Hi there! Thanks for checking out my blog. This post is part of my wedding planning series. If you have not read my previous posts on my engagement ring and how I asked my bridesmaids to be part of my wedding day check them out here and here. I have been engaged for over a year now and can’t believe how quickly the time has gone by. It has truly been a special year! As my wedding gets closer I am getting more excited too. In this post I am sharing the details of our engagement party. We had so much fun celebrating with our closest friends and family!

Our parents threw us an engagement party at a great restaurant called Corks & Taps in Bayshore, NY.  It has a rustic meets industrial vibe which went perfect with the decor theme I had my heart set on. {More to come on how my wedding vision changed over the last year – stay tuned!} We lucked out with the most perfect fall day and were able to keep the giant front doors open for the entire party. The venue could not have been more perfect. The food was great, the staff was helpful and of course there were a ton of craft beer options on tap! I have to follow a gluten-free diet, so it is very important that the venue prepares everything gluten free. I am happy to say I had no problems with the food. All of our guests had great things to say about the venue.

I ordered our invitations on Etsy which were perfectly coordinated with the beer and wine theme. The seller was very responsive via Etsy messages and turned around my order within 1-2 days. The invite was an instant download which I had printed and cut at Staples. I think the quality of the invites were great. Instant downloads are a way to incorporate affordable invites into your event.  There are so many invitation options on Etsy that you can definitely find one for any style or occasion.

As I mentioned in my previous post I gave all of my bridesmaids custom wine glasses which they all brought to the party. My fiance and I also used our matching wine and beer glass set. All of the glasses made for some cute pictures!

I have dreamed about getting married in the fall for as long as I can remember. That dream always included pumpkins. I painted a large pumpkin white with a gold stem and big “S” initial for my future last name.  It was super easy to make. I purchased the paint at a craft store and used a stencil to paint the “S.”

My mom purchased all different sized glass vases from the craft store which we filled with corn kernels and yummy scented fall candles. All of the women at the party loved them! These were all snatched up as we left that day. Since the party my mom has re-purposed these vases for all different holidays.

One of my most favorite decorations of the day were the painted mason jars my mom made. She used white chalkboard paint and gave them a rustic look by rubbing them down with sandpaper. A bunch of our guests also took these home because they loved them so much. My uncle is a wonderful florist and he filled the mason jars with the prettiest flowers. He is also the florist for my wedding day!

My MOH gave me a Polaroid camera for my birthday, so I decided to use it at our engagement party to have our guests make a photo/guest book. The film cartridges are a little pricey, so I thought it would be a better idea to use the Polaroid camera at our engagement party versus our wedding (to use less film). I bought a square craft book at Michael’s Crafts that had blank pages. To attach the photos to the book I bought double sided scrap-booking tape that comes in a roller (similar to this one). I suggest using tape that comes in a dispenser over the little squares you have to peel off the tape roll because you don’t want little papers all over. At our party I left the Polaroid camera, the book, tape and some pretty milky gel pens on a table. I love how it turned out and every so often I take out the book to read through all of the notes our guests left us.

I ordered custom signs from Designs by Kari on Etsy with our wedding hashtag, a message for the Polaroid table and a few other sayings. I opened a custom order request because the seller did not have all of the signs I wanted at the time. She was very responsive via Etsy messages and was able to create everything I wanted. I was so happy because I was having a hard time finding signs that I liked in the same colors and fonts. This order was also an instant download which I had printed at Staples. I found picture frames at Marshalls which also go nicely with my home decor so they were all easily re-purposed.

I found metal initials and an “&” sign at Michael’s Crafts which I left out on the bar with other decor. I also bought a few dark wood milk crates from Joanne’s Crafts which we used for our favors and pretty fall mums! Throughout the restaurant I also had some framed pictures of Mike and I. Some of my bridesmaids had given me gifts shortly after getting engaged and they doubled as great party decor! My MOH gave me an “engaged” banner with we used in pictures and I purchased a “love is sweet” banner that we hung over the fire place at the restaurant.

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Possibly my most favorite part of my engagement party decor were the favors! My mom is the best baker ever and she baked our favorite cookies. She uses Bob’s Redmill gluten free oatmeal to make her Monster Cookies gluten free too! I ordered paper bags and thank you stickers from Etsy. The bags of cookies looked so pretty in the wood milk crates, so they doubled as another decoration. We wrapped each cookie in plastic wrap and sealed the bags with the stickers.