Call Family and Friends and Announce Your Engagement!

• When you get engaged, the first people that you should call are your parents. While sending out engagement announcements should come later, a phone call to your parents and close family members is much more personal. Announcing your engagement news can be very exciting, and waiting days to announce the news to family via mail can seem like torture if you don't place calls to them.
  
  Couples can also go visit their family and announce the big news, rather than place several phone calls.
  
  

Send out Engagement Announcements!

• Announce the news of your engagement by mailing out engagement photographs to your family and friends. The photo can be professional or casual and should have a caption that reads, "We're Engaged!" If you want to announce the news right away, you can also send engagement announcement texts and emails to friends and family before you send out engagement photographs.
  
  If you'd like to send out an engagement announcement that looks professional rather than creating it yourself, check your local listings for companies that specialize in engagement announcements.
  
  

Throw a Surprise Engagement Party!

• An engagement party can be as lavish or low-key as you choose, but a fun way to announce your engagement to family and friends is with a surprise engagement party. Invite your family and friends over for dinner or for a party to celebrate a faux promotion or made-up occasion. Then, surprise them with the news that the party is in fact your engagement party.
  
  If you'd rather not suprise your guests, plan an engagement party and send out party invitations as your engagement announcements.
  
  

Publish Your Engagement News!

• Submit a formal announcement of your engagement to your local paper. This is a great way to let friends and family that you haven't talked to in a while or who've you lost touch with, know out about your exciting news! The newspaper announcement is one of the more traditional ways to announce a couple's engagement, and gives family and friends a keepsake. In order to submit your engagement news, contact your local newspaper and ask for submission guidelines regarding deadlines, photos and costs for engagement announcements. Gather all the information you need, then submit your engagement announcement as soon as possible.
  
  Facebook, Myspace and other social networking sites are also great ways to announce your engagement. While this a much more casual way to announce an engagement, it definitely gets the announcement out and spreads the news quickly. Both Facebook and Myspace have an option for users to change their "relationship status" to "engaged."