Happy Thursday, friends! Exactly one year ago today, we closed on our house in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. And this time two years ago, we hosted an engagement party for our son and his fiancé at our lake house, aka Happy Hill Cottage. Care to take a trip down memory lane with me?
When our son proposed to his long time girlfriend in the winter of 2016, we couldn’t have been happier or more excited! So, once the ring was on her finger, we all set the plans into motion. My husband and I thought since we had never met our future daughter-in-law’s family, it was high time! So we thought we’d throw an engagement party for our close family and friends so we could all get acquainted prior to the wedding.
Our family is mostly in North Carolina and her’s from Virginia, so it made sense to have the party at our lake house, in N.C. It was so much fun decorating the lake house for the party! We rented a white 20′ x 20′ tent and decorated it with white lights and a banner. We also rented four round tables with chairs. Aren’t round tables the best for conversation?
I bought this cute little chalkboard sign at Michael’s and we hung it on the back door. I kept a wedding countdown app on my cell phone, so I was able to number the days. After the party, I gave the sign to my son so they could keep track at home!
I found these cute wine bottle stickers that said cute things like, “Does this ring make me look engaged”?
This one said, “Love the wine you’re with”. I also got stickers that said, “Eat, drink and be married” with their names and the wedding date. (My son made the black BottleChalk bottles which we used as vases and decorations. You can see more of his work at www.bottlechalk.com)
My little outdoor scale got a scoop full of pretty flowers…
I bought these two chandeliers and had them put on plugs. We hung them from the large trees on the deck. They looked magical at night, but sadly the bugs liked them too. Guess I should have sprung for bug-free lights? Anyway, they were so pretty! (These now hang in our Butler’s Pantry, which I love!)
We had about 65 family, friends and several members of the wedding party. The tent provided a nice break from the sun. It was HOT that day, in the 90’s! But we were thankful for good weather!
The little veranda on the deck was decked out in string lights, with lanterns and flowers.
We alternated the lanterns on every other light.
In attendance were the two sweet, darling, precious, beautiful flower girls. (Who happen to be my great-nieces, but I’m not prejudiced at ALL.) They wore their cute little flower girl t-shirts my son and fiancé bought for them.
And my gorgeous future daughter-in-law with her flower girls!
Happy Hill Cottage looked especially pretty from the lake! This photo was taken shortly after the tent and tables were set up.
The company we rented the tent and tables from allowed us to keep them from Friday afternoon until Monday. As luck would have it, the weather was absolutely perfect on Saturday (the day of the party) and rained cats and dogs on Sunday. So, we sat outside under the tent the following day and watched the torrential rains and stayed dry!
We made a faux camp fire down by the water with our Adirondack chairs and a fire pit. Since it was so hot, we didn’t want a real fire so I wrapped battery operated fairy lights around real wood and turned them on for ambiance. It was a fun place to sit down by the water and boat watch and chat.
This is the beautiful couple the day of their engagement party. It’s one of my favorites. Photo credit: me.
We ordered a sheet cake from a local bakery that said, “Congratulations Chase and Brie”.
And to practice cutting the future wedding cake, the couple cut their engagement cake and passed it out to everyone.
The engagement party was so much fun for us! We love to entertain and I love to decorate so it was a blast! We had the opportunity to meet the bride’s sweet family and friends and we got to introduce our future daughter-in-law to our friends and family who had not yet met her. Our son said the engagement party was good practice for the wedding! Shortly after the engagement party our lovely and talented friend, Libby Hansen Smith photographed their engagement photos. Feature Image credit goes to Libby for this amazing shot taken at Fonthill Castle in Doylestown, PA. Fun memories!
Well, thanks for strolling down memory lane with me today! But this is only the beginning! Lots of new memories to make in North Carolina! I hope you have a great day! Thank you for stopping by and be sure to follow me on Instagram and Facebook under dellsdailydish! xoxo Dell
