Might not have a honeymoon

Personally, if it would make a substantial difference, I'd put it toward a house. A fabulous trip is awesome, and you'll have memories, but being able to buy a home sooner and/or lower your monthly payments for the next 30 years or more? Yeah, I'd choose the house. You can always go on trips later....

View Quoted Comment That's what were thinking. We also said we can maybe go on a cruise for cheap. There are some that depart out of New York which is in driving distance for us so we'd save on airfare. I think we are definitely leaning toward the savings for a house.

If possible, I would use a couple thousand for a vacation and save the rest for a house. Like you mentioned, a cruise could be great and many of them are inexpensive.

What a generous gift! I'd personally put it toward a house.

We're paying for the wedding and honeymoon ourselves, and will not be receiving any large monetary gifts or help. I did consider foregoing this whole thing and just putting all of our wedding funds in the bank, but then decided that while a large wedding may not be the wisest financial decision, we do want the memories, pictures, and celebration. For the honeymoon, to help with costs, we're not going until 2021.

For some reason though, I feel like if we got a monetary gift, we'd put it towards something more practical. I'm not really sure what my logic is with that though, lol.

Either way, if you guys can swing it, I would do some sort of honeymoon or weekend getaway. I've had friends who didn't, and regretted it.

View Quoted Comment We were probably thinking a cruise and would try to spend less then 1500 if possible. Even if it's not a whole week. I just really want a house and feel like that's more important than the honeymoon. We can always take a "real honeymoon" later when we save up our own money for it

View Quoted Comment

Totally understand! Yeah, we might do just a long weekend after our wedding for that honeymoon feel, and then have the "real honeymoon" the following year (our plan is an Alaskan cruise).

But a house is definitely a great investment, and a place where you will make so many more memories than you will on one trip.

Personally I would use it toward a house and maybe just use a little bit for a long weekend somewhere fun.

That's such a blessing. I would definitely put it toward a house and if you were to have anything left over, maybe just enjoy a smaller honeymoon OR continue to save with what you have left over (if any) to eventually go on your big romantic honeymoon.

Especially when you take into account what the gift will allow you to save over the life of a mortgage in terms of interest paid, it's value increases significantly. Daughter and SIL's most important long-term financial goal is to get into their own home sooner, so they feel ready to start their family. They chose a long weekend minimoon so that they could grow their savings faster. The way they look at it, they are making great memories every day regardless of where they are.

Split it 50/50 maybe? If the house is y’all dream then that can be y’all honeymoon ya know? So put it towards that but if you really want a trip I would still put some towards it. Also look at your finances and do some math. If y’all save up so much money can that alone pay for the trip and the money she’s giving y’all go toward the house? I personally really like traveling so I would spend some on travel for sure but that’s an investment into myself and my happiness. For me a I want a house eventually but I know I want to move around some so that’s not in my plans right now. Look at what y’all plans are and what y’all want and I think the answer will be pretty clear. Good luck!

We bought a house before anything, including engagement. I love our home. There is nothing like coming home to our house everyday! I'd say house and maybe lower key honeymoon. You can find really reasonable vacation packages u just have to look. Also don't be afraid of travel agents they can find/get really great budget friendly quality vacations.

View Quoted Comment I agree with this !

I'm a Realtor. So I vote house. Lol. We actually got the house, got engaged, had the wedding, then used wedding gifts to refinance and out of PMI. I'm going to send you a private message, because gift money gets tricky in transactions with Lenders and you want to make sure it is handled correctly to reduce any headaches in the process!

View Quoted Comment Okay thank you! We actually almost got a house before but it fell through. But I know a lot of banks mentioned gift money. Our plan was to get the money in about a month or so and then deposit it, and then look in may. The bank we dealt with only looked at the last 3 months of our bank statements

We had savings we were going to spend on part of a house down payment but decided on a grand honeymoon instead. The reason being is, we are always careful and "smart" with our decisions and because of that we have limited our experiences in life. I've had my passport for years trying to travel. We plan on starting a family when we buy a house, so we need to have the experiences of a wedding we dreamed of and a honeymoon we've dreamed of so we don't resent each other later.

View Quoted Comment Were spending a lot on the wedding, which at this point I wish I spent on a house. So getting this money is at least a way to put a dent in saving the money back. We just looking into cruises and are probably going to do a short one to the bahamas or something

Any vacation can be a “honeymoon” it doesn’t have to be some grand production. Personally, I think it makes sense to invest in your future, you can always take some smaller weekend trips as a honeymoon. All that matters is that you enjoy those trips (or singular trip) together, and that doesn’t require a ton of spending.

I would at least try to take a small trip of some kind. You mentioned NY, maybe niagra falls, DC, Baltimore, something for a couple of days. Taking a minimoon to Disney was one of the best decisions we made! I loved being away in our just married bubble before heading back to “the real world”
good luck on your house hunt. We’ll be starting soon too.

I would go on a honeymoon, even if it’s not as glamorous as you initially were thinking. Yes, having a house is a long term thing that will bring you much happiness, but it’s also something that will always need something. There’s always house projects and repairs that are needed. And if you are planning on having children, they cost an exorbitant amount of money. While all these things are wonderful, they do make it harder to go away. I would definitely go on a honeymoon after the wedding and spend some time together. Even if it’s just a weekend away, it’s something special for just the two of you. I know so many people who wait to go on honeymoons, and it never happens (see reasons above). It seems that you had already been planning on buying a house, so just stick with that savings plan and add to it some of what you are getting for the wedding. Your house buying plans won’t be delayed because of a honeymoon, but you will get to spend some special post-marital bliss time together which you will remember forever.

View Quoted Comment Aw that's some awesome advice. Thank you! FH grandmom also said she has a time share that we could use. So maybe we can have a budget honeymoon that way