Miss Hydrangea, Dallas
Age and Occupation: 26, Administrative Assistant
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 27, Network Analyst
Engagement Date: June 2007
Wedding Date: September 2008
Blogging Since: January 14, 2008
Venue: Catholic Church and Reception at The W Hotel
About Me: Mr. H and I come from very different cultures and backgrounds so I'm excited to plan our wedding with a balance of both traditions. My mom has always been a DIY queen, and I'm just now starting to get into it with a new house and a wedding to plan!
We’re Engaged!
January 22nd, 2008 @ 5:31 pm by Miss Hydrangea
I never thought that I really cared about having an engagement party until about a month or so into being engaged. I was ready to make sure everyone knew how excited I was, but I didn’t want to ask someone to throw us an engagement party. My mom and I talked about it, but she said she was already planning (and paying) for the wedding and that was about as much as she could handle. Can’t blame her for that. Mr. Hydrangea’s family doesn’t really throw engagement parties in his culture, and I wouldn’t feel comfortable asking them.
After thinking about it, and reading many articles online about how couples now throw their own engagement parties, I brought it up to Mr. Hydrangea and he, surprisingly, thought it was a great idea for us to throw our own. So we set a date and ordered some cute invitations (a sample is pictured below) online at Polka Dot Design.
We kept it very small, just immediate family and a few close family friends. It was mainly my side of the family because Mr. H’s culture invites everyone to parties, and our new house just can’t hold them all! It was the first time that both of our families completely met (eeek!), but it went over smoothly.
Mr. Hydrangea and I decided that it was best to have it at our house so that both families would have a neutral and comfortable area to meet. Things went very well and it was a big success! Both families got along greatly (aside from some communication barriers) and we are both relieved to have that huge task behind us!
My uncle from Arizona is married to a hispanic woman, so it was nice to have someone from my side of the family that could completely communicate with Mr. Hydrangea’s family. We had too much Italian food from a local restaurant that was so delicious…and Mr. Hydrangea’s mom brought us a big tres leches cake (my favorite!) that was one of the best I’ve had.
One of the highlights of the night were when my aunt and uncle, who flew in from California, gave us our toasting flutes for the wedding. They are Waterford Wishes Love and Romance champagne flutes. All of the gifts were wonderful, but this was truly the most touching.
Here are a couple of pictures from the night…
Mr. Hydrangea and I as the guests were leaving…we wanted to take pictures earlier when we looked a little more put together, but once the guests arrived, we were too busy to remember.
The beautiful champagne flutes that we will use at our wedding.
We also got a present from our registry…a Mojito set (a favorite of ours)!
All in all, it was a great night for everyone to meet and to ease any tensions our families had about getting together. Everyone was so nice and generous - we really weren’t expecting any gifts, and we received quite a few.
Did any of you have an engagement party - or throw it yourself?
20 Responses to “We’re Engaged!”
No eParty here but I wish I would have had one. If celebrities can throw their own baby showers, couples should throw their own eParties. I think its totally fine and I ‘m glad you had a good time!
We had a big (80 person) engagement party, hosted by my fiance’s mother — a great Sunday brunch. Traditionally speaking (though it has changed in modern times), Jewish girls always had engagement parties instead of bridal showers, and I really liked this tradition and decided to do it instead. To be honest, my fiance had a big role in the engagement (hello, there would be nothing to celebrate without him!) and it always seemed a little silly to me that bridal showers are these huge deals, and the groom isn’t even a part. I much preferred to do something that actually included him in the celebration!
We did. We had all these plans for a super nice, expensive dinner and going-out sort of evening. We ended up bowling, it was great. You guys are adorable. 
Can I ask where you registered for the Mojito set? I haven’t seen that yet! My FI LOVES Mojito’s! I’d love to add that to ours too!
So glad it went over well!
We’ve been engaged for a while, but will be having a pretty long engagement (~3 years). Is it ok to have an e-party after a while? We’re thinking of having one once we set a final date.
Miss Hydrangea, you are SO lucky to be marrying into a Hispanic family. I LOVE tres leches!
You and Mr. Hydrangea are cute!
awww!
i am not sure if i’m gonna get a eparty. i wouldnt mind having one but really can’t handle the stress of trying to plan one myself….and unfortunately, its not looking like it has crossed anyone else’s mind……
we threw ourselves a big casual one. we had ring pops as favors (i thought that if i had a ring, so should everybody else!) and invited people via evite. we provided bbq and they brought side dishes…no gifts required. it was a blast.
we threw our own, and combined it with a holiday party we were already planning to have. no family came since they live in other cities, just friends. it was nice to celebrate but not formal or putting pressure for gifts (by combining it) altho a few people brought us some cute tokens (alcohol, chocolates & the like). we never had a formal family engagement party.
I wasn’t planning on one, which was fine by me and I didnt want to anyone to feel pressure to throw us one. But then my lovely BFF hosted one for us at her place. Low key (evites and no gifts) with our close friends and my parents. His parents live out of state.
I love that you threw your party yourself! I am in a similar situation where it wasn’t practical for anyone to throw us one. I am thinking of having it in
February and celebrate it with a valentines’ day theme. Glad yours was a success!
Cute invite! No eparty for us but our friends threw us a “Going Away Party/Couples Shower” before we moved out-of-state. A very sweet send-off!
karebearlbc - The mojito set is from Bed Bath & Beyond, and I think they are still available!
Amanda - We were engaged for 4 months before we decided to have our party. I don’t know what proper etiquette is, but I think that if you are throwing it yourselves, do it when you want (as long as it’s not too close to the wedding)!
that card is so adorable!!!
Hmmm, my Latin family does do engagement parties, so I’m not sure that it’s a cultural thing necessarily, but good for you for throwing your own
My parents requested to have an engagement ceremony, so the groom’s family is “obliged” to have one (old vietnamese traditions), but since fiance is Mexican, he didn’t know how, so my parents helped planned it all. It is a formal ceremony where fiance’s family ask my parents permission to have a wedding and thus creating a bond between the two families. It is a big deal for my parents, and i’m glad to have done that for them. Fiance had proposed 2 months before that!
Miss H - where did you register for the mojito set? It’s so cool! I want one
We’re having an engagement party in 4 weeks. Friend’s of my FIs have been saying they want to throw us party since we got engaged in Dec. ‘06, but we’ve now just all gotten around to putting it together. I’m excited, but I wish more out of town friends and family could make it. It’s too close to our wedding date (5/31/08) and shower dates for out of town people to make it. But it’ll be fun anyway and it will give me practice before the shower of opening gifts in front of people; something I’m not very good at!
Since we got engaged while living in a city pretty far from friends and family, we never even talked about having an eparty. I’m starting to think that we might want to throw ourselves a combo eparty/housewarming party once we move back to where at least my fiance’s group of friends (now my friends) are, and close to some of my family. It’s nice to see that people are branching out from old fashioned wedding etiquette and doing what feels right for them. Now you’ve put all kinds of ideas into my head. Thanks, Miss H!
What a great idea! I really wish we could have had an engagement party (read: silently wanted someone to throw one for us). We got engaged while away at grad school, and now we (and most of our friends) live in different states. 11 months into the engagement seems a little too late for our e-party! 
Just out of curiousity - How did you word the invite? We’re doing our own as well and I wasn’t sure how to say it on the invites. Thanks!
