The word "betrothal" is correct and can be used in written English.
It is used to describe the formal engagement or promise to marry between two individuals. Example: The prince and princess announced their betrothal at a glamorous ball in front of their families and friends.
He portrayed himself in 1493, just betrothed, holding sea holly (the betrothal flower) and with fashionable slashed sleeves; he painted himself, most famously, in 1500, gazing full-face at the viewer from a nimbus of long flowing hair (see the first illustration of this piece).
Some families hire Mr Lyimo to teach them rites they barely remember: how to slaughter and divide a cow between mother, father and siblings to celebrate a betrothal.
His wooing (passionate but pragmatic) of Conchita, the 15-year-old daughter of the fort's commander, brought both a deal and a betrothal.
The rules not only cover such traditional items as betrothal gifts from families, but also joint assets such as all kinds of property, stocks and bonds.
In 2008, Charlie Hebdo had laid off a cartoonist whose reaction to the betrothal of President Nicolas Sarkozy's son to a Jewish woman had been deemed offensively anti-Semitic.
"When the girls reach nine or ten they are ready to get married, and it is shameful for them to come to school," explains a local, firmly adding that "marriage" in this sense means betrothal, not conjugality.
Chosen king at Frankfurt in November 1208, he strengthened his position by his betrothal to Philip's 10-year-old daughter Beatrix the Elder.
His betrothal to Bhutto, who was the daughter of former president (1971 73) and prime minister (1973 77) Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and whom he had first met five days prior to the public announcement of their engagement, surprised many observers.
An alliance between Babylon and the Medes was sealed by the betrothal of Cyaxares' granddaughter to Babylonian King Nabopolassar's son, Nebuchadrezzar II (605 562 bc).
He shortly secured a position on the powerful Supreme Privy Council and arranged the betrothal of the young tsar to his niece, Yekaterina Alekseyevna.
She then held court at Ludlow Castle while new betrothal plans were made.
