Things I've Learned Planning our Engagement Ceremony

As many know I just recently got engaged. In my culture it is traditional and a custom for the immediate families to gather and celebrate the newly engaged couple with an Engagement Ceremony. The Ceremony involves a priest that would come and bless the rings while also blessing the couple's engagement. I had about a month and a half to plan this ceremony and I just want to say I truly could not have pulled this off if it wasn’t for my family helping me out! The majority of the ceremony party was DIY and was in my aunt’s backyard!

With that being said the first thing I learned is that everyone has an opinion and they will voice what they want every chance they get. This may not be true for some but for the majority I feel that it is absolutely true. And I do not mean this in a bad way at all, it was nice and even helpful at times to hear another perspective I was not seeing. BUT- it can get extremely overwhelming when ten different people are pushing and pulling you from ten different directions. My advice- take everything with a grain of salt and set boundaries when you know what you want is exactly what you want. The only other person who’s opinion matters is your partner!

I also learned that you think you know what you want until it actually comes time for everything to come together. I have trouble visualizing things because of my aphantasia so I really was going with what I thought would look nice. Thankfully with a lot of careful planning it looked way better than I was expecting for it to be. So no matter how long you’ve been planning what you want, expect for things to change!

The most important thing I learned is that something will go wrong. I still have my bridal shower and actual wedding to plan, I am expecting that everything will go wrong and nothing will go right. That could be my anxiety talking but so many things went sideways from planning the engagement ceremony to the actual day that it’s just easier to think that everything will go wrong. With this mentality I feel like it would prepare you for whatever situation comes up and to always be prepared to think on your feet to come up with a solution.

I also learned to get more than what you need for whatever it may be. For example, since the centerpieces were DIY, I bought more flowers than I needed, more candlesticks than I needed and such. I say this because again you never know what happens, you can break something and next thing you know the store has run out of whatever it is that you had and need. Or simply you underestimated the amount of items you needed for something. This includes food and drinks!! If you have space in your budget try to get a little more than you need because again you just never know what happen. In situations like these the unthinkable always happens. It is better to be safe than sorry! Who cares if you end up with a few extra trays of food or extra decor? I’d rather have peace of mind than realize I don’t have enough of something and be stuck in a pickle. You can always try and sell your decor for some money back or have the food as leftovers for the next day!

To whoever will be planning a party, good luck! And remember to have a good time- at least try to!