Getting engaged is one of the big milestones in a relationship, the final step before the wedding. Once you are engaged, you will naturally want to share this great happiness and inform all the people you care about. But what is the best way to do this?
Who to announce the engagement to
It is up to you who you want to announce the engagement to. But in general you should at least let your family and relatives know, and friends and acquaintances will also be thrilled to learn of your shared happiness.
You might want to inform work colleagues, but you do not have to. The same applies to the public.
It is a good idea to make a list of who you want to inform about the engagement and how. It is best to create this list carefully to make sure you do not forget anyone. Nothing is more embarrassing in retrospect than having forgotten important people who then find out about your engagement by chance through third parties and may feel left out.
Placing an advert to announce the engagement
Like marriage announcements, the traditional way of officially announcing the engagement to a larger audience via an advertisement is still very popular in many regions of Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
The usual format is for the first line of text to say “We got engaged”, followed by both full names and the place and date of the engagement. At the end is the couple’s address, so anyone who wants to can send greetings and congratulations.
A lovely tradition but rather impersonal and therefore less suitable for letting your closest family know as soon as possible after the engagement.
Sending an engagement card
Another absolute classic is the engagement card, which used to be written by hand, but today is usually commissioned from an online printing company and decorated with beautiful photos of the couple or even a picture of the chosen ring being placed on the finger. All you need to do is post the cards, the printing itself is usually done within a few days.
It is well worth organising this kind of engagement card because it is a lovely reminder of the day for people who are important to you, not just in electronic form but as something to touch and keep.
A visit or call to the immediate family
In the past, it was customary for the newly engaged couple to make their way to their parents or future in-laws and deliver the news in person. A nice custom, but today this is no longer considered mandatory. Nevertheless, it is a good idea to announce the engagement personally to your closest family, for example in a telephone call. This means you get a direct, joyful response, and it also gives you a chance to share all the wonderful details of the big moment right away.
A telephone announcement has several advantages: you save yourself from a flood of questions about the exact sequence of events afterwards and, at the same time, you give your loved ones the feeling that they are really important to you because they did not just hear about the engagement incidentally like everyone else.
A WhatsApp engagement announcement
Today, more and more couples are opting to announce their engagement via WhatsApp or one of the many other services like Telegram, Signal & Co. Technically these systems are perfect for this purpose: for one thing, you can reach lots of friends and acquaintances with a single message and, at the same, time you easily can share pictures of the proposal or the hopefully exceptionally beautiful diamond engagement ring.
The only downside is that a standard message sent to a large group of recipients is inevitably more impersonal than individualised letters. Make the effort to send individual messages with a personal greeting instead of a “circular mail”. It may take more time, but the recipients will be all the more appreciative.
Remember that not everyone is familiar with smartphones and modern technology. Make a list in advance of people you can’t reach on WhatsApp and share the news with them separately so that no one is forgotten. Email is another alternative to WhatsApp and similar messaging services, but many people do not check their email as regularly as they do their messages.
