Engagement party!

Just started planning my fiance and my engagement party. Since our wedding is in Disneyland and it will be expensive for some of our friends to travel and since the wedding will be mostly family due to budget constraints an engagement party hosted locally seemed like a great way to celebrate with those who might not get to attend the actual wedding ceremony. I considered sticking with the Disney theme for the engagement dinner but after combing over the internet I just couldn't find any decor or invitations that fit both my theme and my budget so I decided to use and elegant black tie style instead with a little Tiffany blue. I found this great invitation online and edited it with our info and will be printing them myself on cardstock. 

I also got some really cool ideas for party activities to break the ice between the mix of guests that will be there. I found a website that sold wedding shower games and used their ideas to print my own. The games include: wedding taboo, wedding charades/pictionary, and bride and groom trivia. Each game is played the same as it is in its normal version except that all the answers are wedding themed. And the trivia was the most fun of all. Me and my husband-to-be sat around and thought up questions we thought our friends should know about us, some were simple, some serious, and most were silly. My fiance suggested also that we have some prizes for the winners of these games, so I have to find something suitable and affordable for that as well. Most of the decor for the event is simple. I found some glitter and "diamonds" for the table, the restaurant provides table cloths, candles, and of course tableware. I also decided to bring in my own desserts and favors. I had the idea to make cupcakes and put ringpops on each to keep with the whole engagement ring theme. The image below is similar to what I want to do with mine.






And I found some super cute favors at the dollar tree that I plan to fill with hershey's hugs&kisses.
These only cost $1 for ten of these little favors, 5 brides and 5 grooms!


So far these are my ideas for the party and my budget is less than $40 (not including the cost of my and my fiance's dinner). The decor should ring in around $15, the cupcakes $5, the favors about $5, and the invitations about $7 so far so good but I'll post how it all turns out! And if after I start shopping I stay within my budget!

My Disney Fairytale...

My fiance and I just got engaged about a week ago and have decided that we want Disneyland to host our fairytale wedding in November of either 2012 or 2013(depending on funds). I have always LOVED Beauty and the Beast so our theme is inspired by that movie. So here's a little about us, My name is Melissa and my Fiance is Devin. We met in highschool and were best friends since our freshman year. The November after we graduated we had our first date, three dates later we were an official couple and now four years later we are getting married. I am so thankful that we met and am soooo excited to start our lives together! Originally we considered a small wedding and were going to go with the Disney Escape package that allows 26 guests (including the bride and groom), a three course meal, a small cake, and a ceremony but no reception which runs around $5,000. But after discussing it we really wanted to share this life changing event with all of our family and friends so we have chosen to save for the bigger Wishes wedding and just have a longer engagement. The Wishes package includes ceremony for unlimited number of guests, food, cake, and a 4 hour reception. It also has optional enhancements like cinderella's coach or character guests. Our budget for this happily ever after is between $15,000- $16,000 but the cheaper the better! This blog will be about the planning and the scrimping that will go into this event and also give some tips to other Disney brides trying to watch their wallets...