How to Tell Your Parents You’re Engaged: 7 Ways to Break the News

That being said, sometimes the news of your engagement may come at the most trying times to shine like a beam of hope for your parents. If your parent is ill and you know they would be happy to know that you have found someone you are committing to for the rest of your life, then by all means tell them in spite of the circumstances – they are your parents and they will be happy for you regardless.

The takeaway here should be that timing is essential to telling your parents about your engagement but only you know your parents well and therefore you get to decide what time is the appropriate time to announce your engagement.

2. PLACE

Aside from how to announce engagement to family, where the announcement takes place is also a big deal. Depending on how you plan to make the announcement – whether it is extravagant and creative, or just plain and traditional – you are going to need an appropriate venue for each of these announcement styles. For example, if you are going for extravagant and creative, then perhaps a family gathering such as a party at a family house (yours or your parents, or someone else’s in the family) would serve as the best venue for the event. On the other hand, if you want a plain and traditional announcement, then a quiet restaurant would be a nice and appropriate place for the announcement.

Note that the place you tell your folks about your engagement will mean so much to both you and them and it is important that you choose wisely when picking the venue despite what announcement style you have.

3. LEVEL OF INTIMACY

Moving on, aside from when and where you tell your parent about your engagement, how you tell your parents you’re engaged is also equally important. You can’t afford to let your parents find out you are engaged through social media, or worse from someone else who is not you or your partner. Therefore, it is important that you keep off posting on social media until you have spoken to your parents about your engagement. Telling them first before the virtual world will show them that you value them and it will make the announcement that much special. And even though it might be hard to keep off of social media until you have told your parents (and other important people in your life) about your engagement, it is also good for you to stay off of social media until you have found your bearings before you share your news with the internet. Before you decide to share on your social media platforms, tell the people you love about your engagement first – especially your parents.

HOW TO TELL YOUR PARENTS YOU’RE ENGAGED

And now moving on to the ways how to tell family you’re engaged, we have compiled seven ways that fall into the categories of extravagant and traditional. These can be done over the phone or in-person over dinner at a restaurant or at home with the rest of the family and friends around.

It is important to note that these ideas for engagement announcements are written for people who have straightforward relationships with their parents and/or family members in general, and also people whose families do not have problems with their significant others.

For the sake of this article, we will be writing for those people whose parents already approve of their partners and the overall assumption is that the engagement is a great occurrence that will be celebrated.

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Most people get engaged, on average, four years into a relationship. This is enough time to tell your parents about your partner and discuss your future plans with them as well.

Below are some of the ways how to tell your parents you are engaged:

1. FAMILY DINNER

Perhaps the most amazing way how to announce engagement to family is through a family dinner. You and your partner can decide whether or not you would like to tell your (set of) parents together or separately – we would suggest that you do it together because what else says union that bringing your parents (and families) together? Choose an intimate quiet place for your announcement because you do not want to be interrupted by chatter and noise in a crowded place. So the location you choose is important in that way. After the location, you will need to find a way to tell your parents you’re engaged in a way that you are comfortable with and to get a favorable reaction from them.

2. VIDEO CALL

If for whatever reason, you cannot get your parents to dinner or meet up with them in person, then the next best thing when announcing engagement to family is to video call them. This is a great way because there is still a visual element and you can get to show your parents your ring and discuss how your significant other popped the question or if it is you that did the asking, this is a great way to tell them all about how you planned and executed the whole thing. In the absence of an in-person meet-up, a video call is the next best thing when telling your parents you’re engaged.

3. PHONE CALL

Another one of the ways to announce engagement to family, is when you cannot be with your family in person or video call them, then the next best thing is to give them a phone call. Your parents will still be very happy to hear from you that you are engaged now. A phone call still gives you pure reactions in real-time and you get to conversate with your parents about the engagement as well.

4. SEND A PICTURE OF THE RING

Another way how to tell your parents you’re getting engaged when you cannot meet them in person, cannot video or phone call them, the very last resort, is to text message them a photo of your engagement ring with a caption that says that you are now officially engaged. Although you may not get a response right away and your conversation might not be in real-time, they will still be hearing the news from you first hand so that is important. However, with a text message – there might still be the need for a phone or video call later to discuss and celebrate more openly.

5. INVOLVE YOUR PET(S)

One of the fun ways to tell your parents you’re engaged is to involve your pet(s) if you have one. You can send a text to the family group letting them know that your pet will be a ring bearer at an upcoming family wedding and that the pet is excited. When everyone is confused as to what you are talking about, you can then come out and say that you are talking about your wedding because you are engaged. This will be such a fun and interesting conversation for the announcement of your engagement.

6. INVOLVE YOUR SIBLINGS

A great way of announcing engagement to family is to use people close to you and who is closer or better than your sibling? You can have them organize an engagement party, or have your parents flown in to come to see you – there are a number of ways in which you can involve your siblings to help you with the announcement of your engagement, so if you have them – put them to use. They would be just as happy to help you set up whatever it is that you have planned.

7. SEND THEM CREATIVE MAIL

And last but definitely not least, another one of the fun ways to tell your parents you’re engaged is to send them fun mail. Send them a “we are engaged” card, a postcard, or even a photo of your engagement ring will be a cute little surprise for them in the mail. Of course, for this to work to its full capacity, it means that you may have to hold off posting about your engagement on social media for a while.

BE PREPARED TO ANSWER ALL THE FOLLOW-UP QUESTIONS

It is natural and normal if you feel nervous to tell parents about engagement. It helps, however, when you know what to expect and therefore can prepare yourself. After you tell your folks that you are now engaged, there will be a myriad of questions that will come your way, you should be ready to answer all of their questions with as much detail as you can possibly provide. Where did he ask? How did he ask? Did he get down on one knee? Did you love the proposal? Do you love your ring? When is the wedding? Have you started looking at wedding dresses yet? What about venues, you are going to need a venue for your wedding, are you looking yet? Did he have any help with the proposal? And so forth. Some of the questions will seem of little importance to you and also maybe a little off-topic, but just remember that they are coming from a loving place. If you can anticipate what they might ask, then it will be easier for you to answer their questions.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

1. Should I tell my parents before I propose?

This is entirely up to you if you would like to tell your folks that you are planning on proposing to your partner. On the other hand, though, you may need to tell her parents, especially her dad if you are to ask for his daughter’s hand in marriage. However, it is a personal choice and decision whether or not you want to involve the parents prior to the engagement or if you would rather surprise them after the engagement.

Most people get engaged, on average, at the age of 32 so we would assume that at that age you pretty much know what you are doing and you can trust your own judgment over the matter.

Source: Theknot.com