Engagement Party - Mansfield,TX

Hi K.,
I've been to a few engagement parties as well as planned my own and from my experiences, these parties tend to be in the evening and are either a dinner/cocktail party at a home or party room at a restaurant. For mine, we had a champagne party and served chocolate covered strawberries and chocolate mousse in wine glasses. I hung and draped white drapes in various hallways and areas of the entry way and living room,had lots of candlelight, and Frank Sinatra type music. My theme was "romance". We did an engagement toast and then mingled with each other. I also set up a table with a few hors 'devours like deviled eggs with caviar,pimento cheese finger sandwiches,cucumber and cream cheese finger sandwiches,stuffed mushrooms,stuffed jalepenos,and spinach artichoke dip.
My invitations had our engagement picture in the front ( i made my own invitations from shutterfly.com) and on the inside I simply wrote," Announcing the engagement of "my full name" and "his full name". Join them as they celebrate their decision to grow old together". Then I put the place,address,attire,and time.
I use shutterfly a bunch for thank you cards and invitations. If you don't have an official engagement picture of them, you can use a cute picture of the two of them.
If you are going to throw your friends party in your backyard, perhaps you can do something a little different that a standard "bbq" and do a hawaian luau party. Party City has a bunch of cute things for theme decorating. You can play reggae music,get those hawaian lai things, tiki torches, and serve frozen pina coladas or daquaris with little umbrellas. You can grill chicken and beef and make little hawaian skewers with pineapple. I love party planning! Good luck. :)

as far as etiquette -- if it's going to be informal -- make the invitations mirror that... you could find some really cute ones and print them yourself... buy some conchos and some raffia to tie across the top of them for a western flair... for your centerpieces ... you can straw cowboy hats turned upside down with a bandana inside... or you can use some galvanized pails with bandanas tied around it and some sunflowers put inside -- raffia... eucalyptus... etc.

Hmm...catchy phrase for invitations... I'd do a search on the internet for that...

for the party itself... have disposable camera around for everyone to snap some shots... then get them developed for the couple.... have everyone sign a photo mat for the placement of a GROUP photo ...

If I had more specifics, I could probably brainstorm some more.... but this is what popped into my head right this instant

My friends threw one for me and my husband. It was Luau party. Everyone wore flowered shirts or grass skirts. They cooked out and had cocktails. They also had a pool so some people later in the night decided to swim.(not me) They had music and horse shoes set up. It was alot of fun!! They bought me and my husband a grill and matching aprons that said Queen of the grill and king of the grill. I hope this helps.
C.

K., I can do customized labels for wine with a picture of the couple and the wedding date printed on them. You can choose from Chardonnay, Merlot or Cabernet Savingion for the wine.

Let me know if you are interested in learning more about it!
Thanks!
S.
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