You met our 2019 Couple of the Year Jacqueline and Jared a few weeks ago and today we’re going to delve into the first part of their wedding planning journey! Ready to get the deets on guest lists and engagement parties? Here we go!

“Since Jared and I (Jacqueline) got engaged in Italy, I have to say, one of the best parts about the day was the time difference. We got engaged at about 2am Eastern Standard Time so we had a blissful 6 hours of not needing to talk to anybody and just soaking it in for ourselves. Now, don’t get me wrong—I wanted to scream it to the world! BUT the second that word gets about the proposal, and the ring, and the story, you immediately have to think about who will you tell first, all the million questions you will immediately get, telling the story 90x an hour, making sure nobody posts the news on social media before everybody that needs to know has been told by you first. It instantly gets crazy, and I know if we didn’t have that time difference I probably would not have just enjoyed those few hours to ourselves (and the champagne and puppies I told you about). As soon as we got back from our trip we decided to throw an engagement party and that’s when things got a little crazy…

I had thought SO much, even pre-engagement, about planning when it came to the wedding…but never did I think about an engagement party. So generally, and I guess traditionally, a lot of parents will throw the engagement party. We did plan the party mostly ourselves, but the planning of the engagement party is where I learned how important delegation is. I have a big issue with letting other people have control over anything, especially when it comes to planning; but taking up offers from family and friends to help you is EVERYTHING, it makes a huge difference! (Thanks Mom, Dad, and Grandma(s)!!)

My biggest piece of advice, no matter how amazing and big you could want it to be, is keep your engagement party simple, especially if you are not having it at a venue with a coordinator. I do everything to the max, but I could not have been happier with how casual and easy going the engagement party was. Why? Because I was so damn busy the whole time that I would not have even noticed if it was simple and casual, or chic and extravagant! The best part of the day, and really all that mattered, was that all of our friends and family had come together for the first time ever, celebrating what was about to become the start of our lives. It was so much more than we could have imagined, and probably the most meaningful day of our relationship to date.

There were just a few problems that we ran into that taught me lessons I am glad to have learned for the wedding planning: First off, I did a rough guest list and told my mom that we would be estimating 45 people coming to the party at her house. Well, as the guest list kept getting longer we ran into the problem of “if I invite this person, this other person also has to be invited”. Resulting in the guest list growing very quickly from 45 people to 97 people. Brides and Grooms, let me tell you, this is a REAL issue!! Guest lists are HARD to narrow down…and we are going through it again with the wedding invites. Especially knowing that everybody you invite to the engagement party, you have to invite to the wedding. In the end, we had about double the expected amount but it all worked out perfectly and the more the merrier definitely held true for our party!

Secondly, I got my makeup done by a makeup artist that I had not done any research on. GIANT mistake! I do not know much about makeup, nor did I care to learn in that 3 weeks time that we were planning. I did not like my makeup at all, I did not feel like myself and it was not a good feeling. It really isn’t that she did a bad job, it just didn’t feel natural to me. I didn’t let it ruin my day, and once the party started I did not think about it at all. However, before the party started, and now looking at the pictures, I wish that I did it myself, communicated with the makeup artist better, or researched one who could do what I wanted. I mean it was a LOT of makeup! So the lesson learned is to make sure that I am feeling like myself and be comfortable, but don’t let little issues get in the way of your day. It’s not worth it!

Lastly, not that this was actually a huge problem, but it was something we did not think about. We were SO BUSY during the party!! My cheeks hurt from smiling in all the pictures, I showed my ring 8,000 times as well as told the engagement story over and over again and it was exhausting. We got asked a million questions about the wedding when we had only been engaged for two months. We had to be reminded to eat, but at least my bridesmaids were constantly making sure that I had a full drink in my hands! Although the party was such a success, and we had a great time, we both wished that we got time to take it in together. I don’t even think that we got to spend 3 minutes together the whole time, besides taking pictures! So after the party, we decided to find ways to plan to be able to take time to be together during the wedding and not let that happen as much again. Wish us luck with that one!

While we were in Rhode Island for the engagement party weekend, we did pick out our venue which was obviously extremely exciting! I can’t wait to tell you all about it. Keep a lookout for our next post!

-The Future Schumers  (Jacqueline and Jared)