Guest Post: Real Tips & Advice for Planning Your Honeymoon

Image: Eastport Photography

Romancers I know I owe you a bagillion apologies for the blog silence lately. Life has been crazy lately ~ Evie turned two (and we decided to drive to NJ for all of 3 hours for a live Peppa Pig show, some pizza & ice cream), I am headed into wedding #2 of THREE weddings this month, and oh yeah – we listed our townhouse on the market. I’d be lying if I said things were headed back to normal any time soon though, as I have SO MANY things to do with CapRo this year, we’ll hopefully be selling our home by mid June, moving into a rental, and then dealing with the MAJOR renovation of the other home we own in Brookland.

So yeah. Things are crazy. But really, when isn’t life crazy? So I’ll apologize for the blog silence, but I’ll also let you know that it’s likely to happen again over these next few months, so please forgive me and I appreciate you guys stick with me through this all! For today we have another guest post from our girl Rebecca, who is bringing the REAL advice on planning your honeymoon. Take it away!

How to Plan Your Honeymoon – Real Trips, Tricks & Advice | By: Rebecca Grawl

I’m going to be real with you, CapRo readers, part of the reason I wanted to get married is to plan a honeymoon.  My fiancee and I love travel and have made it a cornerstone of our relationship – it makes perfect sense to kick off our married life with a travel adventure!  I understand this better now that I’m in the thick of wedding planning but the honeymoon actually feels like the reward after the months (or years) of planning, stressing, budgeting, and agonizing over all the wedding details.  As a tourism industry professional (this is LinkedIn jargon for tour guide), here are a few tips for planning your newlywedded travel!

• Start early.  You know how you’re spending money on the wedding your planning?  You’ll have to spend money on a honeymoon as well, so be sure to start making plans in advance for budget and scheduling purposes.  Also, “where are you going on your honeymoon” is a question you will hear a lot during the wedding process.
• Figure out your honeymoon style.  As with weddings, there is no right way to honeymoon.  All-inclusive beach resort?  If that sounds like heaven, do it!  Luxury European adventure?  Sounds great!  Road trip across America?  Whatever way you like to travel is right for your honeymoon.
• Go immediately or wait it out?  More and more, couples are waiting to honeymoon until later after their wedding.  Again, this really boils down to what works best for you.  Honeymooning immediately following your wedding allows you to relax after all the excitement and stress of implementing a major event and bask in the afterglow of the event.  Waiting a few weeks or months can allow more flexibility for travel, budget, and scheduling, which can allow for a bigger travel adventure.
• Make your wedding work for the honeymoon.  One of the best pieces of advice shared with me was to utilize our wedding spending for our honeymoon.  All our major purchases are put on our travel rewards card (and paid off immediately – debt free wedding is the goal!) so that we can earn flight/hotel points for our honeymoon.  You can also consider adding a honeymoon registry for your wedding day.  Websites like Honeyfund, Wanderable and Newlywish give you the option to register for honeymoon treats like tours and meals as opposed to flatware and linens.
• Consider off-season/shoulder season travel.  To get the most bang for your travel buck, look at when your preferred destination’s peak season is and try to travel just before or after that time.  You can often get better rates, less lines, and better service across the board.
• Honeymoon perks!  Be sure to mention that it’s your honeymoon whenever possible!  Whether working with a travel agent or booking on your own, you’ll want to take advantage of your special status as a honeymooning couple.  Be sure to let your hotel know in advance and upon check-in and when you dine, mention it with your reservation or let the staff know when you arrive.  This is the time to rake in free drinks, desserts, and special upgrades!