When I was young, engagements were very much a 'thing'. Parties, presents, announcements in the paper - the full works. We didn't get engaged, because as far as I was concerned our agreement to marry was between us, and it all seemed a bit grabby. Some friends definitely got engaged to get the presents. They were up front about it. To be fair though, the age at which people got engaged then was much lower than today - 18 or so was probably average - and at that age people are playing at being grown-ups. Owning tea towels and fondue sets a couple of years after leaving school (and buying them for friends) fed into that.
Nowadays there seems to be a different attitude to weddings. I had younger colleagues who struggled to take holidays with their families as their leave and disposable income was spent on numerous stag and hen weekends abroad, complete with champagne, salsa classes, spas and so on, followed by elaborate weddings in exotic places. One colleague's sister had three hen parties - one in her home town, one near her sister (my colleague) and another abroad. This was followed by an expensive wedding with extravagant gifts - the colleague was asked to buy a new washing machine - and the marriage lasted 6 months.
My 'hen' was a night out with friends (male and female) in a pub. It wasn't a big deal, but I wanted everyone together as I was moving away after we got married. We had a few drinks and possibly chicken in a basket, which was popular at the time, and went home after last orders, which would have been 10.30 .