Engagement Party Planning

So my parents are throwing us an engagement party- and even better my mother is letting me help plan! :) The fun part is that it is totally relaxed compared to our wedding so we can do a lot of things that I love that would never had fit in with the wedding. Here's a few of the crafty things we'll be encorporating:

(All pictures found at Martha Stewart)

1. I love those postcard invitations- so we're going to make them using olive greed card stock, off-white envelopes pasted on the front, and then a few awesome stamps I found at Michaels' Craft Store. 

2. The potted plants are actually going to be mint and thyme. The  mint will have a little tag that reads :"Mint to be". While the thyme will have a tag that reads: "Thyme for a wedding". So adorable, plus if we decide to use them as favors we can do that easily.

3. The cup cake towers will rock all of our deserts and snackies. Of course the colors will be an olive green instead of the blue that the picture shows.

4. Martha says that these tissue paper pompoms are easy to make, so hopefully I can throw a bunch together in varying sizes of white tissue paper and we can hang them from the trees.

5. This sign will be made with the same font and paper as the tags in the mint and thyme. And of course it will read "Just Engaged" instead of "Just Married". 

So this week, my to dos for the E-Party are as follows:

1. Set official party date (We're thinking of May 30th)

2. Finilize my guest list to give to my mom. (She'll be adding some friends of hers and anyone else that she'd like to invite who wouldn't be able to be invited to the wedding)

3. Make invitations

4. Attempt a practice run at those tissue paper pompoms

Wow, I'll be busy this week!

Forever Dreaming,

Katelyn

Distractions

With my work rolling out a new software and making me put in extra hours to get used to it, I have had little time this week to just sit back and day dream. But one thing that I am starting to think about - our engagement party!  Here's my inspiration at the moment:

(click the photo for the link)

I think it will be help at my parent's house, very cozy and informal. Just a great way for our families and friends to meet each other before the big day. Here's some tips I picked up on ehow.com

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  The bride's father should always make a toast, regardless of the locale or mood of the party.
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  Not everyone who is coming to the wedding needs to be invited to the engagement party.
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  Always splurge on good champagne.
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  Make sure you have the location booked at least a month in advance so you can concentrate on other details of party planning.
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  Never invite someone to the engagement party who is not invited to the wedding.
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  Gifts should not be expected.
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  Always consider the bride and groom in the planning, for it is essentially a party for them.
  Have a great Thursday!
  Forever Dreaming,
  Katelyn