Preparations for engagement

Since marriages are made in heaven, we decided to arrange the engagement ceremony at Bangalore. The most important decision towards engagement ceremony is whether to have it in the first place! On enquiring various relatives and friends, I only got mixed responses. There were many opinions about the scale and timing of this ceremony - should be a very private affair with only close relatives attending, should be held at bigger scale only if there is long gap between engagement and wedding, shouldn't be too early before wedding etc. Eventually my sister's choice to have it and groom's preference of having it in Bangalore overrode all the survey polls :) Once the decision to have engagement ceremony is finalized, there are only few things to figure out - do you want to book hall separately and give away catering contract or do you want to book hall in a hotel who can also serve food. I chose the latter as it will be easy to manage the logistics that way and also I might get a better deal. And since most of the hotels are very particular about maintaining their reputation, you can be assured of good service. Checklist for engament is: Hall, food catering, decoration (stage and entrance), photography/videography, engagement rings, tamboolam, gifts to bride/groom, gifts to guests (optional).