Honeymoon Planning

This responsibility has been solely my FH's and he's loved every minute of it! He spent time researching all options, various countries, cruises, etc. We had the rule of neither of us had to have visited the location before.. He presented some ideas, but not really grabbing BOTH of our attention and suddenly one day he came to me with "what about Australia and New Zealand?" We are getting married in November, so it'll be spring in Australia and New Zealand. We agreed to leave the Sunday after the wedding simply because I couldn't image having a honeymoon a few months later. He's been planning everything. In all honesty, we didn't discuss a "budget".. We've been paying for it over the past seven months and will continue to up until we leave.. (as we have the extra money, we book an excursion) I'm a traveler, so I felt like I needed one more epic trip before starting a family. We are both beyond excited!!

I’m flying to spain for my honeymoon then taking a jet to italy so we can see barcelona, rome and florence. Our flights were 2,220 for us both, our hotels were just under 3,000. I plan to bring about 1000 in cash (not euros... maybe 200 in euro and the rest i’ll use my debit card) and I know he is bringing cash also.

Our honeymoon is something we are looking forward to almost more than the wedding... and in my opinion it’s the most money i’ve ever spent on something but whatwver. It’s a dream trip.

Our hotels are 4 star. We wanted luxury that didn't break the bank without acting like wanna be celebrities if that makes any sense at
all??

We decided on two honeymoons. Immediately following the wedding we will be going to Austin, TX. That one I am paying for as my paychecks are smaller. Fiancé is paying for the week long October cruise. We will decide on what to do there together, of course, but since we aren’t doing joint checking yet we split up honeymoons this way. We had both been saving for awhile though, and I have $1000 set aside whereas fiancé had about $2000. Go by what your budget can do without going into debt.

We first started by thinking about what our goal for the honeymoon was. Did we want to go sightsee or did we just want to relax? We wanted to just relax and lay out on a beach and do nothing all week. We decided on Los Cabos because we’re on the west coast and it’s shorter travel time for us compared to the Caribbean.

I'm always looking at flights to fun places all the time and I happened to find a great deal on RT tickets to Ireland for less than $450/person! We both knew that as much as we'd love to sit on a beach for a week somewhere tropical we wanted something with a little more history and neither of us has ever been so easy choice! So I say figure out a couple different places you'd like to visit and just keep an eye out (I use Kayak - never had any issues using them over the years). I have also found that Airbnb's are way less expensive than hotels and we've got a great little place in Dublin for only $500 for an entire week including taxes and fees! Also, if you happen to have airline miles, those are a huge help too! Good luck and let us know where you decide to go!

We decided on our budget by calculating how much we each could save per month. We always wanted to go to Hawaii so it was pretty easy for us. We are spending $6,000ish on a weeklong trip to Hawaii.

We spent at least a month discussing where we were going to go! Some of the places we considered were Arizona, southern California, Key West, Spain, Italy, and a lot more. I think at one point, the list of possibilities had included every continent except Antarctica. We took factors such as weather / time of year, how easy it is to get there, price, and type of trip into consideration. We also wanted to go to a place that we would never take kids. We ultimately decided on about 1 week in French Polynesia (Tahiti & Moorea). We're flying to LA the night after the wedding, and onward to Tahiti the following afternoon. I'm super excited for our first beach/island vacation.

The first thing we talked about was what type of honeymoon we want: tropical, active, relaxing, big city, beach, etc. We decided we definitely wanted to relax after wedding and go somewhere tropical. So the next thing we decided was budget and that set the stage for where we could go. Caribbean is relatively cheap compared to lots of beaches, plus all-inclusives would give us everything we want! We determined Jamaica fit into our budget, plus it's one of the safer islands to go to!

You should determine your budget the way you determine your budget regarding any major trip. Take a look at your expenses and major upcoming payments. Look at your current income and debts. How does it all balance? Can you save money? How much?

That number will determine partly where you can travel, as certain locations are more affordable than others. For instance, flying to Japan from the US can be costly for the plane ride alone, but taking a trip to a "destination state" (CA, ME, ect) for example would be much more affordable. Where is the US dollar (or your currency) strong? Mexico? Greece? Do you or your fiance speak any other languages/have family abroad? Deciding your budget comes first however.

You may be also limited by factors such as ability to fly or taking time off of work, and this can also factor into where and when you end up going. Certain locations are more affordable during one season or another. For instance, parts of Europe are more affordable in November. To be honest, I am not a fan of the idea that you HAVE to go on your honeymoon immediately after your wedding - go whenever you can/want to!

We already went on ours (a trip to Mexico ) because my fiancee will have a brutal work schedule during the wedding and a trip isn't feasible in September. Hope this helps!!!

My FH and I wanted to go to someplace that neither of have been. He's been to every Caribbean Island and Mexico so those were out. We ultimately chose Maui because we can be beach bums and go exploring if we want to. We are spending about $6,000 for 9 days in Maui. We are getting married on a Saturday and are leaving for Hawaii on Tuesday.

We knew we wanted to travel immediately after the wedding. We also knew we wanted to go somewhere tropical. We decided on a budget based on our financial situation and knowing we plan to have kids immediately. So didn’t want a huge crazy blow out honeymoon (Europe would have been my pick and our honeymoon will still be incredible-but cheaper). We have already traveled to the Bahamas together twice so we tried narrowing it down. After looking at different all inclusives in the Caribbean we decided on aruba. From there we booked an all inclusive that was more social/party as that’s our style over the more formal/private ones. We are really looking forward to it. Good luck!!!

We decided on our honeymoon based on two things. 1) Where have we never been before and 2) what is something we would not do again for a long time

We set the budget based on our tax returns because that's what we used to pay for our honeymoon and we wanted a traditional honeymoon so we knew we wanted to go directly after our wedding as well.

I know this is out of the question for you but we are doing a crusie to the Bahamas!

We get married on a Saturday and the cruise is Monday-Friday. We will be flying down on Sunday though.

View Quoted Comment This is very helpful. My fiance is in the USMC reserves, and we have no clue when his monthly drills are yet, but we have to plan around those. I think I just need to look at budget first and see what we can do.

For my FH & I, we decided before we were engaged (it wasnt exactly a surprise) that we just wanted someplace simple and no big travel costs. Between wedding and a house, budget simply isnt there anyway. As such, he is in charge of the details but we are going maybe 2 hours away and finding a cabin in the country for a week. he sets the budget anyway so that has taken a lot of pressure off of me.

I have found the most amazing place in Mal Pais Costa Rica - but found out that October is rainy season. FH and I are not trying to figure out if we will look for another location, or reschedule the honeymoon. So many things to do - but enjoying the journey!

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My FH and I are going to Tahiti and New Zealand. Like you, we wanted to go somewhere we had never been, and we wanted a mix of R&R and adventure!