They popped the question and now you’re engaged! You had a magical engagement that was everything you ever dreamed it would be…but now what? There is the initial celebration when someone gets on one knee to propose, but so much more needs to be done afterwards! This time is joyful, but can also be confusing to navigate. After all, there’s a whole wedding to plan and announce! If you’re unsure what to do now, let these six easy steps guide you.

1. Enjoy your Engaged Time Together

The first thing any newly engaged couple should do is just enjoy the engagement and live in the moment. You can certainly celebrate with friends and family, but you should also try to do something that only involves the two of you. Weddings in general are a group event so taking time for yourselves right after getting engaged is a wonderful way to bring you closer together and further your intimacy. It is even becoming popular to take small vacations after getting engaged! These ‘engagement-moons’ are a great way to reflect on your relationship and the love that led you to get engaged in the first place. 

2. Announce the You’re Engaged to the World!

Top wedding experts advise that you announce your engagement in phases. You will want to tell your closest family and friends as soon as you’re ready, but don’t let yourself feel pressured. Some couples want their families to know the day of, and some people want to keep it private for a little while. Both options are valid. 

The only thing that really matters is that you’re happy with the decision. You should also consider who you’re going to tell immediately and who you will tell through a wedding announcement. Depending on the size of your family and social group, you might have several announcement phases for different groups of people. It is important, however, that you and your partner sit down and make sure that you are on the same page with who you’re telling and when. 

Of course social media is a big place for engagement announcements. It’s up to you to decide if you want to announce your engagement on your favorite platforms immediately, or if you’d prefer to wait until more formal photos are taken. 

3. Start Setting up a Timeline

As soon as you start announcing your engagement people are going to ask you when the wedding is! If you aren’t sure at the time of the announcement, it’s totally fine to say that you don’t know. After you’ve announced it, however, you should start thinking about a basic wedding timeline. You don’t have to have a day and time nailed down, but knowing about how long your engagement will be or what season you want to get married in can make the planning process much smoother. Giving yourself a timeline ensures that you don’t fall behind on the little things. 

4. Take Engagement Pictures

Hiring a photographer for engagement pictures isn’t essential but it can be fun and memorable! Due to the pandemic and backlog of weddings, booking photographers can be a bit difficult. It’s important that you start looking for one right away. This can be a great way to test out a photographer that you may want to use for your wedding day. After you’ve found a photographer, go online and look at engagement photos with your partner. Decide on themes that you like and bring them with you for your consultation. You may also want to discuss options for printed engagement announcements and save the date announcements with your photographer. They might already offer printing services or work with someone who does. It’s a great way to save a little bit of time and money!

Don’t forget to infuse both of your personalities into your engagement pics. These can be fun and creative location choices, outfit options or unique accessories. While your wedding photos may be more formal, your engagement shoot can be a time to show off your creative side. Not feeling like a special shoot for being engaged? No problem! Not everyone does an engagement shoot and you shouldn’t feel pressured to do anything just because everyone else is.  

5. Engaged? Now it’s Party Time!

Engagements and weddings are fun. Want to know what’s even more fun? All of the parties that happen between them! After getting engaged you need to decide if you’re going to have any other celebrations! These celebrations can vary based on culture, religion and personal preference. The first one to decide on is an engagement party. This can be as formal or as casual as you’d like. Some couples opt to skip it but many still enjoy getting friends and family together to celebrate the big news. You could host this party at your house or make a dinner date out of it at a local bar, winery or restaurant.  

Next up are the pre-wedding parties, often held in the three months before the wedding date. These include a bridal shower and bachelor and bachelorette parties. If a Bridal shower sounds boring to you, don’t have one! You and your partner should sit down and decide what kind of parties you’re planning on having, what the budget is and who is going to be in charge of them. This is also a great time to start thinking about your bridal party since they are traditionally in charge of bachelor and bachelorette parties. It has also become increasingly popular to have a joint bachelor and bachelorette party that is more of a celebration of the couple. The kind of party doesn’t really matter as long as it’s a celebration of your love and as long as you two are having fun! 

6. Hire a Wedding Planner and Get Planning!

After basking in the glow of your engagement for a few weeks, you will want to start planning. Pinterest is a great place to start and there are a plethora of wedding planning books out there as well. A physical wedding planner book is a great resource for you to have. It will help keep you organized and can even become a scrapbook that you can look back on. 

When you first start planning you will want to start with the big stuff (location, season, decor theme etc.) and work your way down to the smaller stuff like wedding party outfits and catering. Hiring a wedding planner is also a great idea, if it’s in your budget. Wedding planners help keep you on track and they can also help you stay on budget or even save money. 

Engagements are fun, intimate and more personal than weddings. It’s a time for you and your partner to get closer to each other and celebrate the love that you have for one another. Don’t be in such a rush to get to the wedding that you forget to enjoy the journey. 

7. Get That Ring Protected

It’s easy to overlook something as boring as insurance, but engagement ring insurance is definitely worth looking into. As a general rule, it makes good money sense to consider ring insurance for an engagement ring valued over $3500. Typical ring insurance will cost somewhere between $50-$100 a year, depending on the value of the ring. This can go way up for very expensive diamonds, but generally speaking, for most rings it will only be similar to the cost of a nice dinner out. That’s a small price to pay for peace of mind.

8. Sign Up for Guestie

Once you have your guestlist ready, the real fun can begin! Sign up for Guestie and upload your guestlist (don’t worry, we protect your privacy and don’t share any guest details with ANYONE else!). Now your guests can get to know each other, start group messages on the site, ask questions and make song requests. The celebration can get started before your big day and the best part — it will give you amazing energy and excited guests that will fill your day with joy and excitement. Break the ice and start the party with your friends and family today! 

You’re engaged! Enjoy this special time and savor every moment of this wonderful milestone in your relationship.