in person.

Tiffany was my first friend. We don't talk often but I'm so happy she made it to the party! 


While we kept it simple (I really don't think there were any decorations), we  got creative with the food. I had some Pinterest recipes I wanted to try. Of course, I was still making food when our first guests arrived...but that's pretty typical of a Mexican family so no one minded.

TIP: Carry around a notepad and get everyone's addresses.

We used word of mouth and social media to invite people to our engagement party, although looking back, it would have been awesome to make real invitations and thank you cards. That stuff can get expensive though, amiright?

Creating a custom stamp for our wedding would have saved so much money! Think about it, if you have one "Thank you" stamp with your initials, you can put it on every card - with a personal note of course. It creates a unified theme!



When Diva Gone Domestic contacted me for a giveaway I was ecstatic - but sad that I had missed the window of my own wedding. So I got a stamp for my WQ letters to test it out. They also offer custom address stamps - which I want so badly, but I have no idea if we will be moving in the next 9 months, and that would be such a waste!



Diva Gone Domestic was started by Tara and is a full design studio - including wedding invitations and graphic design. Currently, they're doing 25 days of giveaways - so head on over to their blog to find more giveaways!



These stamps are the popular vintage wood-handle stamps, which makes it so easy to use! You definitely want to kiss the paper, instead of stamping it super hard. A little bit goes a long way!

I received this product complimentary to review. All opinions are my own.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

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70 comments:

  1. I love the stamp! I have always wanted a business card stamp.

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  2. LOVED your stamps that you put on the thank you notes. We did something similar, where I made thank you cards with our photo on the front (made them myself because I hated everyone elses designs and I mean c'mon, I'm a graphic designer - I had to). With a stamp of our address that I bought on Etsy. CUTEST ever.

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  3. Cute! What great ideas! Love the stamps!

    xoxo
    The Accidental Mama
    http://theaccidentalmama.com

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  4. Now I wish I had an engagement party! :) Such fun ideas! :)

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  5. LOVE that stamp. I never even thought about having an engagement party.. that totally slipped my mind in the whole wedding process for some reason!

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  6. Awesome giveaway! I LOVE that stamp <3 (P.S.) It's so cool your first friend was able to make it!

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  7. I've been engaged for years and nothing has happened... we need to get in gear and get planning!

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  8. I love the idea of getting everyone's address during the engagement party. That is so smart! You had a lot of fun ideas for an engagement party!

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  9. So cool that your first friend was there. I never had an engagement party. My husband said, lets get married and a few days later we got the license and went to the courthouse, lol.

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  10. Those are some great tips! They'll certainly help others who are in the process or have no idea what they're doing.

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  11. I'm not sure how I feel about an engagement party - that sounds so expensive in addition to a wedding! I'd be ok if someone else threw an engagement party for me, though. And those stamps are absolutely precious!!!

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  12. Great advice! You look so excited in your photo. :)

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  13. Great advice, but none of my friends did the engagement party and a lot of that was because they felt that they should save as much a possible! It would have been great though! Those stamps are BOSS!!!!

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  14. AWWWW I am still friends with my first friend too!!! How cute! I also love throwing parties and can pull them together pretty fast. I wouldn't want an odd number of people either though in the wedding haha! I already have a problem if some out of place plate is mixed up with my white ones in my kitchen lol... -_-

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  15. Thank you for sharing such wonderful advice! I LOVE that stamp and MUST WIN it! lol

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  16. I love the idea of having people write down their addresses at the party! It's such a nice touch, and I'm sure it makes wedding invitations and save the dates that much easier!


    lovelovelove,
    Erica
    cominguprosestheblog.com

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  17. Yup, getting address in the BEGINNING is a must and life saver! By the way, those stamps -- GORG.

    Thrifting Diva
    www.thriftingdiva.com

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  18. oh my, I could never plan a party in an hour. You must have some party planning mojo that i need lol. I need at least a week, I don't like to feel rushed lol

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  19. We never had an engagement party, kinda wishing that we did now.

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  20. It is so much fun getting engaged! My sister-in-law just got engaged and it's so been so much fun talking about her wedding!

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  21. I'd definitely pick the Merci Beaucoup stamp!

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  22. Ah I love it!!! I love when people make things so personal like this - I would totally have made my own thank you cards, but I was being lazy!

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  23. Thank you!! haha, I love any excuse to have a party but everyone kept telling us they wanted to take us out for drinks and celebrate. The thought of having a million drink dates while planning our wedding overwhelmed me so I thought the party would be perfect

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  24. Thank you! I want to stamp everything with it! It was also so cool to see her, it had been years because she lives in AZ now!

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  25. Thank you so much :) It was definitely the easiest way to get addresses, instead of having to call everyone up!

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  26. haha that is awesome though!! You could still have a great celebration party!

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  27. Thank you! I am hoping my series helps others!

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  28. haha, that is exactly how things worked out for us - my aunt threw the party and it was so inexpensive since we did appetizers and snacks and drinks. Super informal is the way to go!

    I just love the stamps!

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  29. aww, thank you so much! I was definitely excited and having a blast!

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  30. We didn't end up spending more than $100 on the party because my aunt cooked everything. It was really just a nice informal get together! I understand where your friends are coming from - I would have been of the same opinion!

    Ah! I just love the stamps!

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  31. haha, this is why we're friends! My roommate brought a plate and bowl from his house and it doesn't match ours and I go crazy when I see it on the shelf! But I feel bad so I just internally go crazy.
    hahah Throwing parties are just the best!!

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  32. ohh that stamp is SO pretty!!!!

    I am a little obsessed with stamps!

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  33. Thanks! It definitely is SO much easier!!!

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  34. haha, I suppose I should preface with "in an hour if I already have a clean house and order pizza or take out for the meal" LOL

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  35. aww, people keep saying that to me! It was definitely nice to have everyone in one place as opposed to a million mini celebrations

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  36. Ah! That is so exciting! I love when people get engaged!!

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  37. That's an awesome stamp, I love that you're sharing how you did yours. Definitely picking me the tips for my future x

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  38. It's such a whirlwind wedding planning. A guide like this is so helpfuL!

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  39. Very exciting! I love your personal touches. It adds character.

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  40. Awesome stamp! I have always wanted a personalized address stamp, but ran into the same problems with how long we will stay at an address. We finally bought a home, so it will be a long time before we move. So yay, I can finally get that stamp!! Thanks for reminding me! :) :)

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  41. Awesome!! And of course! I always want to share what worked and what didn't for me! I'm glad you like the stamp!

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  42. How awesome is that stamp! Nice story.

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  43. Love those stamps. I don't intend to leave this house until I'm extremely old, so I should order a fancy address stamp soon.

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  44. It really is such a whirlwind! You blink and it's over!

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  45. Thank you!! I am definitely loving the stamp!

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  46. Yay!! It's time to get that stamp you've dreamed of!!

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  47. I never got to have an engagement party :( Or a real wedding. Darn Army!! Haha but love the stamp ;)

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  48. You can't go wrong with custom anything! The more customization you have for any wedding-type celebration, the better. Love the stamp!

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  49. aww man =[ There's still time for a vow renewal wedding!!!

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  50. They're all so cute! One of my favorites is the
    Sweet Rustic Heart Calligraphy Wedding Address Stamp

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  51. I agree!! I love to see all of the personal touches couples make!

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