You promised your partner that you would wait for the right moment (and the right way) to announce your engagement but you are so excited that you are having a hard time keeping it a secret. You just want to let the world know that you intend to spend the rest of your life with the person of your dreams. So that your anxiety will not be held much longer, here are some excellent tips on how to announce your engagement that you and your future spouse can consider.

Mail Announcements

The traditional way to announce that you have just been engaged is to mail letters or cards to family and friends. You can buy ready-made engagement cards on stationery stores. But the better way of course is to make a personalized letter or card so that the recipient can feel how important he or she is to the couple.

To save you money, and effort, use this also as a save-the-date card. Now, if you are techie and you do not want to consume too much paper, electronic mailed announcements can be the ideal option for you. Just bear in mind that you should only send out mail announcements to people you intend to invite on your wedding day.

Publish in Local Newspaper

Another customary way of announcing an engagement is by having a published announcement in the local newspaper. First, you have to call up the newspaper staff to inquire about guidelines, fees, deadlines or rules about announcements. Ask if you can send in photographs, graphic designs, and your own words. Typically, a newspaper engagement announcement includes information about the two of you such as educational background, professional credentials, and parents’ names. Wedding date is not usually included to avoid gatecrashers or home burglaries.

Throw a Party

For those who love to party, the most fun way to announce the news is to throw a wonderful bash consisting of family and friends. To add to the fun factor, do not tell anyone that you and your future spouse are engaged so that it would be a surprise. Instead, let them think that it is just a regular gathering. Do not forget that you should only invite to the party those whom you are going to invite at the wedding so that you do not offend anybody.

Make a Wedding Website or a VIDEO (Thats what we did)

The Internet is a great venue for announcing your engagement. It is accessible, easy-to-do, and simple! You do not have to be a techno-savvy to pull this one off. Many wedding websites offer guides and templates on how to create personal wedding websites as well as user-friendly website building tools that you can use to inform family and friends about the upcoming wedding and keep them updated with the latest details.

Give Away Announcement Gifts

This is not a common practice but if you want to make your engagement extra special, you can consider sending little gifts that would come with the engagement announcement. For example, you can give away small potted plants with a tag line that says, You have seen how our love has bloomed so we want to share with you the news that we are getting married soon! You can also send a set of decorative ribbons that recipients can use for wrapping gifts. To give it a fun creative twist, tie one of the ribbons into a knot and scribble on that ribbon something like, We are tying the knot!

There are various traditional and creative ways you can use to let people know that you are getting married. At the end of the day, it depends on your and your partner’s choice on how you are going to announce your engagement. Whatever way you choose to do it, you can expect surprised and happy reactions from people closest to you.

Are you planning to organize your best friend’s bridal shower? Is it your first time to do it? Don’t fret because you can find several references online or collect ideas from published materials such as books, magazines and brochures. If you are not yet familiar with the concept of a bridal shower, here is a brief description and history of the pre-wedding practice.

Bridal showers are commonly defined as a gift-giving party for the bride before her wedding day. It is believed that the custom originated in 1890s and observed in several countries such as Canada, United States and Australia. Bridal shower’s history reveals that the custom rooted from providing financial assistance and goods for the wedding to take place.

Perceived to have grown out of the dowry practices, bridal showers are also believed to have originated when women who were not given dowries gathered together to bring gifts to compensate for the dowry, hence, allowing the woman to marry the man she had chosen.

The close friends of the bride or the bridesmaids usually host the bridal shower. Immediate family members are not allowed to hold showers because it is considered greedy and rude for the family to ask gifts for their family member. When it comes to the guests, the bride’s personal friends, family and other well-wishers are invited. It is also important to note the absence of men at bridal showers. People who are invited to attend the bridal showers are also invited to the wedding.

When preparing, planning and executing a bridal shower, you need to think about a lot of things—the theme, venue, decorations, food menu, Invitations, guests and the program itself. Many bridal shower organizers include some games to make the atmosphere lighter and more fun. Though some don’t want to play games because they believe their time with friends and family will be reduced, others still opt to make the occasion livelier.

There are several bridal shower games you could include on your shower program. The following are the three most popular bridal shower games based on the number of showers which have used these.

The Toilet Paper Wedding Dress

Indeed, this is a popular game among women because they can grab the chance to become a fashion designer even for just a night. Your guests can enjoy creating their masterpieces with the use of the unassuming toilet paper. Of course, they can add their unique styles to their designs to make the bride happy.

How to Play:

Divide the group into teams that have at least three people each. Give each team some rolls of toilet paper and have them select their “bride”. Give the teams 20 minutes to create a wedding dress on the “bride” using only the toilet paper. When the allotted time has ended, choose the best wedding dress through voting and also choose the funniest dress. Give prizes to the winning teams.

The Clothespin Game

This is a very exciting and fun game chosen by shower organizers to give life to the special event. Some conditions are set before the start of the party and the guests must adhere to these in the entire duration of the shower.

How to Play:

Choose a buzzword for the party such as “groom”, “bride”, “wedding” or the name of the bride’s husband. Before your guests come in, hand them a clothespin. If a guest hears another guest mentioning the buzzword, he or she takes the clothespin of the person who had spoken the word. The person who has the most clothespins at the end of the bridal shower is the winner.

The Bridal Bingo

Bridal Bingo is a classic game that everybody can play. It is similar to regular bingo but you need to create a card template and customize each card with bridal gifts and other things related to the wedding.

How to Play:

Give each guest a Bingo sheet and items that will be used to cover the bingo squares. The host will call out an item which may be listed on the bingo cards of the guests. When someone has 5 items in a row, he or she is the winner of the game.

A game will be more fun if you will give special prizes to the winners. Some of the best prize ideas are day planners, special soaps, bath salts, ring dishes, bottles of wine, a pound of gourmet coffee beans, scarfs, movie passes and many more

All rooms feature the latest in audio-visual technology. This modern and comfortable space can be configured to ideally suit the requirements of trade show exhibits, conferences and banquets. From business retreats to elegant dinners, the Hagerty Center provides an unforgettable and seamless experience.  

Every year many wedding receptions are held in our ballrooms that can comfortably accommodate up to 300 guests. In addition to your reception, we can host the ceremony, held either in our Courtyard overlooking beautiful Grand Traverse Bay or our Rotary Hall area. Each of these spaces can comfortably accommodate approximately 110 guests. We suggest the possibility of using a canopy in the Courtyard for groups of more than 110."

This was a beautiful place to have a wedding and both the reception.  Here is what we did, we have a video for you to see!

Top 20 reasons (even though I can think of 100)

1.  You haven't thought about the ceremony too much

2.  You don't write down your vows or speech

3.  You try on your shoes the day of the wedding

4.  You pack for the honeymoon last-minute

5.  You assume you'll coordinate anything day-of

6.  You haven't thought about transportation for your guests

7.  You plan to use an iPod for music

8.  You do the seating chart last-minute

9.  You did not register

10.  You have a cash bar

11.  You don't do any hair or makeup trials

12.  You don't have a day-of itinerary

13.  You stress out so much you don't enjoy anything

14.  You don't stick to your budget

15.  You hire a friend or family member as your photographer

16.  You plan your own bridal shower or bachelorette party

17.  You ask someone to be a bridesmaid out of obligation

18.  You decide to do your own hair, makeup or flowers

19.  You don't have a Plan B for an outdoor wedding

20.  You behave like a Bridezilla