While we just have three wedding invites on the mantle piece this year, rather than the nine we had in 2016, there seems to be no let up in my friends and family getting engaged!
With all these romantic proposals there is the inevitable flurry of excitement and gift-giving and sometimes it can be tough to know what to buy the happy couple as an engagement gift. With engagement parties waning in popularity (I think I’ve only been to one in the last ten years) I still love to send friends a gift to celebrate their new chapter.
Your Day Your Way
Enter some shameless promotion for the Rock My Wedding Your Day Your Way book. A 224 page beauty filled with gorgeous inspirational images and heaps of helpful advice including lots of suggested questions to ask wedding suppliers. Penned by our very own Charlotte O’Shea the book is regularly priced at around £13 on Amazon so is an inexpensive way to get their wedding planning underway.
All The Bubbles
When James and I got engaged we were the very grateful recipients of bucketloads of prosecco and champagne plus various pairs of champagne flutes. One friend ditched the champagne and instead bought us a set of six glasses instead. While I’m not OCD about mix and match glassware I did really appreciate having a full set of flutes and it meant we could share all the fizz with our friends too!
Last year when it was my parents’ Ruby Anniversary I jumped on the gin balloon glass bandwagon and bought them a couple of fancy pants glasses and a set of six others so their mates could join in with a toast too. BTW if you’re wondering what all the fuss is about with these glasses, it’s because the design keeps the ice cubes intact making for a more refreshing tipple.
Personalised
Years ago we did a post on housewarming gifts and one of the suggestions was a personalised stamp with their new address on it. I think this would also make a smashing gift for newly engaged folk who are uber organised and get their venue booked quickly. A gorgeous save the date stamp with their upcoming wedding date and location could be put to very good use.
Grow Your Own Confetti
For newly engaged couples with green fingers then a Grow your own confetti kit from The Gluttonous Gardener could be just the ticket. Featuring a trio of English country garden flowers the florals can be grown and dried to create stunning eco-friendly natural confetti. I absolutely love this idea and think it’s a really unique way to ensure your gift can be incorporated into the wedding day.
Memory Box
My mum bought me a beautiful memory box to celebrate my engagement which I still have with all our engagement cards inside and lots of mementoes of our wedding planning journey. It’s a lovely keepsake and one I love to look through every few years or so. When we got married sweet bars were all the rage and my Gran bought us a vintage apothecary jar similar to this one from Maisons Du Monde to use in our display. I still have it now filled with all the corks we popped during our nine month engagement and I think something similar would make a gorgeous gift to collect all the treasures accumulated through such a joyous time.
For lots of other gifts to buy couples then do take a look at the post I put together last Christmas with lots of ideas that would be suitable for engagements, weddings and anniversaries.
Any go-to gifts you send to your newly betrothed friends and family? Has anyone been to an engagement party recently or do your circle stick to a few drinks to celebrate instead?
I’m a total scrooge on this one – definitely no engagements present – ever! I would send a card but thats about it. I’d rather save it for a decent wedding present. Sorry, lol!
Ha Nikki! There are some gorgeous cards about but I find you have to buy them as soon as you see them as they can be hard to hunt down when you really need them!
Lovely ideas! It’s such a special time, it’s nice for it to be marked. We got lots of champagne and fizz too but the I think the most special was a book of Nick Cave lyrics from my best friend – we have always said that at least one of his songs would feature at the wedding and it’s a lovely book to have x
Oh Alice, this makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. What a thoughtful gift x
I love the grow your own confetti idea Lauren! I’m desperate for someone to get engaged so I can send the RMW book to them (and now obvs the confetti!) but it seems all of my friends are done and dusted. I love a good wedding and we’ve only been to one this year and have an evening to attend later in the year. Gone are the years of 6 or 7 in a 12 month period.
Will be checking back for ideas that would suit a destination wedding planning couple. (I have a feeling my friend will opt for Spain) I’d get be book but I know she would
worry about transporting things for the big day over there! I’ll get thinking…
My best friends got engaged in Paris, her favourite city, 5 years ago so I bought them some Le creuset soup bowls. I wish I had got them a more practical dish instead but the thought was there. For others, a simple bottle of fizz has been fine, topped up with a pair of Dartington crystal flutes – bought on a budget at Homesense or TK Max of course! I wouldn’t spend more than £10-15 unless they were very very close friends.
Hoping that when we get engaged (in the next year or two) that I mostly get fizz too!
Bunny, love the french cookware for a Parisian engagement!
Hoping to hear wedding bells for you soon too x
What lovely ideas! The most thoughtful gift we received was a rose bush from my godfather which has been such a lovely gift that we enjoy seeing bloom every year – it’s lasted a lot longer than all the champagne! We also received a mini chalkboard with our names on which we could update with the countdown to our wedding which we loved updating.
Sophie the rose bush is a gorgeous idea.
I sent me friend a wedding countdown blackboard when she got engaged too. Time flies when you have a chalkboard!