Bridal Party and Engagement Party

A bridal party is not an actual party you throw, it's the people you choose as your bridesmaids and MOH.

An engagement party is to celebrate your engagement, someone else throws this for you, presents are not required and you can invite whoever. However, they are not necessary and it sounds like you had everyone celebrate your engagement when you got engaged so I would say skip it.

An engagement party is a party held to celebrate a couple's recent engagement and to help future wedding guests to get to know one another. This is not necessary unless someone offers to throw you one. The bridal party is anyone directly involved with the wedding (bridesmaids, groomsmen, ushers, etc.)

Hi Elizabeth, welcome! Glad to have you with us. Just so you know, we aren't all brides in these forums, we have plenty of grooms, parents of engaged couples, and more

Also if you're going to stick around the forums (and we hope you do!) it would be great if you added an avatar image so we can start to recognize you and get to know you. You can set it yourself from your admin area (works better on desktop) or you can email a pic to community@weddingwire.com and I would be happy to set one up for you.

My engagement party was a week after he proposed while on vacation, when we got back we had all this duty-free liquor and hey why not... we went to my moh house and she got me a cake... nothing big but fun...

Hey yall I'm so sorry I meant bridal shower!!!!

@OhHappyPaulsons

I wasn't asking for gifts, I had gotten a few messages about when and if we were having a party so people could bring us stuff. Sorry for the confusion.

"Bridal party" is the general term for bridesmaids, groomsmen, parents, flower girl, ring bearer, etc.

Most couples do NOT have an engagement party. An engagement party is a party thrown to celebrate the RECENT engagement of the couple. It is not hosted by the couple (usually thrown by parents or close friends of the couple). It can be casual like a backyard BBQ, or it can be formal, depending on what the host wants to plan. Typically, no gifts are given although sometimes guests will bring a small gift like wine/champagne. If no one has offered, then probably no one will throw you an engagement party.

A bridal shower is a traditional pre-wedding event that is usually women-only. You may not host your own shower. Typically is thrown by the bridesmaids, or a relative of the bride like an aunt or godmother. This is no one's responsibility to host for you though, so you need to wait for someone to offer to host you one. A shower is usually thrown close to the wedding date, like within 6 months but usually closer to 2-3 months before the wedding. Guests typically bring gifts from the wedding registry. If you do not plan to have a registry, then you can't expect to have a bridal shower.

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