How to Throw an Engagement Party
An engagement party may be the happy couple's last chance to indulge in the joy of being engaged before the chaos of wedding planning begins.
Steps:
1. Create unique engagement party invitations with a fun or silly picture of the couple on the front.
2. Go overboard on decorations. Things that might be tacky or over-the-top at a wedding might be perfect for the engagement party. Think heart-shaped Mylar balloons and plastic silver champagne glasses.
3. Find a good picture of the couple. Either frame it or have it blown up to poster size at Kinko's and hang it in a prominent place.
4. Serve food that is fun, romantic and easy to eat and serve. Ask your caterer for tasty finger foods and appetizers and several decadent deserts. Also make sure you have plenty of champagne as well as some fun "themed" drinks, like a Love Cocktail for instance.
5. Set up a microphone in a prominent location so that, as the evening progresses, people can make toasts to the happy couple.
6. Buy two large white sheets of poster board. Write "Wedding Advice From the Women" across the top of one and "Wedding Advice From the Men" on the other in heavy, dark marker. Attach a pen to each and encourage guests to leave notes about things they learned while planning their own weddings.
7. Give these two sheets to the couple when the party ends.
Engagement Party Tips:
Throw the party in the evening when people are much more inclined to dance and be romantic.
Warnings:
An engagement party is probably not a good candidate for a surprise party. You don't want to risk having the couple stumble into the party in the middle of a "where to have the wedding" fight, or a hot passionate kiss, whichever is more embarrassing.
Long Island is, literally, a long island stretching eastward from New York City. The largely suburban area is approximately 115 miles long from Brooklyn and Queens at the western end, to Montauk at the easternmost point. At its widest the island is approximately 20 miles from north to south. While Long Island geographically includes Brooklyn and Queens, politically Long Island in general includes Nassau County and Suffolk County of New York State only.
The primary tourist attractions are the large number of excellent beaches along Long Island Sound to the north and especially along the Atlantic Ocean to the south. The North Fork is also home to many wineries. Other attractions include harbor towns such as Port Jefferson, where a variety of eateries and small businesses thrive in a bohemian atmosphere.
Long Island is essentially a suburban area throughout (except for the Twin Forks region, which is rural) and has few major cities.
There are many ways to get into Long Island: by plane, by train, by boat and by car. National and international airlines land and take-off at four major airports in Long Island. They are MacArthur Airport in Islip (which is a convenient regional airport centrally located on Long Island), John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), LaGuardia Airport (LGA), and Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR), which is located to the west of the Island (and New York City) in the state of New Jersey.
Long Island Railroad (LIRR) provides service to and from the New York City area to most major towns on the Island. Be aware, however, that the farther from New York City one travels, the more sporadic service becomes.
If you prefer going in by boat, there are ferries available at the north shore of Long Island Sound.
When considering using a car or limousine service, one can take into account the many controlled-access highways that run through New York City from Connecticut and New Jersey. It is advisable, however, to travel on routes that do not cross Manhattan Island (where traffic is perpetually horrendous). From New Jersey, I-278 runs across Staten Island to Brooklyn where major roads (including Route 27 and the LIE) can be reached. From Connecticut, take I-95 South to I-678 and the Throgs Neck Bridge. Once into Queens, nearly every major thoroughfare is encountered while still heading south on 278.
A convenient way to bypass most traffic is to take a car ferry from either Bridgeport, CT to Port Jefferson (on the North Shore in the center of Suffolk County) or New London, CT to Orient Point (on the North Fork).
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