Thursday's Wedding Tip #34

It's finally Thursday and almost Valentine's Day!! This weeks wedding tip is on:Engagement parties.

There are many events that lead up to your wedding and an engagement party is usually the first time you and your soon to be husband will make your grand entrance and get to see each others extended families in the same room. I know you all have many questions from who hosts, to how long after you get engaged, and who should be invited.

The only real rule in regards to engagement parties is that if you invite someone to your engagement party, then they also need to be invited to your wedding (unless you are having a VERY SMALL Wedding). If this person is important enough to celebrate your engagement, then they deserve to be invited to your wedding.

First you and your fiance need to decide if you actually want an engagement party. My husband and I had one and it was wonderful, I got to meet a lot of his family that I never met before( and we dated for 6 years), as well as his family got to meet all of mine. It also gave everyone a chance to get to know each other before the wedding.

You should make the engagement party a smaller scale of your wedding. We did a Sunday brunch and had about 70 people (we had more than double at our wedding). Once you start making your list of who to invite, it will grow very fast. Aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents really add up, especially if one or both of you have parents are re-married. Of course you should invite your entire wedding party and any other close family and friends.

Depending on how long you are planning on waiting to get married should determine your time frame on when to have your party. If you are having your wedding in less than a year, plan a small engagement party within 1-2 months. If you are planning to wait longer than a year, you should still have your engagement party within the first 6 months of your engagement. The reasoning to have it sooner than later is because friends and family all want to congratulate you and after 6 months you will probably have spoken to all of them already and then a party is not really necessary.

Lately, the grooms family hosts the engagement party and the bride's side handles the wedding. The party can be anywhere- a house, renting out a country club, restaurant to even a BBQ at the park. The important thing to remember is all these people are there to congratulate you.

I would love to hear what you did for your engagement party or did you opt not to have one?

If you missed last week's wedding tip- check it out here...Enjoy!

Wedding Invitation Giveaway ENDS Tonight

If you haven't signed up for the Wedding Invitation $50 Gift Certificate Giveaway from beachwedlockinvitations.com, westernwedlockinvitations.com or vegaswedlockinvitations.com, make sure you do so today. Giveaway ends tonight. Head on over here to sign up. Enjoy!

Laid-Back Berry Trifle- YUMMY!

Are you hungry? There are so many great recipes from Right at Home.

Get all the details here how to make this great dish..Enjoy!

Guess What I Spent and Saved Giveaway

I had an amazing Publix shop today and saved sooo much and really stocked up. I am having another giveaway this week: Check out the picture to see everything I bought!!

Same rules as last weeks giveaway:
Please leave a comment telling me how much you think I spent and how much you think I saved.

The first person to guess within $2 how much I spent will get an assortment of coupons worth over $10.

The first person to guess within $2 how much I saved will get an assortment of coupons worth over $25.

If you guess both correctly you win all the coupons. I will post my receipt after to show my totals..Enjoy!

Wedding Hairstyles

There are some new gorgeous wedding hairstyles on weddingchannel.com.

Here are a few of my favorites:

High Braided Bun

Half Up with Waves

Loose Curls with Flower Headband

Twisted Buns with Pouf and Jewels

Enjoy!

FREE Oikos Greek Yogurt at Whole Foods

I found a HOT deal at Whole Foods today. Normally the Oikos Greek Yogurt is priced at $1.99. This week it is on sale for $1/each.

There is a $1 off coupon from the 1/3 Smartsource making each yogurt FREE. I had 8 of them. If you don't have your Smartsouce or that many coupons, there is a $1 off ANY Oikos Greek Yogurt from the Whole Foods Website here, there is also a coupon book at the front of the store with the same coupons from the website.

*With the Whole Foods coupon, it is one per transaction- the register will not allow more than one at a time.

I used 8 $1 manufacturer coupons(1/3 Smartsource)
I also used 1 Whole Foods coupon
= 9 FREE Oikos Greek Yogurts!!

Enjoy!

Mark Your Calendar: FREE Pretzel

Mark Your Calendar: On Feb. 20, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., you can enjoy a free pretzel at any Auntie Anne's location. Choose from an Original or Cinnamon Sugar pretzel. No coupon required..Enjoy!