When planning your wedding, don’t forget to set aside part of your wedding budget for your honeymoon. After all the hard work leading up to your wedding, you will definitely need the rest and relaxation that a honeymoon offers. Some couples may be lucky enough to receive a honeymoon trip as a wedding gift. For those of you who have to pay for your honeymoon, here are a few tips on how you can have a wonderful honeymoon without spending a fortune:
- Search your local newspaper for travel deals. Also, a travel agent may be able to find you information on cruise specials, vacation packages or all-inclusive resorts.
- Travel in the off-season. If you are getting married during the peak wedding season (May through September), consider postponing your honeymoon until the off-season. Most places have less expensive rates during the off season.
- Travel somewhere close to where you live. For example, if you want to honeymoon on a tropical island, choose one that is close to you. For example, if you live on the east coast, a trip to the Caribbean would be less expensive than a trip to Hawaii. The less actual traveling you do, the less money you’ll spend. Visiting an island doesn’t always mean it has to be a ‘tropical’ island. You could go on your honeymoon to an island off the coast of the continental U.S. like North Carolina’s Outer Banks, Georgia’s Barrier Islands, the Florida Keys, or the islands off the coasts of California, Oregon and Washington.
- If someone you know has a vacation house, cabin or a time-share condo, consider going to that person and asking them to loan or rent you their place for your honeymoon. This will save you money on accommodations and food since you’ll be able to prepare some of your own meals.
- If you have a credit card that offers frequent flyer miles, consider charging all your wedding expenses to this card. If your parents are paying for your wedding, ask them to let you charge the purchases on your card and have them reimburse you with a check or cash so you can build up miles to put towards your honeymoon.
- Register for a honeymoon. In lieu of gifts, ask for a honeymoon. Set up a fund at a bank or make arrangements with a travel agent to accept payments from gift givers. Let your guests know how they can contribute to your honeymoon via word of mouth or email. Have members of your wedding party spread the word to your guests. You can still have a gift registry, just have it be for items needed for your honeymoon like luggage.
- Let service providers know you are on your honeymoon. Mentioning this can bring you bottles of champagne to your table in restaurants, upgrades on flights, hotel room upgrades, etc. These acts of kindness are more likely to happen in locations where honeymooners are not their normal clientele.
- Participate in on-line auctions to purchase airline tickets and hotel accommodations. Check online travel sites also. They may be able to get you a deal if you get everything from them like your flight, rental car and hotel.
- Consider honeymooning at an all-inclusive resort. An all-inclusive resort provides lodging, activities, meals and much more all rolled into one price. It is much cheaper than purchasing each individual component.
- Book a room that includes a kitchen. When traveling, you will spend a lot of money eating in restaurants. If you book a room with kitchen facilities, you can purchase food and drink from local markets and save on restaurant fees.
