Re: Unfamiliar with wedding stuff.. please helpp!!!
First of all, congratulations on your engagment. And engagements are really about what YOU want to do. There are no hard and fast rules for an engagement party.
To answer your questions:
Usually people just do a ring exchange (I didnt give my fiance a ring, we gave him a watch, because he will get the ring at the wedding), and feeding mithai. Just for fun, we also did some dholki and dancing, but it wasnt something that we planned out, and practiced. My in laws brought a dholki, so all the girls sat and did dholki for awhile, and then they cleared that away and started dancing.
Wear what you are most comfortable with. We had a small engagment (about 90 people at my house), so I wore Shalwaar Kameez (semi-formal), got my makeup and hair done by an MUA, and wore matching heels to my outfit.
Wear jewelry that goes with your outfit. If you are wearing a lengha, then a tikka would be reasonable to wear. I wore shalwaar kameez, so I thought the tikka wouldnt look good. But at an engagement, you dont want to look like a bride, so I would suggest a small set instead of something heavy and large.
If your in laws are more conservative, they may want you to wear a dupatta on your head. My family is more conservative than my in laws, but I still didnt wear a dupatta on my head (just my own choice, cause I didnt want it to be too formal). If your in laws are not THAT conservative, and they wouldnt be expecting you to wear a dupatta on your head, my suggestion would be to wear it around your shoulders, cause you want to look like a bride on your wedding, not on your engagement.
I didnt give away any party favours, but if its in your budget to give something away, do something small, like a pouch that matches your colours with candy in it, or another idea I liked, was having a small silver bell (the wedding type_, and attaching a tag to it that says “We hear wedding bells!” - just thought that was a cute idea
Im not sure what the trend is for mehndi on your hands, but dont go too heavy with the mehndi. Just something small will be more appropriate for an engagement, or even a mehndi tattoo that matches your colours.
Usually at the engagement, its not so traditional, so I wouldnt suggest coming in under a dupatta, but I just made an informal entrance with my girl cousins and girl friends. Me at the front (I dont have sisters), with my youngest pupoh (who is like a sister), my closest cousin, and my bhabi, and then behind us were the rest of my cousins and friends.
I hope that helped!
Thanks! Congrats on your engagement too.
Thanks for all your help.. I really appreciate that!!!