Yea, I'm a day late on this one...my bad. Let's talk honeymoons. At this point we have no idea where we will be going, if it will be right after the wedding or what. We are paying for a good part of the wedding ourselves, and will be paying for the honeymoon ourselves too. Obviously we want to go somewhere nice, but I'm not sure what kind of budget we are working with at this point. I'd love to go to Napa (or wherever in wine country!). I've also considered one of those all-inclusive resorts. Thing is, I'm not real big on the beach. I prefer to swim in a pool and enjoy dinner by the ocean! I also like the idea of going to New England, I've always wanted to go...but maybe that is better left for a trip taken in the fall rather than in June?
If I weren't such a control freak I'd just pass this one off to Ben and allow him to surprise me...alas, that would drive me crazy and I just can't do it!!
How far in advance do I need to book & plan this thing?!
Where did you all go on your honeymoon? Anything different from the pre-packaged beach vacay? And if you did do the all-inclusive beach thing, did you like it? Will I be so exhausted from the wedding weekend that sight-seeing and touristy options will be miserable?
Do you have suggestions, warnings or whatever?
I HIGHLY recommend New England...especially Maine! My hubby and I went in May 2011 and fell in love with it. It is one of the best trips we have ever been on. We also did Boston too and loved it. But, I could go back and spend an entire week doing the coast of Maine again. On Facebook I have a whole album from our trip there if you want to see them. I think it is called "Our Trip Thru New England" If yall end up deciding on that and need any recommendations let me know!! :)
ReplyDeleteI agree with Leslie--Maine is gorgeous and may be a great option. One of my good friends did Napa and San Francisco and they loved that, too.
ReplyDeleteWe're doing Spain and France and starting off with some time on the beach with little planned, as I have heard from so many of my friends how exhausted I'll be (we're leaving the Tuesday after the wedding).
I think you can't go wrong wherever you go, as it'll be so exciting to start your new adventure as Mr. and Mrs. together! I have also only heard great things about doing a mini moon right after the wedding and then doing a longer trip a few months later to help spread out the excitement (and days off from work). ;)
I went to Boston & Martha's Vineyard in July 2010 and it was HOT. Like drenched in sweat from walking around hot. New England is such a beautiful place in the fall that I'm sad I went in the summer. Plus, it's really dang expensive- at least the Martha's Vineyard part was. We had to rent a car to get from Boston to the Ferry. Buy ferry tickets, hotel on Martha's Vineyard, rent bikes, taxi, plus every dinner was over $150 (although I did pick really nice restaurants). The trip just really added up and after our flights, hotel in Boston, dinners in Boston...Uh, I'm glad I wasn't paying for it.
ReplyDeleteI've heard GREAT things about Kennebunkport. Also, I went to Aspen this past June and it was UNREAL. The weather couldn't have been more perfect- it's really expensive too but somewhere over in that area is gorgeous even in the middle of summer. What about Oregon? or an Alaskan cruise? (Alaska is on my dream trip list.)
I would have loved Maine or Marthas Vineyard.. So fun. But we along with about 4 of our other friends that go married the same year did all inclusive resorts in Jamaica/Antigua/Bahamas or St. Lucia. We all loved it and I would totally recommend it. I was exhausted and read to really just realx and be pampered. I am not an ocean girl ( I only got in 1 time and for ike 30 minutes to please the hubs) but they have so many pools with swim up bars and tons of chairs at the beach where you can just sit and look at the beautiful view and people will bring you drinks, we got massages, we went on a katamran cruise they have over 10 resturants and a sushi bar, piano bar, night club its was amazing.
ReplyDeleteWe did jamaica and if we could do it over we go right back
brianna
adventuresofthesouthernwife.blogspot.com
Hi! We went to Hilton Head, SC in Dec. I love beaches in the winter so it was great. We were paying for it ourselves so we needed to be cost effective. My one recommendation would be is to go low key for this. Save your money and take a once in the life time trip before a baby or for when you start trying. I was TIRED after the wedding. I am also a huge control freak and seriously think that I got stress sick the next week after. I would plan going some where like Maine or Napa that you don't feel bad sleeping ALOT and resting.
ReplyDeleteOne of the other commenters mentioned visiting Oregon. I currently live in Oregon and have my entire life. I wouldn't suggest coming here in the summer because it's really hot - pretty much everywhere. While it is beautiful in the winter, it rains about 9 months out of the year. What about honeymooning somewhere in South America? Panama is supposedly beautiful!
ReplyDeletecollegelivingmadesimple.blogspot.com
Go all inclusive. Seriously, your money will go furthest there and by the time your wedding is over you're just ready to relax...not sight see and go, go, go every day. We didn't have a single "beach day" on our honeymoon. We spent all our time at the pools and swim up bars, getting pampered in the spa and going on excursions. The only time we spent at a beach was the day we visited the ruins in Tulum and the beach there has been voted "most beautiful in the world" so it was really a sight to see. Plus, the ruins were amazing. I say do all inclusive so your dinner and drinks are covered, y'all can just lay by the pools and be waited on hand and foot, drink up, relax, get pampered for a day in the spa, swim with the dolphins, etc. I'm actually DYING to go back to the place we honeymooned. It was a blast! (Oh...and it was adults only which was soooo nice! You don't want to deal with crying babies and splashing kids on your honeymoon.)
ReplyDeleteWe went with an all-inclusive in Dominican Republic. Our next very big trip will be a Europe trip, but we decided to have our honeymoon be totally low-key ... no pressure to tour attractions or fit a lot of activities in the trip. I parked my bootay next to the pool every day, read great books and caught up on my magazines, relived wedding memories with Ian, and had a glass of white wine with lunch every day. It was everything I hoped it'd be. We were at Secrets Sanctuary in Cap Cana.
ReplyDeleteWhere ever you decide to go (we went to Vegas) my advice is to leave Monday if you have a Saturday wedding. It was the best thing we did and so nice to be able to sleep in.
ReplyDeleteI would recommend doing like a few days somewhere close by to wind down and relax after the wedding then a month later you can go on a real honeymoon that way if you go to a touristy place you have the energy to do all the sightseeing and you have saved up more money too!!
ReplyDeleteI can't speak for the honeymoon part but I can say that Napa is one of my all time favorite places, you can stay busy and see lots of winerys or take your time and relax at the spas. there is a wide variety of places to stay, eat and drink and it's very romantic too. happy planning!
ReplyDeletewe booked Maui like 3-4 months before, but the sooner the better in terms to $$. And Maui is freaking expensive :x
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