After three years of being in a long-distance relationship with my amazing man, our engagement became official last month. A proposal happened (but that’s a story for another day…), and then we decided to have an engagement party in my hometown. This was to introduce us as a couple to our closest family and friends. To match with everybody’s schedule, it turned out that we only had one month to prepare everything! Plus, we had to do it long-distance! So how can we do a drive by engagement party?
Long story short, the event ran successfully and there were no major mishaps. It was a beautiful day spent with our loved ones, and I was so happy that I finally got to introduce my man to my family and friends. So, how did we manage to plan a long-distance engagement party? In this article, I am going to share five tips to ensure smooth planning despite the distance involved.
Plan your drive by engagement party carefully
Perhaps planning is not for everyone, but I personally love to plan things ahead. At first it kind of stressed me out to find out that I only had 1 month to prepare everything, plus my man was not beside me. To ensure that I did not miss any crucial things, I created some sort of project tracker which lists down the important items that needs to be done, the timeline, person(s) involved, as well as the budget.
Have support
It is traditionally common for the bride’s family to host the drive by engagement party, and mine was no different. In that case, I was the main person in charge for the preparation. However, I decided to have some help and engage his family too. I was lucky that my cousin was able to help me in the preparation, and I also engaged my man’s sister to help. Together we made a great team and it also helped that we became closer while working together to prepare the event. It was a win-win situation, isn’t it?
Make use of technology
As it does to other parts of our long-distance relationship, technology was our savior in planning our engagement party. Since my man was not present, I had to make the best use of technology. Here are the things that helped a lot:
File sharing system
We used Google drive to share files between each other. We had an online folder that can only be accessed by me, my man, my cousin and his sister. The four of us used that online folder on Google drive to see and review important files related to the event preparation, like pictures, or my project tracker spreadsheet that I mentioned in point 1 previously.
Video calling app
For this part, we relied heavily on FaceTime. I used FaceTime to make video calls daily with my man, and I used it even more when I was selecting the venue. For group call between the four of us, we used to arrange a specific time and do a Skype video call. Both were majorly helpful!
Media platform
For me, there is no better platform to share media content than Pinterest, especially when it comes to event planning. With Pinterest, I could easily find and share ideas about everything! When I said everything, I meant it. From decoration to party favors and even the song list, I found it all from Pinterest. And the good thing was that despite the distance, my man could review and made some comments real time so it seemed like we were making decisions side-by-side.
Discuss everything with your partner
It is very common for tension to arise when planning a major event, especially a life-changing one like an engagement. There might be times when everything did not seem right and made you frustrated. It happened to me too, and at first it also created arguments with my man. But, we quickly realized that we were in the same team thus we had to be open and talk about everything with each other. If you feel like you’re facing roadblocks, step back for a while and talk about it with your partner.
Chill Yourselves
Seriously, this part looks like the simplest, but turned out to be the most challenging one. Often, we are so busy with planning and preparations that we forgot to chill. Remember that being engaged is just the first step to closing the distance and building your life together. Take the moment to grow your relationship and become closer to each other. Don’t let the stress or anxiety consume both of you and tear you apart.
I hope that my tips above can be helpful for those of you happy couples that are planning a long-distance engagement party. Try to remember and apply those things to your own preparation, and I hope everything will run smoothly for you and your drive by engagement party. After all, it is a very exciting milestone for your relationship. Best of luck!
