Hi everyone. My name is Mandy. This is actually my very first post on BOB. My boyfriend is actually going to propose to me this Christmas *screams* lol. I don't know if it's going to be Christmas eve or day, but I'm pretty excited. Hense my dilema. I would love to have an engagment party, but is there a proper time limit? We plan on moving after the holidays, so the best time for a party would probably be this coming spring or summer. Now, we're not actually going to get married until October of 2010. Is there anything wrong with having an engagment party that soon before the wedding?

lol has he came out and told you he is proposing, or did you find out?? as for your engagement party, with it being far off, you might want to wait till your one year mark before the wedding. or, if you want to have it now, i dont see why not.

Well, we went together to look at the ring and found out it was on sale that particular weekend. So he bought it that day. I just pretty much figured it out that he was proposing for Christmas with the way he was talking. And he did lol. He bought a bag of Lindtt chocolates (my fave) and wrapped the ring in with one of the chocolates, then wrapped the bag like a gift. As soon as I opened it on Christmas morning, he says "you want one?" Being only 7am, I wasn't in the mood for chocolate lol. But he kept saying "c'mon have one, it's Christmas". So I finally gave in and had one.....and there it was. He then got down on one knee and asked if I'd marry him. So yeah, we are now officially engaged. But as far as the engagement party, you're saying we should have it about a year before the wedding? Or once we've been together for a year? Because we have already been together for a year and a half.

well Congratulations!!
no, i was saying a year BEFORE the wedding.. or you can even do it less than a year from the wedding. like i said, its up to you. if you want to have it now and celebrate, or wait closer to the wedding.

Thanks Dani.
The only reason why I'd wanna have it now is because once that one year mark hits, then it's gonna be like 'ok, we really need to get crackin' on this wedding' lol. I just don't want to overload myself with planning a wedding and an egagement party. But we'll see. We're not even sure we want to have it yet. But thank you for your advise, Dani!

your welcome.. i just gave my opinion, cuz i didn't and wont be having a party. so i dont know how that goes. Ill just be having the bridal shower and of course bachlorette party.

My wedding is Next Year- Late Spring 2009', and I have planned to have my engagement party this March 08 becuase it IS destination wedding in Jamaica, and I will be presenting the details of payment plans, passport info, etc...and we felt that 14 months notice at an engagement party should be enough notice.

The only issue I am having is who to expense this to? My parents (bride) are both deceased, the grooms father is deceased and grooms mother JUST recently had another son get married end of 2007'...so I kind of wanted to give her a break. My party is expected to be around 40-50 people in CA.
So, A. should I have guest pay for their own plate?
B. Should we not have one to save $$$$ for our wedding?
C. The matrid of honor claims that she will split the bill with me if I throw one.
D. Should the groom and I wing it all our own?

PLEASE HELP!!!

We had our engagement party right after we bought the ring. It was 1 1/2 years before the wedding. I say announce it once you get engaged. That's the whole idea, is to celebrate one step closer to the OFFICIAL commitment. There's no sense in telling everyone, then waiting a few months to celebrate it. Do it now, while everyone's excited about it!

Yeah, I had really wanted to. But quite a few people were telling me that it was way too soon. Our wedding is 10/10, so say we had our party this summer....that's 2 1/2 years before our actual wedding. Then having our party 9/10 is too soon to call it a shower. I want to have it a good amount of time before the wedding that way I'm not worrying about everything all at once.