OUR HAMPTONS STYLE ENGAGEMENT PARTY
The Poolside Party of Our Dreams
-every detail behind it -
Today I’ll be sharing every little detail about our engagement party. From the inspiration, vendors, execution details, lessons learned, and LOTS of pictures! I can’t even believe I’m writing this blog post - our engagement party felt like it took sooo long to get here, and now it’s over within the blink of an eye! I am not going to lie to y'all - planning a party like this was stressful. Needless to say I definitely learned some things along the way (like, just because you can DIY flowers does not mean you should)! However, it turned out exactly how I wanted it to, and it was so much fun at the end of the day! Both Matt and I felt so honored that everyone came out to celebrate us!
THE INSPIRATION
In my mind, I always wanted our engagement party to feel relaxed, not them-y, but also elevated and curated. The inspiration really was born from the venue we were lucky enough to use. My AMAZING sister in law’s parents opened their newly renovated, and beautiful, home to us for our party. As soon as I visited their home and saw their pool, I knew I wanted our party to have an elevated pool-side vibe. What better inspiration than the Hamptons! I also knew I wanted it to be a longer event in the afternoon to allow people the freedom to come and go depending on their schedules. Because of this, I wanted to have multiple activities for people to do. This is where our backyard games, photo booth, bar, live music, and grazing table came into play. More on that later…
OUR AMAZING VENUE
THE INVITATION
Now to set the scene with our invites. My good friend Morgan created the most perfect invitation for us. I wanted the invite to feel chic and to pull from elements of the south in the fall. My biggest struggle of planning a poolside party in the fall was how to blend a beautiful summer time setting with warmer and cozier fall-time colors. The magnolia leaves and oranges were the perfect combination to me. For the physical invites we did a velum wrap, custom wax seal inside a pearlized envelope. This extra level of detail let our guests know it was going to be a more formal party.
The BIGGEST hack I learned here was how to address envelopes quickly and on a budget - AVERY WRAP AROUND LABELS. By using these Avery labels, I was able to custom design my labels, print them at home, and incorporate our return address all in one swoop! I couldn’t recommend these enough to anyone sending out large quantities of invitations or holiday cards!
VENDORS
The party would not have been such a success without our amazing vendors! They really helped turn my crazy dreams into a reality:
RENTALS | IT'S MY PARTY RENTALS
We rented 2 60” rounds, 5 high boys, and the bar all with linens from It’s my party rentals in Alpharetta and they were all a huge hit! Having multiple places to touch down, mingle around, and a place to sit was so beneficial throughout the afternoon. They delivered the tables, and picked them up after the event. Florals and centerpieces were all done by yours truly.
GRAZING TABLE | CHEESE ALL THAT
Since the event was in the mid afternoon we didn’t have to deal with the stress of serving a full meal. Instead, I wanted to offer a grazing table. This was a HUGE success!! Everyone loved the display, and Cheese all that did SUCH an amazing job!!
shop these chic custom napkins from Etsy
LIVE MUSIC | BAREFOOT GENO
I would HIGHLY recommend having live music at your next event. Geno did an amazing job and really set such an amazing vibe for the whole day. Plus, he really knew how to get everyone up and dancing!
Like I mentioned earlier, just because you can DIY your floral arrangements does’t mean you SHOULD. This is where I learned my biggest lesson - you don’t have to do it all! I was hoping to save some money in certain areas by DIYing almost all of the decor, florals, and signage. If I could do it again, I would outsource everything to put off as much stress as possible!! However, I also learned that I have AMAZING friends and family that helped SO much with these DIY things. Special shoutout to Jackson who arranged all our flowers while we were at the house setting up Friday night!
THE BECOMING BARRY BAR
Let me start this by saying - everyone loves a bar. Everyone. I knew having an open bar would instantly make the party a huge success. I feel like it makes a great first impression. Even though the bar looked really elevated, we bout all the wine and beer at wholesale from Costco. To take it one step further, we hired our friends’ brother to bar tend. I think this level of service really helped elevate the whole experience! Plus, the welcome glass of Prosecco didn’t hurt.
On the bar itself we had two large floral arrangements, pillar candles, and a menu I made in photoshop and put in an IKEA frame. The biggest complement I got the whole day was on the custom napkins we had at the bar and the grazing table. We got these custom made through Etsy. I think that little details like that really help make an event!
PHOTO BOOTH
This photo booth station was really the center piece of the whole backyard layout. We ordered this custom neon sign from yellow pop for our wedding, and I knew I wanted to incorporate it into the engagement party too! My dad helped me build this custom stand for the sign, and I made the balloon arch from this kit from party city. Since it turned out so well, I knew the best way to get people to utilize the photo booth was to ask for a photo guest book. We didn’t get our physical guest book in time. So, instead I asked everyone to take a polaroid and leave us a note! This way I can add in these polaroids and notes into our guest book prior to the wedding!
DECOR + DETAILS
Like I mentioned, the details really help make an event! I knew that even the decor elements should have components of Matt and I. Down at the street we had a custom welcome sign that I printed at FedEx and mounted on another stand that my dad and I made. In the pool we had two matching inflated swans and large balloons floating in the pool. The most fun decor element was these swans - we put a bow tie on one and pearls (hint hint) on the other! I thought it was the cutest thing. Lastly, we had dried oranges incorporated into all the centerpieces and grazing table. This was a really subtle detail, but I loved how it all tied back to our invitation!
MY LOOK
I was so overwhelmed with what to wear. Let’s just say that trying to buy a white dress in October will leave you very frustrated. I also refused to spend more than $100 on a white dress that wasn’t my wedding dress. After returning everything I ordered I did a last minute search on Zara and found the perfect linen blend, midi dress with an open back. I also sported my new Mrs. Barry White, Pearl Jean Jacket.
I really can’t believe we had such an amazing engagement party. We are both so grateful for everyone who helped us plan and execute the most fun party ever. Thank you to all our closets friends and families who came to celebrate our engagement with us! Can’t wait to party together all over again next May.
