An Engagement Party to Remember

A party makes our engagement official!

Our engagement party was a huge success! Anthony and I started our Saturday in Flatiron for my Drybar appointment. Since blow outs seem like a pretty New York thing to do, and our engagement party would be one of the more important events we'd celebrate in New York, I figured an appointment at the lavish salon was worth it. When we entered the bright white-and-yellow room, we were given cookies and champagne. Not a bad way to start my weekend! Anthony did some reading on one of the plush chairs in the lounge area, while I was taken to the back to get my hair rinsed. Even Drybar's sinks are fancy! Their sinks tilt so that you don't have to strain your neck. After, I was seated facing a huge TV that was screening "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days." It's a pretty awful movie, but I guess there's not really enough time for Ang Lee. My very sweet stylist gave me a "Mai Tai," which consists of loose, beachy waves. My hair turned out bigger than I expected, but I guess it's better to start out that way so it can flatten throughout the day. The whole appointment took about an hour - longer than I expected, so Anthony and I had to rush to Dominique Ansel to pick up our cannelés. Each cannelé was individually-wrapped and sealed with a bright orange sticker. Next, we did our last errand: picking up some balloons. We power-walked through Soho up to Greenwich Village and bought two teal and two cream balloons at Village Party Store. And then that was it - time to party!

Engagement party errands: Blow out from Drybar, cannelés from Dominique Ansel, and balloons from Village Party Store

When we finally arrived at Milk + Honey, the owner had been anxiously waiting for us. I gasped when I saw the place - it was perfect. Originally, I had assumed we would have a few tables in the back, while the front half of the space would be open to the public. Instead, the owner had cleared out the entire coffee shop and even purchased flowers, table cloth, and balloons for us. Milk + Honey is naturally stunning, so we didn't need much decoration. Since it was a mild, breezy day, we were able to open the entire wall of doors instead of using air condition. I tied our four balloons outside by the door. About twenty minutes later,  I heard our two teal balloons pop, so it's a good thing we still had the owner's balloons, which were safely tied to our vase of white roses.

This place is already gorgeous, but I think my balloons helped a little!

Perfect backdrop to our party

Two tall tables with white table cloths were placed in the back corner. They held gifts, our photo caption game, flowers, and cannelés. We moved some smaller tables to the center, creating four clusters. I'm really glad Milk + Honey recently got new chairs. They used to have bar stools that were way too tall for the tables, but now the bar stools have been placed where they should be - at the bar - and the new chairs fit perfectly.

Setting up the games

All of our guests arrived late, but I guess we should have expected that since our invitation said "5:00-8:00 pm" instead of just "5:00 pm." I'll have to remember for any future parties. As each guest arrived, we told them about our photo caption game. We had printed out four goofy photos of us and put them in black and white frames. Guests could come up with their own captions and write them on a piece of paper below each frame.Guests were also greeted with a quiz. They had to match Anthony and me to twenty different items, such as favorite food, dad's name, past pet, and college major.

"Champagne brings out our wild side."

Two types of drinks were presented in punch bowls: watermelon juice and ginger mint iced tea. We were also able to order coffee beverages from the barista. Once my friends learned that Milk + Honey serves Counter Culture, half our guests ordered a cappuccino or americano. I love how many coffee snobs I know.

Once our final guest arrived, we handed out our last game: a 4x4 grid containing a unique fact about each guest. Unfortunately, one of our friends canceled at the last minute, so his unique fact was still on the grid. It turned out alright because another last minute friend took his place. Unsurprisingly, my incredibly sociable friend was the first to complete the grid, so she had first dibs on the prizes. The previous week, I had purchased $10 gift cards at three of my favorite places in the city: The Strand, Fishs Eddy, and Eataly.

Our guests completing our quiz

By then, the food was ready. Staff sliced and placed our flatbreads and sandwiches on adorable pizza boards. I had printed out a menu of the food, so I placed that in an extra photo frame and put it at the beginning of our buffet. We had ordered two grilled flank steak panini, two grilled veggie sandwiches, two zesty chicken sandwiches, two baked salmon flatbreads, two asparagus and artichoke flatbreads, two roast vegetable and pesto flatbreads, arugula salad, and kale salad. Our guests told us that they loved the food.

Our menu

Flatbreads and sandwiches

As dinner winded down, we continued with our games. We went over the correct answers for the matching quiz. My friend got an impressive 19 out of 20 correct, so she chose the Eataly gift card. Anthony and I voted for our favorite caption to our goofy photos. One of Anthony's friend won that one.

Mingling

Our party ended a little late, which was to be expected since it began late, but everyone seemed to have a great time. Each guest was given a cannelé before they left. Despite coinciding with the second-to-last World Cup game, I'm glad our friends could join us to celebrate our engagement. It was a lovely, low-key night with good food and some of our favorite New Yorkers.

Two of my favorite people in the world

Message from the owner

Hosting a Party in New York

An engagement party would be the perfect way to show off my black Tahitian pearl ring

I'm pretty sure engagement parties are more of an East Coast thing. I had never heard of them growing up in Hawaii, and neither has my Californian fiancé. When some of our New York friends found out that we got engaged, they asked if we were having an engagement party. (New Yorkers sure love their parties!) After flirting with the concept for a few days, I decided that - hey, we're semi-New Yorkers; let's have an engagement party. Anthony, always a good sport about my whims, agreed that it would be nice to announce and celebrate our engagement to our few New York friends, especially since our wedding is so far from now and on the other side of the country.

Anthony and I racked our brains for all possible venues around the city. We sent out emails to our favorite restaurants, bars, and coffee shops. Our budget, though, seemed too small for the types of places we desired. I know this shouldn't have been a surprise, but we quickly learned that renting space in New York is obscenely expensive.

Finally, one surprising bakery fit our budget: Dominique Ansel. Anthony and I were both shocked, as Dominique Ansel is easily the hippest pastry chef around, and his bakery is located in the pricey West Village. However, a gracious contact at the bakery said their Greenhouse would be perfect for a party of our size, and would fit our budget. We were ecstatic. The Greenhouse is an enclosed, air-conditioned room in the back of the main bakery, with seating for up to 20 people. The next weekend, we met with our contact at the bakery, which gave us the perfect excuse to eat some Dominique Ansel goodies. The Greenhouse is very sleek, with metal furniture, a glass ceiling that fills the room with light, and hints of bright orange.

The Dominique Ansel Greenhouse

After eagerly pre-ordering enough pastries for our menu, we were given an updated invoice. I finally understand what "sticker shock" is. While the initial price of renting out the Greenhouse fit our budget, the pastries and beverages added up quickly. Plus, I had forgotten about gratuity and tax. In the end, the final total was twice as much as what we had planned to pay. We woefully had to decline Dominique Ansel and look elsewhere.

Fortunately, I received an email from the owner of one of our neighborhood coffee shops. Max apologized for taking long to respond and said we could host our party at Milk + Honey. The following weekend, we walked down to Newkirk Avenue to discuss the details. Milk + Honey is a beautiful coffee shop that I've been to a few times before. It feels very Brooklyn, with exposed brick walls, a vertical plant growing on one side, a row of doors that can open up to a view of the bustling neighborhood, and fantastic Counter Culture coffee. When I had first emailed Milk + Honey about hosting our party there, I immediately wrote the place off because it was so spacious that I assumed it would easily be out of our price range. However, when we visited, Max said he could work with our budget - which would include the cost of food and drinks - even though he usually charges three times as much for the space. I'm still not sure if it was because he pitied us, or because he found us charming, but we were eager to work with him.

Milk + Honey

What a cheerful entrance!

With the venue finally set, I could go forward with the rest of the planning. I ordered our invitations from Paper Source, which has stationary shops all over the country. We chose a simple design called "Ampersand" in the color "Peacock." I appreciated that our names were the focus of the invitation - not flowers or diamonds or birds. And while we weren't really thinking of what our wedding colors might be, Peacock sure is pretty...

The rest of the party planning was easy, thanks to years of practice hosting Christmas parties for my dad's office at my house in Hawaii. Back then, I was always in charge of entertainment. I would create Christmas-themed games and play Christmas carols on our grand piano to which our guests could sing along. For our engagement party, Anthony and I came up with three games: one to play in the beginning so our friends could finally get to know each other; a matching game called "Jenn or Anthony?"; and one that involves creating captions for goofy photos of us. While we couldn't host our actual party at Dominique Ansel, we did return to the famous chef for individually-wrapped cannelés as takeaway (which is just a fancy word for "party favors").

What's an engagement party without white roses?

The days leading up to our party have been a whirlwind of last-minute decorations, such as flowers, photos, and balloons. In the end, I've learned that everything will usually work out, even for a somewhat naïve, hopelessly-in-love couple trying to plan a party in an overpriced city. We're excited, and we hope this Saturday is a success!

*Photos of Dominique Ansel Bakery and Milk + Honey do not belong to me.