Congratulations on your engagement! This is a really exciting time in your life. It’s also probably going to be a bit stressful.
During this next year, I want to walk through this process with you. I’ll give you a 12 Month Guide to planning your wedding and explain things along the way. You can start from the beginning here (click). Come back to this blog each week for the next installment.
Week 17 – Honeymoon
Hope your gift registries are off to a good start. This week we’ll look at how to plan a honeymoon!
We’ll start with the boring part, get to the exciting section and close with a plan.
1. What’s your budget.
I know this isn’t the first thing you wanted to hear, but trust me when I say you’ll enjoy the honeymoon (and more importantly, the marriage) all the more if you pay attention to this part. Did you include the honeymoon in your wedding budget? If not, that’s okay. You’ll just need to make another budget for your honeymoon. Start with how much you can spend total (travel, hotel, food, extras). We’ll divide it up later.
2. Where do you want to go?
Now for the really fun part…day dreaming. Sit down together and discuss some places you’d like to go. Keep in mind that you’ll probably be tired (if not exhausted) after the wedding. While my husband and I wanted to go to Ireland, we knew it would require a lot of movement and sightseeing and decided to make it a future trip. We opted for a relaxing beach resort holiday where we could relax and rest. Discuss whether you want something relaxing (beach, cabin or spa), adventurous (camping), unusual and big (like finally gallivanting through big Europe), etc. Make sure to only keep options you agree on. Now, pick your top three choices.
3. Research your options.
Take your top three choices and do some research on the prices to see how they line up with your budget. Keep in mind that there are several ways to plan a vacation. You can contact a hotel or airline directly, work through a travel agent, book through an online source like Expedia (personally, I’ve had great experiences with them) or even find a special deal on Groupon or LivingSocial (which is the route we took). I recommend making a document with each location listed and the best deals for each below each location. Jot down the length of time, price, what’s included, website or contact information, extra incentives, etc.
4. Pick the best deal.
Look at the options and the all the information you collected. Eliminate any that are above your budget and then pick the one you want. If all of them are above your budget, then I suggest either selecting the next three options from your location list or looking into a honeymoon registry, where friends and family can contribute towards something special for your honeymoon.
5. Look at what’s required.
Yes, financing is required, but there are often several extra details. Simple extras include travel and food expenses, though all-inclusive trips usually eliminate these charges. If you’re traveling outside of the country, you’ll need a passport. If you don’t have a passport, click here to get started and expect it to be about an eight week process. Some countries require visas, vaccinations, etc. Make sure you know what’s required. Don’t forget to read the fine print and cancellation policies for everything you book. For our honeymoon, a flight was changed and we didn’t need the layover hotel we had booked because we weren’t even going to that city anymore. I called the company we’d booked the hotel through and explained what was going on. Since it was a flight change and we’d called ahead, we were able to get a refund!
Dream away and have fun with this, but do keep things semi-practical. This week, decide on how much you can spend on a honeymoon, where you want to go and what you need to do to make it happen. What’s your dream honeymoon location?
Next week we’ll talk about creating a vendor checklist to compile everything you’ve already done.
Katelyn is a certified wedding planner. She is available for consultations.
She will even meet with you on Skype to help you work through part of your wedding planning.
Click here for more information.