An engagement is an exciting milestone in life. After sharing the news with your family and close friends, you'll likely want to announce it to world in your local newspaper. Some newspapers have a form that you'll simply fill out and submit. Other papers, however, allow you the freedom to write your own announcement, along with all the information and details you wish to include. While the rules of writing a wedding announcement are more relaxed these days, there are still steps you'll need to take and a general etiquette you should follow.

Call the newspaper and request the name and email address of the person who handles engagement announcements. (Hold on to this information because this will probably be the same person you'll submit your wedding announcement to later.)

Begin writing your announcement. A simple template to follow is this one: "Mr. and Mrs. John Smith of Anytown, Anystate, announce the engagement of their daughter, Miss Mary Smith to John Brown, son of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Brown of Othertown, Otherstate." If either parents are divorced, the announcement should list them separately. For example, "Mr. John Smith of Anytown, Anystate, and Susan Jones of Anothertown, Anotherstate, announce the engagement of their daughter" and so forth.

List the bride and groom's education and employment next. For instance, "Miss (or Ms.) Smith is a graduate of University of Anystate and is employed by Big-name Law Firm. Mr. Brown is a graduate of University of Otherstate and is a professor at Nearby-Local College." Degrees and military service may also be listed in this section.

Announce the time, date and place of the wedding in the final section. For example, you might write, "The wedding is planned for 7:00 p.m., Month Date, Year, at Holy Chapel." You might also choose to simply say, "A June wedding is planned" or, if you've not yet chosen a date, "No date has been set for the wedding."

Email the announcement along with a picture to the newspaper. (Ask the paper what format in which they prefer your picture to be saved.) Call the next day to confirm that it was received and to ask about the expected publication date.