engagement party date set!!!

[emilina22]

hi everyone!

so this is my first post in this part of PS. yay!

anywhoo, M and i got engaged a month ago and since then we have been looking at when to have our engagement party, and heres a little background on engagement parties and our culture. EVERYONE has one, its sort of like a mini wedding per say,and they replace the rehersal dinners.its a big deal cause our pastor prays over us and our engagement and its really meaningful. so theres alot of cultural factors into why we are having one.

whats exiting is that we picked out our weekend(s) either Aug. 2nd, 9th, or 16th, and choosing which one it is will all depend on the catering or restaurant were going to be having it at. im super exited about this party and i cant wait to start planning it...im starting now because im not a very good multitasker and spring semester just started and i want to get things done!!

i cant wait...i do have a couple questions though about a few things that maybe you guys can help me with... so here they are:

1: how soon do you go look for a venue?
2: have you been able to negotiate down the prices with your venue/caterers?
3: how many others have had engagement parties to replace the rehersal dinner?

 

[surfgirl]

If you do a search for negotiating with vendors you should come up with tons of previous threads...and you can ask Admin to re open any that you want to continue, if they''re closed now.

I think engagement parties these days seem more for younger couples as I dont know any older couples who''ve had one in the last decade or so. I''ve never heard of an engagement party being a mini wedding though. Usually they''re more like nice cocktail parties, at least the ones I know of have been that way.

 

[bee*]

I''d start looking for a venue straight away just so you can get a date that you like. In terms of negotiating with vendors, I''ve tried negotiating with all of them just to see can I even get anything thrown in for free. With some it''s worked (I''ve managed to get two choices for the price of one with the dinner), and with others it''s been a lot harder. In Ireland we don''t do rehearsal dinners or engagement parties. We mostly just go to the pub with our friends and celebrate it that way.