Given that this post is likely being published while the lovely Daisy is off on her honeymoon I thought it would be an appropriate topic.
Earlier this week I was cleaning out a closet in our home and I found the journal I kept while we were on our honeymoon five years ago. It’s funny how vivid I think my memories are of the honeymoon until I read the journal and realize how much I had forgotten. Though my husband and I were excited to get married we weren’t so focused on the wedding aspect of the marriage. We definitely wanted to have the celebration but we were not looking to spend $25,000+ dollars on our wedding. We wanted to have a good time but save the majority of our funds for the honeymoon.
Some people choose not to take a honeymoon at all, and that’s totally fine, and some postpone their honeymoon for a multitude of reasons. We opted to go on a traditional day after wedding honeymoon, which meant the funds for the honeymoon had to be paid the same time as the wedding. We needed to get creative with our savings if we were going to make it to Europe!
Honeymoon Registry
Though we didn’t do this, we have had friends who did and as a guest I loved the idea! They set up an account with their local travel agency where you could make a ‘’donation/payment’’ towards their trip and anything over and above the final trip cost was given to the couple in the form of future travel credits at the couples request. Each honeymoon registry will have different options I’m sure but I really liked the idea of contributing towards something the couple really wanted.
Cut Back on Costs
Though our wedding was a great time, we have many more memories from our honeymoon. We had a pretty frugal wedding in order to capitalize funds towards the honeymoon and I wouldn’t have done it any other way. If there’s only so much to go around, I’m telling you no one will remember what colour your wedding chairs are! Save on unnecessary costs, like chair covers, in order to afford the honeymoon you really want, you won’t regret it.
Ask for Cash
If you’re planning on postponing the honeymoon a little after the wedding, and don’t want to, or can’t, establish a honeymoon registry, let guests know you’d much rather have money as a gift to go towards said trip over a set of towels. I don’t suggest printing this detail on the invitation but if you don’t do a traditional wedding registry, guests are bound to ask around about what it is you want or need as a gift come wedding time. Let your immediate friends and family know of your desires and wishes.
Like I said, we had a great wedding, it was amazing to have our best friends and family together to celebrate the day with us but I have no regret about some of the more lavish details we chose to forgo, like chair covers. These little details added up and for less than $15,000 we had our wedding and two weeks in Europe a trip that quite literally redefined the people we are today.
Addition from Daisy: You can also travel hack at least a portion of it!
Did you take a honeymoon?
We were pretty broke when we got married. Even before my husband got laid off a month before the wedding! Anyway, both my mom and I opened a new credit card. Each one gave enough miles for a plane ticket. So she bought one in my husband’s name, and I bought one in my name. That helped a lot.
We stayed in a cheap hotel, but that didn’t work out well. So we called a friend who worked in the hotel industry. She booked a room for us, so we paid $33 a night, I think. I had done a ton of research for good deals on admission tickets. (We went to Orlando and hit theme parks.) Still not cheap, but at least we got the best prices possible. Our major expenses were souvenirs. But we’re still using all of them 6 years later. I’m pretty sure the same goes for the ones we bought as gifts.
We were more focused on the honeymoon too and left the morning after the wedding (we were pretty tired!). We opted for the fancy chair covers, but opted for many cost saving measures like fewer guest and Dairy Queen ice cream cakes.
We had our honeymoon just here in Sydney. To spend less, my wife just bought a travel coupon. More or less, we saved 50% of the cost of the tickets. More than that, we enjoyed more activities because the coupon still covered included some. It’s really worth it!