Engagement Party -- Is it necessary?

The purpose is to celebrate, but seriously not necessary at all. I don't think you'd be missing out if you didn't have one. I didn't and I don't regret it or wish that I did.

No, people who are not invited to the wedding should not be invited to any wedding related parties. It comes across as rude and gift grabby.

Just have your intimate wedding! There honestly isn't a need for the other parties.

I didn't have an engagement party and I'm not going to. Ive never even been to one, i think its kind of odd

They're very not necessary. I haven't had one, and I won't. I'm not planning on having a bridal shower either. I don't feel the need for that either.

I didn't have one. I also think they're odd, and honestly it just feels like another way to ask for gifts. Save it for the shower, if you're doing one.

My FH and I are not having an engagement party, and I am not having a bridal shower. All of my family is from out of state as is most of FH's. There's also really no time before the wedding to have one. If you guys want one, then cool. If not, stick to what you want.

I've never been to one before and we didn't have one. It just seems like one more extra thing. Not a fan.

My aunt and uncle threw us one in the summer. Only people that were guaranteed invited to the wedding were invited, and we did not register or ask for gifts.

I think it was just to celebrate our engagement with everyone seeing as our wedding was two years away. It was a lot of fun, but not necessary.

Side note, the bride and Groom should not throw themselves an engagement party, someone should offer to.

FHs grandmother threw us and engagement party last year. I had never been to one before, so I didn't think it was a necessary thing, but she really wanted to host one. It was super sweet of her and it was fun. I didn't know that we would get gifts, but we did. We were asked about a registry by a few people, so we did make one. Everyone mostly gave us money We only invited people that would be invited to the wedding.

That being said, you don't need to have one. Only have one if someone offers to throw you one. Everyone invited to an engagement party, shower or Bach party, must be invited to the wedding.

Not necessary. I didn't have one, didn't miss it.

Not necessary, especially at this point in the game. Your wedding is 5 months away. Just skip it.

I didn't have one and I'm completely okay with that. I'm having a shower and a bachelorette and FH is having a bachelor party... that's enough pre-wedding events for us.

I honestly think over the top engagement parties are a trend that needs to die.

Our "engagement party" was us being surprised by our friends breaking into our house and decorating it and having bottles of champagne ready for when we came back from dinner the night we got engaged. It was pretty sweet and all I'd ever want, if anything at all. And by breaking in, my MOH knew the code to my garage haha.

But really, engagement party, rehearsal dinner, bachelorette party, shower, it's exhausting.

Nicole- that is so cute that your friends did that for you.. What if you had said no? lol

@Nicole Engagement parties aren't a trend- they've been around for decades and usually were only for "high society" people.

We had an engagement party a month after we got engaged, hosted by my parents. We limited it to friends and mostly had it so that his friends and my friends had a chance to meet. Also, many of our friends (from college) now live out of state so it was our first chance to see them since we had gotten engaged! We had a BBQ in the backyard and didn't decorate except for a "congratulations" banner. The only gifts we received were bottles of champagne from a few friends- gifts are definitely not the point of the party.

If you're wedding is in June then I wouldn't bother with an engagement party at this point. I have usually seen them 1-2 years before the wedding when the couple got engaged. Focus money and attention on the wedding!

Its not necessary and you wouldn't host your own, anyway. Skip it. No one can be invited to any pre wedding event (shower, bachelorette) that isn't invited to the wedding.

We didn't have one

My MOH and her family offered to throw us one to celebrate. I'm the first of my group to get married so I think we have been taking every opportunity to celebrate. For the engagement party, I did request to have "no gifts, please" added to the invitation. We really wanted to celebrate, not to get gifts or anything.

We also didn't have one and actually never thought about one. I personally don't understand them.

We had a couple of engagement celebration dinners all thrown by friends without our request whatsoever. One was a group dinner with about 10 friends, 1 was with a couple that couldn't make it to the engagement dinner, and 1 was with friends we saw the day we got engaged. They will all be at our wedding. None of it was a surprise since I hate surprises and they asked multiple times if they could do it before we agreed. A friend had an engagement dinner with just his and her family (again, hosted by family members and not the couple) so they could celebrate that they will all be family now. ETA: We were incredibly thankful to have these kind celebrations since neither one of us are in touch with families so our friends are it. Any excitement our families would have had was substituted by our friends and we are incredibly lucky. We also have never celebrated anything for ourselves before with friends (birthdays, graduations) so it felt great to have our first celebration together.