If you happen to be a great friend or relative of a couple who’s got recently engaged, you’ll probably get busy to help them make the engagement gala or party take place. This will be one of the biggest celebrations in their lives so there’s no excuse for them to get left behind. Be prepared once again just like what you did in the previous engagement gift ideas episodes.

So you should have everything scheduled to make this occasion very successful and with so much fun. To do that, it’s best to have this all setup no later than three months after the big engagement announcement. You can either share this with their future wedding guests, family members of course to introduce to each parties and your friends.

In tradition, the bride’s parents usually host the initial gathering while the groom’s throw their own party as well but both sets can come together to celebrate this with you. But to keep you ahead of time, here are the things you need:

4 Best Ideas For Hosting An Engagement Party

• Be a breather for the couple. Think of ways you can get a family gathering together after the proposal to give them a bit of a “rest” in their combined excitement and pressures. You can break out for an opportunity for vintage champagne bonding but don’t make this happen a month later the proposal because you would also love to allow the couple to have quite some time to envision their wedding celebration and also will help them suggest on what type of event they want that you will throw.
• Know the number of guests coming to the wedding. Since everyone invited in the engagement party would also be present in the wedding, keep the list tight with the people the couple definitely love but stay at a small number so you can get as extravagant if possible. Just let those not invited to the party that the wedding is just small so that way you won’t hurt their feelings.
• Think of ways to make the in-laws always comfortable. Since the engagement party is designed to connect the dots between both families, consider their different styles mixed and ensure they’ll both have fun with it. A five-course sit down could do the job and include those people close to the in-laws to reasonably make them feel accommodated.
• Keep in mind there’s still the wedding to host. Since you’re the host, you’d want to plan the engagement party to be an unforgettable affair but you don’t want this to overtake what’s going to be held in the wedding ceremony. To make both interesting, you can have the engagement party formal then the wedding semi-formal or vice versa to balance a destination wedding party.

If you haven’t checkout the startup guide for planning an engagement party, then we recommend you read it too.