How long is too long for an engagement party?

Have it as close to your official engagement as possible or just skip the party.

I would say skip the engagement party since that's 8 months after your engagement. By then, all your friends and family will have already known about it for so long, so the excitement isn't really new anymore!

We had to end up skipping the e-party too since ours would've been held around the same month mark as yours!

I think all normal timelines have been thrown out the window due to COVID. If you want an excuse to see your friends and family I say go for it. You'll still be engaged and it's long before your wedding so it's still an engagement party!

Normally, I would say 8 months is too far out because everyone already knows you are engaged. BUT covid makes everything weird and honestly, if you want to have a party in June, I say have a party in June! We all need more reasons to celebrate this year and lately people have had all sorts of unique combinations of postponed/downsized/multiple events. Most will probably assume that you waited because of covid, which seems to be the case anyway, and I think people will just be excited to get together.

Hi I got engaged Fall 2019 and planned for our wedding to be October 10th 2021. We had our engagement picnic party on October 10 2020 to celebrate as like a one year kick off to our wedding. I think most engagement parties are done closer to the engagement, but ours still worked for us! A two year engagement is a long one so it was nice to have an event midway to rejuvenate some excitement Good luck!

To me, an engagement party makes the most sense when it’s closest to the date you got engaged. By June, everyone will be very aware of your engagement and you’ll be well into the wedding planning phase. So it can certainly be skipped altogether. Covid or not, there are some wedding related aspects that are better off being eliminated versus oddly forcing it to fit.

While I donʻt think itʻs odd to wanna get your family and friends together to celebrate your engagement once everything is safe again, keep in mind that traditionally those who are invited to your engagement party are traditionally invited to your wedding so if youʻre not ready to commit to your guest list (and really who can in COVID?), Iʻd probably skip it altogether.

View Quoted Comment Absolutely agree with this. Go for it, as long as it's not too close to the wedding I think it's fine.

Many great points! COVID has thrown tradition out the window. Do what you want! Keep in mind that whoever you invite to the engagement party also gets an invitation to your wedding.

We are in a very similar boat (got engaged September 2020, getting married May 2022), and we're going to have our engagement party in May! Like someone else said, we're doing it then because it's a year away from the wedding. I personally feel like it's still okay because it's not going to be too close in time to the showers or anything. I think covid has messed up so much with weddings that no one really expects things to be on a normal timeline anymore.

View Quoted Comment I agree! All rules are out this year lol. I think people will be looking for a reason to get together, and what a fun thing to celebrate!

There is absolutely nothing wrong with that! It’s a wild time to be going through all of this. My bridal shower got canceled about 6 weeks ago due to COVID and we couldn’t squeeze it in before the wedding (this weekend). The hosts still insisted on doing something for me so now it’s sometime in the summer or fall. Very weird but us COVID brides just have to roll with the punches 😊. Best of luck!

Have the party! COVID has changed timelines drastically!

We got engaged on Christmas 2020, our wedding is scheduled for September 2022. My mom is planning an engagement party for this spring/early summer so probably 6/7 months post our engagement. She wants to be able to ensure everyone who wants to be vaccinated is (my FH's grandparents are fully vaccinated now, my dad's scheduling his first dose and many of my cousins are nurses and teachers so they are already fully vaccinated but in CT where we live they are doing an age based rollout now of the vaccine, so everyone should be able to get fully vaccinated by the end of May when the last age group opens up) and she wanted to be able to have it outside.

To me, an engagement party isn't just about celebrating your engagement, but also gives a chance for both sides of the family to meet and mingle if they haven't already met. My FH's parents have only met my mom, and not my dad (for reasons not pertaining to my dad) and the only time they met was right after a horrific car accident my FH was in, we want everyone to officially meet in a non stressed setting.