Our Engagement Party!

Seeing as how we officially have only 2 and a half weeks remaining of our engagement (say whaaat?!), I figured it was about time to start documenting it. ;) Our engagement will be just under 5 months, and one of the most common questions I get is, "has it been stressful?" 

My answer is no more than your average engagement! I can whole-heartedly say that 5 months gave us plenty of time to plan this wedding. It was the perfect amount of time where we never felt rushed, and yet it never felt too far away. I always felt like it was close enough that I didn't have to wish the days away, because I knew it would be here before I knew it!

I think the only thing that can be difficult about shorter engagements is booking vendors, and I will say that we lucked out with tons of availability (& deals!) given that March 5th is a few weeks shy of busy season. That being said, I know people who have done 6 month engagements with a June wedding. It's doable, peeps! If you're newly engaged & wanting a shorter engagement, go for it! ;) 

Anywhooo, onto the topic of today's post: our engagement party!

Being long-distance for 3 and a half of our 5 month engagement, and having my family multiple hours away, it made for some suuuper wedding-filled weekends. The first was the weekend of November 7th. It kicked off with one of the wedding activities I was most looking forward to; dress shopping!

I was never the girl to imagine her wedding dress. I've been day dreaming about my groom since I was a little girl, and I had my bridesmaid dress picked out since I was first a bridesmaid myself, ha! But when it came to my wedding dress, I couldn't let myself look until I knew it was the real deal. 

So you bet that the Monday after we got engaged, I was browsing David's Bridal and screen-shotting my favorites. ;) I wanted to wait until I could go with my mom, so I spent the month between our proposal & our engagement party narrowing down my favorite dresses and styles via their online gallery. 

I had one immediate favorite, and a second that was an entirely different style, but I fell in love with the more I saw the picture. Things typically look different in real life, but even after trying on multiple dresses, my two favorites from online were my two favorites on me. 

Luckily, there was an undeniable, unanimous winner. And therefore, it was an easy task to say yes to the dress!! :) I can't wait to show pictures after the big day!

After dress shopping, it was time to get ready for our engagement party. Truth be told, I debated if an engagement party was necessary. We likely wouldn't have had one if our sweet friend hadn't of texted me offering to host (thank you, Natalie!!). 

I am so glad we did! Our proposal was wonderful, but engaged life did come with its own unique stresses & challenges. I wouldn't have had it any other way, but there's no denying that we had our fair share of sobering moments in that first month of engagement. I believe the proper term is called, adulting? The engagement party was a moment to push pause on adulting, and simply celebrate. We were surrounded by countless friends & family, and we felt tremendously loved. 

Our friends Natalie & Levi were so hospitable to use their home to celebrate our engagement, and we both drove away feeling overwhelmingly blessed. Our friends commented on how sweet it was that even extended family came for the occasion, and our family was raving about how wonderful all of our friends were. We felt incredibly lucky to have such amazing people in our lives. 

We closed out our wedding-fest-of-a-weekend by meeting up with our fabulous wedding photographer (& friend!) for an engagement shoot. I'll save those pictures for next time, because they deserve a post of their own!

Happy humpday, friends! Thanks for celebrating this exciting season in our lives alongside us. Feel free to leave a comment with any exciting news from your life, because I'd love to celebrate alongside you, too!