Hi everyone!
I am so sorry I have been absent from the blog for awhile. I have been trying to focus on school after getting home from work and we have been on the go every single weekend, which hasn’t left me much time for blogging. I will be getting my first break from school since I started my graduate degree in May and it is almost a month long, I am so looking forward to it and can’t wait to catch up on blogging! We have also been so busy wedding planning and I can’t wait to give you all a wedding planning update soon. I originally wasn’t going to post about our engagement party because I didn’t know how many people would be interested in reading about it, but I received so many questions about the party and it turned out beautifully so I wanted to share all of the details with all of you.
Why we really wanted to have an engagement party:
Charlie and I got engaged on July 22, 2018 and were so beyond excited! It was honestly one of the best days of my life thus far and it was such a blur. I was so in shock, even though I knew he was planning a proposal, but I still could not believe it had actually happened. Read more about the proposal here. Charlie and I currently still live in Flagstaff where we both attended college and none of our friends live here anymore. All of our friends live in the Phoenix area or out of state, which made it difficult to have a small celebration or go get drinks to celebrate our engagement. Charlie’s family also lives in California and we really wanted to be able to celebrate with his family and all spend time together. We figured it would be best to have an engagement party so we could celebrate with all of our closest family and friends. We also knew we wouldn’t get married for over a year and wanted to get everyone excited for the wedding, which is another reason we decided to have a party.
Where we had it at:
We had our engagement party at Poco Diablo Resort in Sedona, AZ. At that time, we didn’t know that Poco Diablo Resort would then become our wedding venue as well. We chose Poco Diablo Resort because my parents are members there and we always go there to golf, swim, go to the gym, and go out to dinner. Poco Diablo is also close to my parents house and was convenient for planning purposes. Poco Diablo Resort also has amazing views and has a hotel and villas connected to the property, which was convenient for all of our out of town friends and family. Poco Diablo also catered the dinner for the party and we chose to have a Mexican food themed party with fajitas, salad, veggies, tacos, and chips and salsa/guac. All of the food for the party was amazing and all of the guests really enjoyed it! Since it was an engagement party, we decided to do buffet style and have a more casual meal, instead of a formal sit down dinner. Poco Diablo also took care of setting up the venue and provided the chairs, tables, linens, silverware, plates, etc. It was so nice not having to rent everything prior to the event.
My future mother in law also set up the most beautiful entry table at the party and it was the highlight of the engagement party. Everyone, including myself could not believe how beautiful the table turned out and how incredible it made the entire party look. The table had pictures of Charlie and I throughout the years behind it, the most beautiful fresh flowers, floating candles, balloons, a sign with the number of days until our wedding, a drop heart box to remember all of the names of those who attended, lights, tulle, and wooden initials. It was seriously amazing as you can see from the picture below!
Who we invited:
We tried to keep the party under 50 people because we didn’t want it to be too large of a party. We chose to invite our families, of course and our closest friends. We had about 40 family members and friends attend our party and it was the perfect amount. We appreciate everyone making the journey to celebrate our engagement with us and had so much fun! After the party ended, we kept the party going and played card games and drinking games at the lounge in the lobby.
What we wore:
I got soooo many questions about the dress I wore for the engagement party and I am so happy you all loved the dress so much! I knew I wanted to wear a white dress for the engagement party and started looking for a dress a month before the event. I found the dress I wore online at Red Dress Boutique and will link it below for you all to shop. It is the perfect dress to wear for your bridal shower, bachelorette party, engagement party, or rehearsal dinner! Charlie wore a white button down polo and shorts with loafers, which was the perfect outfit because it was still hot in Sedona at the time, but he still looked very handsome (like always). The dress code was very casual since it was so hot out at that time and we wanted it to be a low key event for everyone to enjoy. I would definitely decide if you want to have a more formal or casual engagement party because that will help you decide the venue, the type of food you’re going to serve, and what you and your guests will wear.
I also chose to do our engagement party the same weekend I did my initial wedding dress try ons. I chose to do this so that my bridesmaids would not have to travel two different weekends, but would still be able to attend both events. I will link my outfit and some of the decor we used for the party below! Thank you to our friends and family for making our engagement party the most amazing night for both Charlie and I!
Shop the look here:
Xoxo,
Jonica