Last weekend we shared the wonderful news with friends, family and of course, the obligatory social media post announcing our engagement! This is truly one of the happiest moments of our lives and I can only imagine what the future will hold and the moments that will top the engagement and wedding.
Many of our close friends and family members already knew about the engagement before publically announcing it. Throughout the “pre-engagement” and engagement time I actually learned a lot that I wanted to share with those who are looking to tie the knot soon.
Here are a few Engagement “Myths”
Myth #1: It was a complete surprise!
Most “RomComs” have you trained to believe that your engagement will be a complete surprise and you had no idea it was coming. Oh and your professional photographer just happened to be there to capture the moment.
I know that this is a special moment for every couple and every engagement is unique and should be representative of your relationship. Here are my words of wisdom (unsolicited) on the subject… If you aren’t speaking about your future together with your significant other, then there isn’t one. I know this sounds really harsh, but it’s very simple – black and white, there isn’t a grey area.
When you are with your life partner, that individual will make sure to tell you how important you are to them. Your partner will also tell you that they want to spend the rest of their life with you on a regular basis.
Myth #2: Everyone will be happy for me.
This one surprised me the most. Be prepared that not everyone will have the same reaction to your life-changing news. Don’t worry or get upset… over 99% of the people you tell will of course gush over your big news and say, “Congratulations! When’s the big day!?” (And for the record that is the only response that is appropriate.)
For me, I used the negative vibes as a great way to narrow down my guest list. After all, why would I share the biggest day of my life with people who don’t support me or my future partner?
Myth #3: He knows exactly what ring I want.
I may be less than 10% of the female population with this one, but I really didn’t know what kind of ring I wanted. (Seriously, no clue).
Mike and I may be a “non-traditional” couple, shopping for engagement rings together, but we make all of our large financial purchases together. I honestly loved the engagement ring shopping experience with Mike. I wanted his input on the design and it also took the unrealistic expectation of knowing exactly what I wanted off of his shoulders.
We were in a unique position while engagement ring shopping because we were actually in the market to redesign a family heirloom ring into a more updated engagement ring.
Myth #4: I need to be wearing a ring to start planning.
Mike and I are not planning a long engagement, we already had a time of year that we wanted to get married. With a short engagement and a little bit of waiting time on the engagement ring redesign, we jump-started the planning process.
We went to a wedding venue open house and a bridal show to get a feel for our vendor options. It gave us ideas on how large of a wedding we wanted and what things were the most important to include on our big day.
Having a clear understanding of our vendor options helped us to establish a budget early on and helped us while booking vendors. And yes I did this before wearing a ring.
Small disclaimer: My engagement ring was at our jeweler’s being redesigned and handcrafted. I would say if this is not your situation you might push pause on making any deposits, but it doesn’t hurt to look!
Myth #5: Wedding Planning is easy.
Just kidding! Wedding planning isn’t easy. So take a deep breath, ask for help and hire a wedding planner.
Dave and I also shopped for rings together and ended up having one custom made. This is such an important piece of jewelry that I’ll wear forever so of course I wanted to be a part of picking it out!