A plus to being engaged: lots of people congratulate you. A minus to being engaged: lots of people ask the date of the unplanned ceremony. My fiancee and I wanted to get to the end of the school year before beginning to plan anything, and we're paying for this ourselves so it's about being meaningful (we don't want to skimp on anything, to be sure; but there's a lot of stuff in the bridal magazines that makes you go, "Holy Crap!"). In the end it will be a very special day, and as long as we get the actual booking for some things out of the way, we can take our time to plan the special things.
I actually wonder if some of these people are asking because they think they're getting invited. That's rude, of course, but why else would someone ask about the date? So I've gotten into the habit of telling them it's happening the following Tuesday. It leaves them guessing.