Get engaged, wedding prep and plan an ENGAGEMENT PARTY!!!
An engagement party was something that I always wanted to have (even before I actually got engaged) I mean any excuse to party right? With my sister and her fiancé getting engaged 2 months before Luke asked me, a joint engagement party surely just had to be done!
We had a few obstacles to jump over first though…… Covid & lockdown(s)!!! Both my sister Lora and I got engaged in 2020, so once 2021 arrived and we decided we wanted to do a joint engagement we really struggled with trying to firstly find a venue that wasn’t booked up with weddings that had been cancelled or had other events that due to the pandemic couldn’t go ahead when first planned. And secondly we also found that settling on a date was pretty hard seeing as at the time of originally planning (early 2021) lockdown easing restriction dates were constantly moving and no one had any idea when gatherings might be able to go ahead. It was a little stressful and there were times when we wondered if we should just leave it and not have the party at all.
I was away in Cornwall (august 2021) when my sister and I over WhatsApp messenger decided that we had a found and “provisionally” booked a venue and had a provisional date of the 11th of September so therefore we were just going to go for it and start sending out those invites for our joint engagement party! Yes absolutely it was very last minute.com but was it doable? OF COURSE!……..
We quickly put together a Facebook group and WhatsApp group for anyone not on Facebook outlining the all important party details, and invited all our friends and family. Unfortunately with it being quite last minute with just over a months notice, Luke and I had quite a few people who for various reasons couldn’t make it, and our guest list was slowly diminishing. It got to the point where I gave up and just left it as a complete surprise as to who would show up and celebrate with us in the night!
With various things going on throughout August and also with the guest list numbers slowly going down, it was quite hard to get motivated about the party and whilst we had a DJ booked and a buffet to feed our guests I couldn’t quite motivate myself to get any decorations to decorate our chosen venue.
For someone who is a serial planner I was definitely not interested in planning my own joint engagement party! In fact I didn’t start buying decorations until the Monday (yes the party was on the Saturday!) I just couldn’t get excited about it.
As with the whole planning and booking the party, I had also left the decorations to the very last minute (thank goodness for Amazon!) So had to spend a good few hours on the internet trying to find everything we wanted – which included a donut wall and balloon arch (of course!)
The day of the party arrived and I was still dragging my feet a little and knew that my sister and I had so much to do that day – get makeup done, eat, blow up 100 balloons, decorate the venue and get ready!!!! It was at this point (the morning of the party) that I was doubting my own ability of getting stuff done! It just didn’t seem possible with just 2 people!!
It was lovely to have an hours down time late morning to get makeup done, because even if all else had failed at least our makeup would be on point, one less thing to worry about!
When you have a big event that you are planning it always seems like you have loads of time, but then it just goes!! Like one minute we had 7 hours and the next we had hour, where those in between hours went is anyone’s guess!
Once at the venue we just kind of went for it, focused on the task of decorating and hoped that a few people would turn up early to help us in our 2 hours of need!!
Did we get it done in time? That’s the big question……….
OF COURSE WE DID………
Even with some additional help it was still down to the wire with Lora and I not changing into our outfits until 15 minutes before the party started (close call)
But I have to say the venue looked amazing! And the night was perfect, all of my worries forgotten as I partied the night away, drink in hand, catching up with friends and family. My cousin/matron of honour and her husband put the cherry on the cake when they surprised us on the night as they had told me they couldn’t come! Best surprise in a long time! It was just so good to see them.
Sharing this moment with my sister was so special to me, 2 engaged sisters. Now the countdown is on until I get to marry Luke.
