So I decided to stop being lazy and blog about my engagement party.  It was about 4 months in the making and I really enjoyed planning it.  I was a bit nervous/stressed beforehand because it was the first time alot of our family & friends were meeting.  Kal is Arabic Muslim and I am Irish/German Catholic so I really wasn't that sure how it was going to go.  But from the first half hour, everyone was mingeling and dancing.  I felt so much better and was really able to enjoy myself.  The party was four hours long and it really went by in a blur.  Noone was ready to end the party!!  This also made me feel alot better about our six hour reception because I was worried that might be too long. 

Here are my raves:

Flowers -  www.fiftyflowers.com  I ordered 10 bunches of pink peruvian orchids, which came out to 100 branches for $109 (with free overnight shipping).  They arrived still closed in the bud and opened after two days, so I would definitly recommend having them for a few days if you are ordering from there.  The customer service was great and they even called after I recieved my order to ensure I had them out of light and with fresh water.  I had enough flowers for 12 high and 36 low submerged centerpieces, and two arrangements for the bar area.  It has been a week and they are still in full bloom!

Floating candles - www.candlesjustonline.com This was the best prices I found for floating candles and also used a coupon I googled for 10% off.  The candles burned beautifully and after four hours, half the candle is left.

Cake - Buono bakery, Staten Island.  The cake tasted awesome (as usual) but I wasn't happy with how it was decorated.  I just asked for black, white and fuschia and it had neon green all over it.  My fault for not being more specific!

Catering Hall - Arianas, Staten Island.  The food was great and the room was beautiful (patting myself on the back).  But there was alot that went wrong.  We were supposed to have a mini cocktail hour (salads, paninis, etc...) and it was served with dinner (not a big deal, but c'mon!).  The Maitre'D was nowhere to be found (until it was the end of the party and she was looking for her tip).  She also was throwing all of our stuff around when it was time to clean up the party.  I knew from the getgo when we booked with her that she was unprofessional and I'm just glad she stayed out of my way the whole night and didn't bother me until it was over lol.  Their prices are good and the hall is really nice...so if I would have another party there, I would just request not using "her".

 

 

So today I ventured into making my chocolate dipped oreos with our edible monogram for our engagement party favors.  I had the monograms printed on 8.5 x 11 paper and it wound up 20 monograms to a sheet.  It took a few hours to cut all the circles out (which was way annoying and I didn't realize there was such things as comfort grip scissors lol).  With the help of my mother and two sisters, we finished 80 cookies in two hours.  We ran out of sprinkles, so we'll finish them during the week. 

So I ordered my E invite from vistaprint (100 postcards for free) and here is the winner: (and thank all you knotties for your comments and ideas!)

I also ran to Dollar Tree Direct and picked up my vases for my centerpieces.  Here is a mockup (using fake flowers..I'm going to use real ones) and they have tealights (they didn't have the bigger floating candles), but you get the idea...I think they came out good!

I also ordered free business cards from vistaprint with this monogram & will cut them to size to use for favor tags.

And last, I ordered the free car magnet with this picture (thanks to Joanna aka tommysbride1 for the idea!)

Today me and Kal booked our engagement party at Arianas catering hall (www.arianscatering.com).  We checked it out last week and loved the room, but wanted to check out the food and service first.  We luckily had a Christening party there today and was very happy with everything so we booked...So below are some pictures of the room we are having the party in...

I'm going to have something like this for the tables.  I can get the vases at the dollar store and whatever cheap flower is in season. 

I want to have an edible favor.  I dont want to spend alot on a favor and didn't want to go the candle/shot glass favor route.  These are chocolate dipped oreos and they would have our name and engagement party date on them.

I also purchased my cardstock from www.cardsandpockets.com for the backing of my invites.  I got 25sheets for $7.50 which I will cut to make 50 invites.  I'm going to create my own invite in photoshop and get them printed free with www.vistaprint.com.  So $7.50 for invites...not a bad deal (Although I still have to get envelopes)