There’s only a few weeks until our engagement party, and I’m a little bit nervous. Back in January when we organised where to have the party, I thought “I’ve got this, it’s going to be a cinch”.

Unfortunately, I’m fantastic at procrastinating.

The venue was finalised early, bonus points for me. Logical step would be to prepare the invitations and get them out immediately. Not so. I’ve only just posted out invites to family members this week, and with exactly 16 days to go that wasn’t my brightest moment. Friends were invited by word of mouth since the date was finalised, and told to keep that date free. But for the family members or friends that we don’t get to see often, I really haven’t given them much notice and there’s a high chance they won’t be able to attend. Negative points for me.

Originally we had planned on having a band at the party. My dad spoke to one guy, and he offered $450 for 4 hours. We thought “nahhh, we can get cheaper”. The next guys were more expensive, they wanted $500 for 3 hours. Then we looked at the budget, and how much we had managed to save with 2 months to go. Our savings targets hadn’t been met; something had to go. Thus, the decision was made not to have a band. Negative points for me.

Food we’ve got covered, easiest part of the whole process. It’s a late afternoon gathering, so we only have to provide snacks and nibbles. The venue gave us a list of options, and we chose what we wanted. Now it’s just a matter of waiting for everyone to RSVP before we confirm food based on numbers. So the food is covered, bonus points for me. Ideally, we would be able to provide an open bar for everyone so we can all enjoy drinks together as well. However, with the budget already being as tight as it is this just isn’t an option. I’m incredibly disappointed by this.

Then comes the decorations and photos and all that jazz. What does one do for an engagement party? Do we have to have some sort of a display of photos of Mat and I? I hate being in photos, so finding something I’m willing to share with people is going to be tough. Should I be sharing the history of our relationship in some sort of way? I’m completely clueless about this whole area, therefore negative points to me.

So at the moment I’m in the red. I didn’t give much notice for the party, I have no idea about decorating the place, we can’t have live music, and we had to cut the budget. After this party things will be kicked up a notch. I’ll have to start planning for a wedding. A WEDDING. A lifetime memory, something that you will experience only one time in your life (you can only have one “first” wedding, and ideally it’s your only wedding). That’s a hell of a lot of pressure. So I can’t help but wonder…if I can’t plan an engagement party and pull it off, how am I meant to plan a wedding?