surprise engagement party

Way back on Memorial Day weekend my bridal party through us a Surprise Engagement Party.  Since it's exactly a month later I figured it was about time I told you all about it...

My day was pretty much like any other Saturday.  I got up, picked Jack up from Nicole, we went for a walk, grabbed some breakfast and shopped at Kmart for a little while.  By the time we got home he was ready for a nap so while he slept I got ready for my afternoon of manicures & shopping with Edra.  

I should explain that I had an idea that something was going on.  Way back when we first got engaged, like the next day, Nicole mentioned it would be fun to do an engagement party but with my crazy schedule there weren't a lot of weekends available.  This statement peaked my curiosity so I looked over my calendar.  It looked like the only two weekends open were Memorial Day and June 8-10.  A few weeks later, Nicole asked if I wanted to have a yard sale on June 9th so I made a mental note that if anything was going to happen it would be Memorial Day.  So when Nicole told me she was having a BBQ on Saturday night I made sure to dress a little nicer then usual.  PS - both my out of town bridesmaids happened to be coming to town that weekend...

Anyway, back to Edra, she had asked what I was up to that weekend since she was in town.  I had a standing manicure appointment scheduled after I returned Jack to Nicole so I invited her to join me and then suggested we go shopping because I needed a dress for Kat's wedding.  Joe was getting done work around the time we got to the mall so he met us and helped with the dress selection.  We were all starving by the time we finished so we stopped at Ruby Tuesdays and had some $5 drinks and appetizers, killing time until "Nicole's BBQ."

Meanwhile back at our house, our friends and family were cooking, cleaning and setting up the party.  Had I known they were doing this at my own house I would have cleaned up a little better, I heard stories later about Kat cleaning my toilet!  They did such a great job, Pinterest should be very proud!  There were homemade wine bottle torches, a s'mores station & personalized koozies that say "TO HAVE AND TO HOLD AND TO KEEP YOUR BEER COLD ~ LAUREN <3 JOE"

Once we were full and slightly buzzed it was time to head home for "Nicole's BBQ."  Joe asked if I wanted to ride with him or with Edra?  I didn't want to bail on Edra, so I said I'd meet him at the house.  This put a wrench in the plan because now they couldn't guarantee we'd arrive at the same time.  Apparently Edra was driving as slowly as possible hoping to keep us together but lost sight of Joe almost from the beginning.  As I unlocked the front door the whole thing seemed to happen in slow motion.  I opened the door and just stared at the 25+ people standing in my living room as they yelled surprise!

This is when everyone is asking us where Joe is.  I'm explaining that he should be right behind us, I'm not sure what's taking so long.

Finally Joe gets home, it turns out he stopped at the liquor store on the way home to pick up drinks for "Nicole's BBQ."

Now that we were both there everyone could relax and it was time to party!

This appears to be the only halfway decent picture of Joe & I from the entire night.  The engagement party definitely showed us a little of what the wedding will be like.  There were so many people to talk to that Joe and I barely saw each other.  We talked about it later and are going to make an effort to stay together when we greet everyone at the wedding so we don't end the night feeling like strangers.

Everyone seemed to be having a great time!  It was nice to see our families and friends sitting together and getting to know one another. I actually got an email from my mom the next day telling me what great friends we have and that it's obvious that they really love us.

Bill took over Joe's normal job as event photographer and got nice shots of everyone there (except Joe & me, lol).

As the sun started to set, the candles were all lit and a nice glow took over the yard.

Kat brought out cigars and we fired up the s'mores station that Bill made!

Here I am showing off how to properly roast a marshmallow then Edra & Shana showing how to eat one.

It was a fantastic evening!  We felt so loved by everyone there, they all really went above and beyond to show us a good time!  We even received a couple of gifts from our registry!  We can officially get married now that we have our toasting flutes & cake server!