Announcing your Engagement + Starting the Planning Process

Getting engaged is so exciting, it’s tempting to want to just post a photo straight to social media to tell the masses. It sort of makes me think of Anchorman when Will Ferrell’s character is saying “I just want to shout it from on top of a mountain.” It’s hard not to want to immediately post it online, but try. There are a few things you should do first. In this week’s Wedding Wednesday post, I’ll be sharing all my personal thoughts on announcing your engagement and even a few creative ways to publicly announce it.

First things, first: everyone is different. We all have different family situations, engagement situations, and plans moving forward. These are just my thoughts that apply to common situations.

Depending on the situation– whether you have family or friends with you after or not– make sure your parents find out first. Whether you are telling them in person at a post-engagement surprise gathering or need to call them, they should know first. Call both sets of your parents. Next up, tell other close family members. If your sibling, grandparent, or aunt would want to know from you personally.. tell them. A personalized text (even if you copy and paste it or send it in a larger group) means more than seeing it on social media. Knock out family, first. Next up, your besties for the resties. Your ride or dies. Call them, Facetime them, whatever. They’ll want to hear it from you. I chose to Facetime my friends and to hold my new bling up over my face for when we connected. It’s so fun to see their reactions!

My fiancé had planned a surprise gathering with some family and friends, so we were able to celebrate immediately after with a big group of people. I made sure I had made connection with all of the most important people to tell prior to anyone at the party posting anything on social media, too. We started telling people immediately after because we were so excited, but when to tell is just as important as who to tell. 

Maybe you and your new fiancé are traveling and want to enjoy your first day as an engaged couple. Or maybe you’re at home and just want to start with family. What you do depends on you. Just ensure that everyone who needs to know, knows before you make your big social media announcement. It’s funny that this is such a ‘thing’ these days, but truly announcing big life events on social media is the most common. Previously, couples may have waited and sent out cards announcing their engagement, published it in the paper, or waited until an engagement party to share, but social media today is truly the easiest way to reach so many.

We waited until the next day to post on social media about our engagement. We had some friends post once they got the go-ahead on the night of from us, but our announcement came later. We wanted to enjoy some time being engaged, so we waited until we woke up the next day. We tried to keep up with congratulations texts as they came in, but did not want to spend the night on our phones so we returned those we couldn’t get to the next day.

We were lucky enough to have photos of the moment we got engaged, so that is what I shared. For those that don’t, there are endless ideas on Pinterest if you search “engagement announcement ideas.” Snap a picture of you two after, show off your new ring, etc. I used the photo below with the caption “Last night, my person asked me to spend forever with him. Of course, I said YES! We’re #engaged!”

Following the engagement, some people JUMP head first into planning mode. Friends of mine who have, look back and say they wish they would have just enjoyed being engaged. We did this. We didn’t think about planning the first week and just enjoyed the excitement. I am so glad we did! This is a huge deal and a big step in a relationship. Taking the time to enjoy each other and celebrate is so important. The wedding planning will get done, don’t worry!

If you are ready to jump in the next day (at least give it that..) there are a few places to start: Insure your wedding ring if it is not already. (If I were a guy I would do this the day I bought it), Make your appointment to get it resized if needed or use a spacer if needed. A few other places to start include: budget, guest list, picking a time of year that works best, and brainstorming on where you’d want to get married. I’ll be talking about a lot of these topics in the weeks to come.. so stay tuned!

Budget is such a unique and often touchy subject, so I’ll be skipping that as it’s own post. There are so many ideas on how it should be done between what the bride’s family pays for and what the groom’s family pays for. Did you know that these days, groom’s families often contribute more than just the rehearsal dinner? It’s definitely good information to read up on with how much weddings have changed (especially with the rising cost) over the years. I found the following articles to be helpful found on: Wedding Wire // The Knot // Popsugar // and a little history on the reasoning behind some of the costs from Vogue. Truly, I don’t think either family should be expected to pay for anything. If someone offers to help with something and is financially able to contribute, I think that can be accepted and ultimately the bride and groom figure out the expenses. I’ve had friends on all parts of the spectrum– from six figure weddings that seem to have no limit to small weddings that the bride and groom covered mostly themselves. To each their own and regardless of how you figure out your budget, this is the first essential step in the planning process so you can feasibly plan from that point on. I don’t know about you, but after I found out how much certain aspects of a wedding cost, I can’t help but think “whoa” at some of the weddings I’ve attended. It sure is fun to play around Pinterest and imagine what your budget-less wedding would be like, but the thing I’ve remembered throughout planning.. is your wedding is just one day. Plan for a marriage. Yes, your wedding should be special to you, but that doesn’t have to come with a huge price tag.

Photo Credit: We’ve decided on Forever // We’re Engaged cake //  Feyonce balloons // Engagement ring cookie // Proposal cookies