Honeymoons Made Easy
Article by Kelley Austin, Cruise Planners
Photos provided by Kelly Austin
Honeymoons often take a backseat to the arrangements and plans of the actual wedding, but you owe it to yourself to give honeymoon planning greater and more careful attention. After all, the wedding is mainly for your family and friends. The once-in-a-lifetime honeymoon that follows is a private getaway for you and your new spouse to celebrate your marriage. Though you may spend a portion of your vacation relaxing and reflecting on this major life change, the honeymoon is most of all an opportunity to enjoy being a newlywed, spending quality time with your new spouse, and experiencing a romantic and exciting getaway.
Honeymooners have endless options. Following months of wedding planning, couples often retreat to a luxurious resort that caters to their every need, while others trek to an adventurous escape from their day-to-day lives. Whether it is a beach vacation or a safari, the honeymoon should reflect your joint personality and wishes.
Keep in mind that perfect honeymoons don’t just happen, and planning requires thoughtfulness, patience, careful attention to details, and a lot of decision-making along the way. Working with the right travel concierge that specializes in romance travel can streamline the process, insure no details are overlooked, and increase your value and experience dramatically.
Before you contact a romance travel specialist, there are a few things you need to consider. Thinking about these key items will help the travel concierge make thoughtful and appropriate recommendations for creating your ideal honeymoon. You may not know the exact answers before contacting your romance travel specialist, but just thinking about them will get you ahead of the planning process. Here are 5 key questions you should ask yourself:
- What is your priority for this experience? Think about choosing up to 3 of the following: romance, quiet, activity, adventure, food / wine, culture, tropical beach, or exploring cities. Of course, you could have completely different ideas! Remember this is your honeymoon and your future memories!
- Do you have a specific destination in mind or are you looking for someone to help decide? If you do have a destination in mind, what attracts you to that specific destination?
- What are your preferred travel dates or window of time? Not everyone travels immediately after the wedding. I have worked with school teachers that postpone honeymoons until summer break, tax preparation personnel that plan around tax deadlines, and couples that have a specific destination but need to wait until that destination is “in season”.
- How long do you want to be gone? This can make a big difference on your destination options. For example, you won’t be visiting the south pacific nor doing an African Safari if you can only be gone 5 days.
- What is your budget for your honeymoon? While you may not know what “things cost” (I hear this all of the time), you certainly know what you can and / or will spend. A budget isn’t an exact dollar amount but a range. Knowing your budget range upfront can help set realistic expectations and eliminate a great deal of frustration during the planning process. This is usually the hardest part for most couples. A way to make this easier is to consider the following sample ranges: Less than $5,000, $5,000-$7,500, $7,500-$10,000, $10,000-$13,000, and over $13,000.
Once you have thought about these key elements, the real fun begins!! We can then move on to the types of honeymoons: all-inclusive resorts, multi-destination honeymoons, or cruises are just a few of the options! I’m often asked about the most popular honeymoon trends or destinations. Some couples want to be on the cutting edge and stay away from “what everyone else does” and some couples want to do what is “in the moment”. Which kind of couple are you?
Remember, your honeymoon is all about you! You will be starting your life together and creating your very first “married” memories!
