Is it too late to have an engagement party?

It's all up to you, if you can afford it, go for it. My take on engagement party is that it's purpose is to annouce the engagement, if everyone already know you're engaged then it's pointless, but then again you can never go wrong with a celebration.

I'm with Patricia J. - I think the point is to celebrate the announcement of your engagement, so if people have known about your engagement for almost a year...it seems a little late. That doesn't mean you can't do it, though.

I'm not all that familiar with the tradition of having padrinos, but it doesn't sound like their support is tied to having an engagement party.

We had our engagement party 5 months after we got engaged. Our main reason for having one was so that our families could meet since everyone already knew about the engagement itself.

Can you explain a little more about the padrinos since you said it's a part of your culture? Just trying to get a little more info so I can hopefully give you a little more advice.

@ patricia j.- you see that is what i thought when my step-mom asked, "uh everyone already knows we are getting married?" i wouldn't be paying for it, my dad and step-mom would

Well, if your step mom and dad want to throw one and pay for it, then I see no problem with it. You could call it a countdown party. That's what we did. We got engaged in Nov. 2010 and then had a countdown party in September of this year. So basically an engagement party with a twist.

@J&R S.- their support isn't tied with the party i just thought maybe it could be a reminder of our wedding. im hoping they would think "oh yeah i forgot they were getting married next year. oh wait im suppose to be helping them out this month, uh is that bank opened right now?" LOL

i dunno im thinking ill just tell my step-mom no that i think it is too late to have one now

I think if people still need to meet or need time to get to know each other better, I would have a party for the immediate families and bridal party, but not call it an "engagement party". Instead maybe do it at the one year mark of the wedding as a "meet and greet" or "thank you for your continued support" event.

I understand. I'm not all familiar with padrinos but we have something very familiar in my culture as well that we call godfathers and godmothers (of the wedding) and usually their help in simply tied to the wedding itself, not an engagement party, like for example the godmother will pay for the bride's dress and the godfather will pay for the groom's tux or something else, most people don't do it anymore.

So now, since your dad and step-mom would be paying for it, how do the padrinos fit in there, is it just a matter of them helping you get things together for the party or just giving money for it?

Also since you already have all the money for your wedding, I wouldn't worry about them, and you said they're already offered to help, I would just leave it up to them to help in thier own term, because you never know, they could be waiting for something specific to get the money to you.

@JJ you're hispanic right? i can't remember. anywho well all our padrinos are all suppose to pay for our reception place. they asked me by when we wanted the money and i said by this month so that way we had an idea of what our budget looked like but only one has helped out. I don't want to call them and give them a friendle reminder because i don't want to be rude about it but im not sure.

@ Patricia J- padrinos aren't part of the wedding party they just help with different things. like mine are all suppose to help with the reception place. I don't need the extra money but it would be nice I could get a better photographer and a DOC if all my padrinos pull through. but your are right maybe they are waiting for somehting specific to come in. didn't think of that.

Sorry, Italian, not Hispanic I knew I had heard the term padrinos before, but couldn't remember their relevance. And sorry, but no advice to give either about a friendly way to remind them about the money without calling to ask for it. Do they all know the responsibility of being a padrino? Have they done this before? And (just out of curiosity) do they have any other role in the wedding other than monetary?

Oh okay, I got you. You can always send them a save the date (if you haven't already) if you're worried they might forget about the wedding, I think that's a good way to remind them

I don't think it's too late. It will be great to see everyone, and hopefully you get some help in the upcoming months!

Oh i like that idea a meet and greet party, that sounds fun

@ jj- at the wedding i will thank them publicly or put their name on the, chucks the word slipped my mind, uh i completely forgot the word for it but the paper that has the order of the ceremony and give them a gift. padrinos see this as an honor to help and they see it as they are part of the wedding.

we are sending our save the dates some time soon so i didn't think that could be there reminder thanks patricia

Oh i know what we could do as far as a reminder to our padrinos. when we give them their save the dates we could mayber right a little note in the back of the postcard and say "we thank you for being our padrinos and really appreciate you." what do you think of that?

I think its a little late for an engagement party however you can still do a bridal shower. So people don't forget and it can pull your registry's into play.

Yeah reina i think i will 86 the party thanks

I think you can have an engagement party anytime while you're engaged?