Weddings require enough committed planning and work to stress out the most organized person. Once you manage to successfully see your wedding through, you shouldn’t have any more stress to look forward to.
Both the honeymoon and the preparation that it takes should be easy and relaxing. Here are 10 tips to keep in mind.
1. Consider registering for your honeymoon
Honeymoon registries are a recent trend among newlyweds. When you register for your honeymoon, you allow your wedding guests to chip in to make your dream honeymoon come true. If you feel comfortable with such an arrangement, it could save you major cash.
2. Compromise
A honeymoon is for both newlyweds. The destination you plan for and the itinerary you put together need to be acceptable to both. You may choose a fabulous destination that you’ve always dreamed of visiting but you know your partner has some other plans, try to choose some other destination that both of you have never thought of visiting.
3. Schedule more downtime than uptime
After the hectic experience of organizing your wedding, the last thing you need is to plan a great deal of activity. It’s a far better idea to relax and only do what you feel like doing. Avoid any excursions and huge crowds. Your honeymoon should be a romantic break, not a simple trip.
4. Try not to plan too much
While it may seem like a good idea to plan every part of your itinerary, there’s a lot to be said for spontaneity too. A closely planned honeymoon can make it hard for you to experiment, explore and discover new things. Moreover, you won’t have an opportunity to relax and forget about any to-do lists.
5. Plan for a place to leave your ring
Right after your wedding, you still aren’t used to the ring on your finger. With all the places that you need to visit, and all the activities that you need to participate in, you may not notice it if it falls off. It’s always a good idea to plan for a safe place to leave your ring.
Whether you need to call the hotel or an airline travel agent to make arrangements, it’s important to always let people know that the arrangements you’re making are for your honeymoon. Many travel businesses offer complementary upgrades and other concessions for honeymooners.
You should be on the alert, though, for businesses that attempt to push unnecessarily expensive products and services. They tend to assume that honeymooners have cash to burn.
7. Don’t forget to take out travel insurance
You may figure that you can skip on buying travel insurance and save a little money. Travel insurance, though, protects your investment, your tickets and other expensive travel arrangements.
If you need to cancel for reasons of medical emergency, a work-related problem or any other reason, insurance gives you a way to get your money back. Even if you don’t believe that you would ever cancel your honeymoon, that’s a possibility too. Travel insurance is always a good idea.
8. Get concierge service
When you buy travel insurance, make sure that you pick a product that offers full-time travel assistance or concierge service. This service can help you with all kinds of restaurant and entertainment reservations wherever you go. If you are low in cash, you may skip this idea, but then make sure you do your own research and find out the best restaurants the destination boasts.
9. Don’t plan to leave the minute your wedding winds down
It’s usually a good idea to allow yourself time to rest and to recover from the stress of the wedding before you leave for your honeymoon. If you don’t give yourself time to recover before you leave, you’ll find yourself spending the first day of your expensive honeymoon out cold in bed.
10. Make sure that you have the right names
Many honeymooning couples find themselves in an odd situation – while the passport of the bride has her maiden name, the tickets and other travel arrangements are in her new, married name. Since it usually takes weeks to change one’s name on a passport or other ID, it’s a good idea to stick with one’s old name during the honeymoon.
While it’s easy to make your own arrangements these days, there’s a lot to be said for using a specialist honeymoon travel agent. These travel professionals tend to have deals and recommendations that you wouldn’t find elsewhere, or on your own. Planning your honeymoon in advance is a surefire way to have the best honeymoon ever.
