Our Vegas Engagement Party Details
I was over the moon about our engagement party. I was especially excited to celebrate with all of our friends and family and to show off my gorgeous engagement ring that Gary proposed with in front of the Eiffel Tower on a magical boat ride in Paris (I promise to share our engagement story another time). But most of all, I couldn't wait to dance the night away with my soon-to-be husband. It was truly a night to remember!
The party was incredible! We had an amazing time and more importantly, so did our guests. I am so excited to share all the details, along with some of my insider tips for planning your dream engagement party.
Disclosure: This post contains recommended products I have personally used and all opinions expressed here are my own. This post may contain affiliate links and I may earn a small commission when you click the link at no cost to you. Read my disclaimer here.
My Top 5 Tips for Planning the Perfect Engagement Party
If you're planning your own engagement party and want to make sure that every detail is perfect, take inspiration from my experience, and don't hesitate to add a little personal touch to make your celebration truly one-of-a-kind.
Personalized details: Make sure to include custom elements such as signs, glasses, napkins, and even cocktails that bear you and your partner's names and initials. It will make your event feel special and intimate.
A balance of elegance and fun: Make sure to include a mix of sophisticated and playful elements in your party. A beautiful dessert bar and a dedicated kids' area with games, for example, will add a fun vibe to the event.
A good photographer: Hire a professional photographer (or even a videographer!) to capture all the special moments of your engagement party, you'll want to remember this moment forever.
A focal point for decor: Whether it's a floral installation, a custom photo booth, or a unique lighting design, make sure to have something that will catch the eye of your guests and add some visual interest to your party.
Great entertainment: Having a live band, DJ or bartender will keep your guests entertained and make sure they have a good time.
By keeping these elements in mind and adding your own personal touches, you're sure to have an engagement party that is both elegant and memorable.
Theme
The black & white theme for our engagement party was a no-brainer for us. I just adore the black-and-white theme. It's so classic and timeless. I knew that it would be the perfect theme for our engagement party because it's elegant and sophisticated.
And also, Las Vegas is known for its glitz and glamour, so it fits perfectly with the theme of the city and our relationship.
Personal Touches
When planning your engagement party, pay attention to the details. It's the small touches that will make your party truly special and memorable. Don't be afraid to add personal touches and make it reflective of your and your partner's personalities.
Main Party Area
We were looking for an upscale but playful vibe, so we incorporated a few fun elements into our party.
One of the ways we personalized the event was with our food. Tacos were a must-have for us. They also made for an interactive element to the party because they cooked the food up front, which everyone really enjoyed. We also hired a pianist for music and included a photo booth with props. The photo booth served as both a fun activity for our guests as well a great favor for people to take home!
We included tables for friends and family to sit down and eat. It was easier and more cost-effective to rent the furniture, but we did pick out the decor ourselves.
We went with standard white linen for a clean look that also made for easy clean-up. To break up the all-white tables, I used these black chiffon runners along with these garlands for a pop of color.
Our final piece of personalization for this area was the centerpieces. We used picture frames that featured images from our engagement photoshoot to showcase to our family and friends.
Kid's Area
We wanted to make sure that our engagement party was a fun and inclusive event for everyone, including the little ones. So, we decided to include a dedicated space just for them. It was so much fun to see all the kids having a blast and it added a fun and playful vibe to the party.
We wanted this space to appeal to all ages, so we opted to include a ping-pong table and a bounce house. It was a great way to add a playful touch to our elegant event and also to get some adorable photos.
I highly recommend just purchasing the ping pong table instead of renting it. The one we purchased is just as much as the rental and it’s great quality. The teenagers loved it!
The bounce house was perfect for kids under the age of 7. It’s not that tall, so it fits perfectly in the venue. This one also has a small ball pit on the side and comes with ALL the accessories you need to get your bounce house up and running.
I'm so happy we opted to include this space. It was a great way to make sure everyone was having a good time.
Decorations
I love adding personal touches to any event that I plan. I think it makes it feel so much more special and intimate. So, for our engagement party, I made sure to include a lot of custom details to make it truly one-of-a-kind.
We had custom signs with our names and the date of our engagement party, custom glasses with our initials, custom napkins, and even custom cocktails that we personalized to each of us.
The Bar
We opted to hire a bartender for our engagement celebration and we were glad we had that detail taken care of.
We made it easy to order at our engagement party. We had two signature cocktails: The Reneze, a delicious blend of Blood Orange and Whiskey, and The Gary, a classic Kentucky Mule. We listed the ingredients on the custom napkins. The guests would choose their drink based on the napkin and then hand it to the bartender! This was such a hit.
We also added some customized decor to this area of the event to personalize it more. I love a good marquee custom sign! I got the letters to spell out my future last name as décor for the bar and it was perfect in every way.
I also opted to get custom whiskey glasses with my future last name on them for our his & her cocktails and honestly, people were taking them home! They are SO affordable, and such a great gift to your close family & friends.
We also included additional cups and champagne flutes for this area.
Dining Area
To personalize this space as much as we could, I had these custom plates made. They were affordable, but high quality, and a much better experience than simply using disposable paper plates.
Since we only got cookies for dessert, I wanted to elevate the dessert bar as much as I could. These wood circles were the perfect solution. We put each cookie flavor on its own circle and displayed them next to these candy containers.
Candy made a great engagement party favor and we were able to further customize this space with goodie bags so our guests could take their treats home.
Lighting
We used lanterns throughout the event. The lights stayed dimmed to set the mood of our elegant theme, we loved the gentle flicker of the lanterns. We also included candle sticks and LED candles to get some height around the tables. This was not only the safest option, but it was also visually stunning!
Vegas-Specific Engagement Party Details
Many of the tips and ideas I share here would be perfect no matter where you're planning your engagement party, but if you are planning an engagement party (or any party!) in Vegas, I'd highly recommend the following:
Furniture Rental Company: RSVP Rentals
Bartender: Pat is seriously THE BEST bartender! Every single guest LOVED him. He is also very affordable.
Pianist: Very talented and pretty affordable!
Food Service: Taco Blvd provided very good, affordable food. They also cooked up front, which everyone loved.
Dessert Bar: Everyone is still raving about the cookies from Puck's Cookies. GET THEM!
Photo Booth: Iconic Photobooth was amazing. Super friendly, right on time, and they can customize everything to your needs.
Photographer: Baylee Jo is my all-time favorite Las Vegas photographer
Videographer: Rob from On 3 Track Mind is THE BEST! He can customize your package to whatever you’re looking for!
Venue Information
We hosted our engagement party at The Draper, Las Vegas. We knew the moment that we found it that it would be perfect to bring our engagement celebration to life.
The venue is already affordable on its own, but a huge plus is that it comes with plenty of gorgeous standard decor already, which not only made it perfect for our theme, but it also helped us save on decorations. If you are looking for a glitzy location, The Draper is perfect.
Some other things we loved about this location:
In-house tuned Baby Grand Piano
Old Barbershop Style Photography Room, which was the perfect location for our photobooth
Separated rooms for food and kids’ areas, or whatever else you want to have at your event
Centralized location in Las Vegas, which is great if you have guests from out of town staying in hotels
The biggest cons about this location are that the venue is on the second floor and the stairs are pretty tight. Keep this in mind if stairs are a concern for you or your guests. The front door of the venue is gated so you must have someone to open and close the gate unless you text everyone ahead of time your designated gate code.
Overall, it was a great location and we'd highly recommend it!
Final Thoughts
Planning our Las Vegas engagement party was a dream come true and such a fun way to get into the wedding planning process. Thank you so much for following along with our engagement party details. If you are planning an engagement party, I hope you found some helpful tips or were inspired by all of my decor details.
Make sure that you are following along to get more wedding-planning content.
Sincerely,
Reneze