Engagement Party and then Hen Party

I didn't have an engagement party and as for a hen do, I just went out for a meal with my two bridesmaids. My daughter didn't have either, as she had a 'secret' wedding abroad, attended only by her father and I. They did have a 'reception' for family and friends at home later, but it was a small, friendly affair at a local social club.

Engagement part in mum and dad’s house with family and friends. 1968

An evening in the pub in London with all my girl friends .Hen do . Drinks and dancing the night away.
Dh was in a pub round the corner with all his mates. Stag do.

A fairly big wedding (for those days) in a hall with sit down meal and reception. 1971
No honeymoon. Couldn’t afford one as we’d bought our own little two up and two down cottage. We were 20 and 21.
So very young!. Been together since we were 16.

I didn't have an engagement party but got a very nice ring. I had my hen party at FuFus palace in Manchester and my husband had his stag do at Tiffanys.Engaged for 12 months and then quite a big wedding. No baby showers.

Didn’t have an engagement party we were both in training for our jobs and couldn’t afford one.

My “hen party” was a meal in a local pub for me and some friends. One girl got drunk enough to pick flowers for me from someone’s garden on the way home. I wasn’t as drunk as her but not sober enough to not accept them/tell her off

No engagement party and hen parties were unheard of. Both would have been seen by my parents as a waste of money.

My parents got engaged in 1950s, and they had an engagement party, so I don’t think it’s a new thing, it’s just something that some people did and do, and some don’t, I think.

Hen dos were a lot more muted until about twenty years ago, when they morphed from being a night out to a weekend.
The first weekend do I went to was for one of my nieces in 2011, and we had such a good time that all the females in the family now have a weekend away together every year, we call it the No Hen, and we love them - this year we are going to Evesham, we’ve been all over the place, as we are dispersed through the UK, and it’s the only time all year that we’re all together.

I don't think hen do's or parties had been invented back in the 1950's when I got engaged, - no party then either.
We had 5 guests at our wedding and reception was coffee and biscuits on a train..
Even for those days it was all a bit Spartan.

No engagement party.

Two Hen do’s one in a famous night club in London and another in a local night club.

1965 and when we got engaged, my parents invited his parents to stay for the weekend. A bit awkward but champagne helped. No engagement party as I was off to Munich for three months, part of my university course.
The night before our wedding, groom and best man spent with lovely neighbours. Best man a lifelong friend, the last smile I saw on DH's face as he lay dying was a WhatsApp message from him.

No parties or hen/stag nights for us. We were pretty hard up and would have seen it as a total waste of money and, as well, I really dislike the whole circus surrounding weddings snd wanted everything as low key as possible. I think I succeeded - the wedding was informal and fun, shared with half a dozen special friends and remains one of the happiest days of my life. If I were ever to marry again, I'd want to do it the same way.