How to Announce Your Engagement to Your Loved Ones: Ideas & Etiquette

Congratulations on your recent engagement, sparkly new ring, and wonderful fiancé! Your next step is to announce your new status to your loved ones. We’ve got plenty of ideas for how to tell everyone! Make sure you consider a more personal type of announcement for your closest friends and family. Then, we’ve got some ideas for you to make a public announcement to everyone else on social media or otherwise.

Announcing Your Engagement: Who to Tell & How

Who you’d like to tell about your engagement and how are both completely up to you and your partner. Our suggestion is to start with the people you speak to most, your immediate family, and then your grandparents, cousins, and more distant family. You can wait a while to make calls or you can video call everyone as soon as you have a ring on your finger. Whether you call everyone individually or make a fun post on social media, just make sure the people who matter most to you hear it first.

1) Take a Few Moments as an Engaged Couple to Celebrate Together

Announce your engagement on your terms when you are ready! Don’t be afraid to take a few hours, days, or more to enjoy your special milestone together. With smartphones in our pockets all day, we often feel obligated to stay in touch constantly. It’s okay to take a break with your future spouse before you decide to start calling everyone or make a big social media announcement.

2) Personally Tell Your Loved Ones About the News

Before you announce your engagement to the masses, make sure your best friends and family get to hear the news from you - this could be a simple text or an in-person visit! Your parents, besties, siblings, grandparents, and other special loved ones will be happier to hear from you directly. This will also give you the opportunity to speak with each of them one-on-one about your exciting new chapter.

3) Share Your Engagement on Social Media (If You Want)

One of the greatest benefits of living in a world with social media is that you can update most of your friends and family all at once about your life. Take advantage of your socials by creating an engagement announcement to let everyone know the big news. Skip this step if you hate social media. You can opt for some cute engagement announcements or just a few quick phone calls.

4) Take Some Engagement Photos, Professionally or Otherwise

However you choose to announce your engagement, you’ll probably want to include a photo of yourself and your new fiancé. If you’ve planned ahead, you may have had a photographer or friend taking photos on the day of your actual engagement. If not, choose a day to take a few photos featuring you, your fiancé, and your new ring. Some photographers offer specials for simple engagement photo shoots. Otherwise, grab a friend or a tripod and take some photos whenever you have time.

Unique Engagement Captions for Instagram & Other Social Media

Not sure how to begin your engagement post? You could always keep it simple with a cute photo of you with your future spouse and a fun caption. Your caption could be short and sentimental, a cheeky joke, a T-Swift lyric, or your favorite rom-com quote. We’ve got a few ideas to help you get started!

1) Short & Sweet: Simple Engagement Captions

Don’t feel obligated to write a paragraph if you prefer to keep it short and sweet. The people who know you best already know how much you love your future spouse. Below are some simple yet adorable social media captions to announce your engagement.

Short and sweet engagement caption ideas:

• ‘a lifetime with you will never be enough’
• ‘here’s to forever’
• ‘easiest yes of my life’
• ‘a lifetime of us’
• ‘so this is love’
• ‘forever and then some’

2) Cheeky / Funny Engagement Captions

If you’re not the sappy type, go with a funny little joke. You can post a photo of your new ring and your future spouse with a caption that will make everyone giggle. Just make sure your joke gets the point across. We picked some funny and cute ways to announce your engagement.

Cheeky engagement announcement caption jokes:

• ‘dibs’
• ‘heart is full, hand is heavy’
• ‘love this for him’
• ‘I think he likes me’
• ‘next question’
• ‘I’m on a forever date’

3) 13 Taylor Swift Engagement Captions for Swifties

Your love for your significant other is so strong it even outshines your love for Taylor Swift (only by a little). Choose your favorite song lyric to help announce your new engagement. We chose a few of our favorites to help inspire you.

Engagement announcement captions inspired by Taylor Swift:

• ‘You are the best thing that’s ever been mine’ (song: Mine)
• ‘I’ve loved you X summers now, honey, but I want ‘em all’’ (song: Lover)
• ‘All’s well that ends well to end up with you’
• ‘I’d like to hang out with you for my whole life’ (song: Stay Stay Stay)
• ‘It’s been a long time coming but’ (if you’ve been together for awhile)
• ‘It’s you and me, that’s my whole world’ (song: Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince)
• ‘Voted most likely to run away with you’ (especially if an elopement is in your future)
• ‘You and me, forevermore’ (song: New Year’s Day)
• ‘I hate accidents except when we went from friends to this’ (if you started off as besties) (song; Paper Rings)
• ‘And I don’t know how it gets better than this’ (song: Fearless)
• ‘Not a lot going on at the moment’ (song reference: ‘22’; best used when a lot is going on at the moment)
• ‘All they keep askin’ me is if I’m gonna be your bride’ (song: Lavender Haze)
• ‘We were sitting at our favorite spot in town, and you looked at me, got down on one knee’ (song: Mary’s Song)

‘In My Engaged Era’ Sweatshirt

4) Engagement Quotes from Songs & Movies

When you just can’t find the words to describe how you’re feeling, there are plenty of beautiful quotes from romantic songs and movies to help you out. We picked a few of our favorite quotes from songs and movies that are perfect for your engagement announcement.

Song and movie quotes to announce your engagement:

• "When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible." — When Harry Met Sally
• "Keep all my love forever." — The Beatles
• "The best thing to hold onto in life is each other." — Audrey Hepburn
•  “Hey baby, I think I want to marry you.” – Bruno Mars
• "You had me at 'Hello.'" — Jerry Maguire
• “All that you are is all that I’ll ever need.” - Ed Sheeran

More Fun Ways to Announce Your Engagement

Looking for more than a clever caption? Get creative with your engagement announcement by planning something thoughtful. Think about things you and your future spouse have in common and how you can incorporate those things into your announcement. Also, consider the way your friends and family would like to receive the news. You could use your pets, your hobbies, a handwritten card, or matching shirts. Anything sweet and personal is a beautiful way to tell everyone how in love you are.

*This post may contain affiliate links. While we can receive commission through affiliate links, opinions are entirely our own.*

1) ‘My Humans are Getting Married’ Dog Bandana

‘My Humans Are Getting Married’ Dog Bandana | ‘My mom said YES’ Dog Bandana

Some of us love our pets more than just about anything. We treat them like our children and they are an important part of our families. Try including your dog, cat, or other furry friend in your engagement announcement. If you can get them to sit still, you’ll have some really wonderful photos to remember your engagement forever. 

2) Engagement Announcement Cards

We’re Engaged Announcement With Photo | Multi-Photo Engagement Announcement

The most traditional way to announce your engagement is with a card. A card with a beautiful photo (or a few) of you and your future spouse is a great keepsake for your family members to remember this special occasion. A card also gives you the opportunity to thank anyone who was helpful on your journey to engagement.

3) Cute Engagement Shirts

Future Mrs. Custom Engagement Shirt

Treat yourself to a cute engagement announcement shirt! You can get a shirt that matches your fiancé, a themed one (like Disney or Taylor Swift), or even a custom one with your new name. An engagement shirt is the perfect opportunity to take a few extra photos for your socials. You can even have some professional photos taken for your engagement announcement. If you buy one a few sizes up, you’ll have a comfy lounging shirt for movie nights, the post-bachelorette party sleepover, or a quick change after the rehearsal dinner.

4) Digital Engagement Announcement

Digital Engagement Announcement With Photo

Save yourself the hassle of printing engagement announcements by choosing an electronic option. A digital engagement announcement is just as nice looking as a card, making it the perfect alternative. You can save time, money, and paper by choosing to send announcements out digitally. You can still add a beautiful photo of yourself and your fiancé to share your happiness with your loved ones.

Plan Your Perfect Engagement Announcement

Unique Engagement Party Ideas & Themes

Get started planning your engagement announcement today! The sooner you finish announcing your engagement the sooner you can get started planning the rest of your wedding! The time leading up to your big day will be a whirlwind of events, celebrations, and appointments. Don’t forget to take time to savor this exciting time as you and your future spouse transition into a married couple.

What’s next after your engagement announcement? Start looking for fun engagement party ideas.