Engagement Party: yay or nay?

I never had one and don't regret having one because you're right - pre wedding festivities are a lot ! I had a bridal shower and bachelorette and rehearsal dinner and it was just a lot overall already

We didn't have one, I'm not too bummed about it! Our wedding & bachelor/bachelorettes & bridal shower & rehearsal & rehearsal dinner were enough. If I had to throw my own, I wouldn't do it. If someone offered to throw one, I would have one.

We had an engagement dinner with immediate family only. We'd been together 8-1/2 years and none of our family had met ever. So we just invited parents/step-parents and grandparents (plus my grandmas twin sister, they go everywhere together). I'm really glad we did it that way. Our friends see us all the time and were there when he proposed so we've all celebrated together one way or another. We had a great time and I'm glad our parents/grandparents could meet before the wedding.

We had one and it was fun. We did a Mac and cheese bar and rotisserie chicken and made it just a big dinner party. We got engaged on our anniversary trip without the kids, so it was nice to celebrate with them and they had so much fun. We had a few friends and family, including my dad who couldn’t make it, but we still ended up with like 28. Since our engagement will be 19 months and the other pre-wedding festivities aren’t until much closer to the wedding we wanted to do something immediately. My FH also adamantly refused to start planning for like three months- “no talking about wedding stuff until we celebrate our engagement first”- his exact words. We don’t regret doing it- though we ended up with SO much extra food because I tend to overestimate lol!

I didn’t have one but FH’s grandma was insisting she host one, then she moved out of state. I lucked out! I’m sick of parties.
I don’t have anything against them but weddings are tiring enough, I don’t want more stuff to think about.

We didn't have one and have no regrets. We got engaged right before the holiday season and didn't want to inconvenience anyone. Instead we went out to a nice dinner to celebrate with our parents.

We are however having a BBQ next weekend for our bridal party to meet up, but that's mostly just for fun.

I never had one, and I don't know anybody who had one. Don't regret it at all.

We didn't have one, and I don't regret it. I didn't want any more stress from coordinating another event. You'll never be able to please everyone with a date.

Thank you everyone for the thoughts! i definitely feel much less stressed about the whole thing knowing how many people did not. I think with so many friends and acquaintances that have been recently married/engaged it seemed like everyone was doing it! Glad I wont be the only one

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I am so glad Im not the only one thats overwhelmed with all the different events!

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Thats a good idea! I definitely want all my bridal party to get a chance to hangout and meet before the big day so I might do something like that closer to the day

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Thats an awesome idea to celebrate without being stuck diving into planning. At least extra chicken makes yummy sandwich's We also got engaged on a trip with some of our friends who knew we were getting engaged so they brought some celebratory stuff for us! Sounds like you FH is a thoughtful guy!

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Thats such a great point! Our parents have never really met either and I would like them to meet and spend time together. Most of our friends were at our engagement so I dont know that i need to do another thing for them. I think you just gave me an idea to host a dinner to have them all meet and get to know eachother

I did not have one and I don't regret not having it. Every event we've gone to since we've been engaged we've felt like the center of attention anyway since everyone just wanted to talk about our wedding --- And we often had people over to our house to help with wedding stuff or been invited to our parents for dinner to celebrate. The only reason I could see for an engagement party is if the wedding date is very far off - it's a fun thing to celebrate if people won't be super involved for a while after.

Only do one if you're the type of person who really likes to throw parties. I say if it stresses you out at all, just skip it. You could just have your parents and his parents for dinner and celebrate your engagement that way

My fiancé and I were invited to his sister's. It was a way for the bridal party and both sets of parents to meet. Super awkward and uncomfortable for me bc I was not involved in the wedding and don’t get along with fiance’s Family but I went to be supportive. It was kind of pointless. Just a way to get gifts is the vibe I got

I never had one and don't regret it! How about a nice dinner with just immediate family to celebrate?

Didnt have one. Totally unnecessary. Don't regret it.

We didn't have one. It definitely would have been nice if someone else had thrown one for us, but I don't regret not having one. I'm a terrible planner when it comes to literally anything (one of the reasons we are choosing to elope 😂).

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Thats kind of how I think it will be. Like an obligatory thing for people to go to.... and I definitely dont want gifts so thats a good point!