How to Actually Enjoy Being Engaged

CONGRATULATIONS!!! 

You just got engaged! Maybe you have been dreaming of this moment for your entire life, or maybe you never thought this was going to happen, but that right person just showed up in your life and changed everything. Either way, YAY!! If your initial reaction is to get out that Kate Spade ‘bride’ notebook (that you bought two years ago, same girl) and start planning, then keep reading. If your initial reaction is oh s%&# what do I do now?!?, then keep reading.

Being engaged is crazy and exciting and stressful and scary and wonderful, and you deserve to ENJOY it! This is not a basic list of unrealistic bull#*%$ that is actually just going to stress you out more. I’m Sara, Miss Ruby Boutique’s Store Manager, and have been engaged for over 6 months now and these are just five simple things that I have done to actually enjoy my engagement. I hope you find them useful and I hope you have the most MAGICAL year (or 1.5 years, or 3 months, or 5 years) of your life.

1.  Let yourself ENJOY being engaged

Plain and simple. Don’t get so caught up in the ring, the proposal, posting the perfect instagram pic, what your family thinks, how you are going to pay for the wedding, what your fiance’s ex thinks, and if you should ask your friend from college to be a bridesmaid that you forget to just soak in the moment and enjoy this time with your fiance. Depending on your timeline this might mean relishing in pre-planning bliss for 3 months or 3 days, but either way stop and just take it all in.

2.  Get real about what kind of wedding you can and want to have

Once you’ve given yourself some time to take it all in, sit down with your fiance and and decide what’s important to you. How do you want to celebrate your love? What would feel most special and the best reflection of you? This is going to be very different for every couple and that is ok! It’s actually more than ok, it’s AMAZING! Some couples are going to run off to the courthouse and celebrate with just each other. Some are going to bring their closest friends and family to a tropical island for a week long party. Some are going to have a lavish event with 400 guests. There is no wrong way to celebrate as long as it’s what feels right to you and your fiance.

3.  Take Engagement Pictures

This seems like an obvious tip, but seriously do this! Whether you are an instagram queen or not, you will be so happy to have photos to document this exciting time. You will have so many uses for these photos from Save the Date cards to social media posts and your wedding website. I love my engagement pictures and I actually felt like they were the kick off to my wedding planning. Pro tip: Since we are having a winter wedding and all of our pictures will be in the snow, we took our engagement photos in the Spring on a trip to Georgia so they would look totally different from our wedding photos. 

4.  Spend some time getting inspo and then pick a style and go for it!

Pinterest and Instagram are going to be your new best friend. Check out some different styles and see what you gravitate towards. There is so much inspiration out there that it can be hard to narrow down what you want. Your venue or time of year and location may help to guide you into a certain style. Once you find a “theme” or “vibe” or “color scheme” that you love, pick that and run with it. With how many options are available to us brides right now, having a clear style can really help you make other decisions. Since I picked a winter wedding in a snowy lodge setting, that really helped narrow my options when it came to dress shopping, flowers, and honestly just about everything. If you are worried about FOMO for other styles, refer back to tip #3.

5.  Do something that makes you feel engaged!

Once the initial excitement slows down and your ring picture fades into your instagram feed full of pictures of your dog, I think it’s important to do little things that remind you that you are engaged!!! For me that meant buying a “FEYONCE” t-shirt and drinking my morning coffee out of a “wifey” mug. Such silly little things keep me excited on a daily basis and remind me to celebrate this time in my life. Also, picking my wedding dress was the ultimate way to celebrate being engaged and was the first moment I truly felt like a bride. It’s seriously the most magical experience.