The most stressful part of the wedding! Honeymoon!

emmaaa · May 2014

So far, all of the wedding planning has been relatively easy and stress-free for us. I am an event coordinator as my job. So naturally, I like planning, I'm organized, I love checklists, I am task oriented to be meticulous to pay attention to fine details that will lead to the overall goal. So, yeah, the wedding planning has been a breeze.

However, I am going to pull my hair out over the honeymoon. FI and I are going the day after our wedding, December 28, and coming back the day before a new semester starts, January 4. We are very fortunate that my mom owns a timeshare and has given us the "points" to use for our honeymoon. So basically, we can go anywhere we want and stay for free. We have decided since it a holiday week, we will not fly because the plane tickets will be expensive and we would like to have our car to drive anyways (plus I'm terrified of flying and need a Xanax to even get on a plane). We still cannot decide! Beach in Florida? Skiing in the mountains? Historical town?

Where are/did y'all go for the honeymoon and how did you decide?

In turn, what was the hardest part in the planning process for you?

Peaseblossom55 · May 2014

We are spending 10 days in Belize. We both wanted to go somewhere neither of us had been before. We wanted a combination of beach and relaxing and activties to do and we wanted to keep the budget for the honeymoon under $20,000. It was a huge tipping point for Belize because FI has always wanted to see the Mayan ruins and we will be able to do that there.

climbingsingle · May 2014

Where do you live? Where would you be driving from? That would definitely impact where I'd choose to HM.

emmaaa · May 2014

@ClimbingBrideNY I live in central NC (think Raleigh-ish area). We love to drive places and see things as we go, so basically anything less than a 20 hour drive is doable, preferably 12-16 hours maximum.

HisGirlFriday13 · May 2014

We got married in October and took our honeymoon in April. We went to Charleston, Savannah, and Jekyll Island.

DH also doesn't like flying, which knocked out a lot of options for us.

The hardest part of planning (or at least the most stressful) was dealing with DH's effing grandmother and her demands.

FiancB · May 2014

We can't decide either and our HM is in less than 2 months. We're kind of waiting to see if he gets a job lined up. We figure if nothing else we can always wait til the last minute and just drive somewhere. We considered Hawaii (too expensive so that got ruled out quickly), Mexico (way less expensive, but still is and a fair bit of a hassle to plan), Lake Tahoe (no longer headed out that way), Vegas (super cheap!), or Florida. Right now we're kind of leaning toward Florida. His life revolves around Dave Matthews shows so we might fly out of MPLS, stop in Chicago for a couple days to see a DMB show, and then go on to Florida. Or just drive to Florida.

He'd be content just being in Chicago, and that would be fine if we really need to stick to a small budget, but I'm not sold on it because we went a couple years ago and pretty much did everything you need to do in Chicago. It was awesome, but I'd like to do something new.

climbingsingle · May 2014

Ok, got it. Here are my choices:

Hilton Head

Key West

New Orleans

emmaaa · May 2014

ClimbingBrideNY said:

Ok, got it. Here are my choices:

Hilton Head
Key West
New Orleans

We have been looking at the Keys actually! We love Hilton Head but have been there a lot so want to try something different. And I hadn't really thought about New Orleans. Great suggestions!

buddysmom80 · May 2014

I left it up to FI where he wanted to go on our honeymoon since I'm up for anything. He's never been to Jamaica, so we asked our travel agent where the best place was to go, she said Negril and that's how we figured out where we are going.

I would 100% reccomend the Keys, I love Key West, I can't wait to go back!

littlemushroom · May 2014

We are driving from central IL to Florida, and going on a 5 day cruise.

We are driving because FI is afraid of flying and plane tickets would cost as much as the cruise, which is ridiculous. We are planning on doing a roadtrip thing on our way down and stopping at fun places along the way, like in Nashville, Atlanta, and anything else we pass along the way.

We are doing a cruise because I have been on one a bunch of times and they are awesome and FI has never been on one and thinks it sounds awesome. Lots of time to relax and we get to see a bunch of different places with different activities. Plus, we both love the ocean. We chose the cruise line based on the food because we both love trying new things.

Most stressful part of planning has been choosing a photographer. I still get upset and cry when I think about that part.

SapphireCounselor · May 2014

We splurged on our Honeymoon and went to London for 10 days. It was the first time either of us had been to Europe and it was just an incredible experience...we've been married for almost a year now and still keep talking about getting back there someday. Despite the fact that we were going so far from home, actually planning the trip was really easy. I just let the AAA travel service set it up for us. They did a beautiful job.

My DH and I both love historical sites, so I would opt for that in op's original list of options, but all of them sound great. It just depends on what you and your FI enjoy doing most.

emmyg65 · May 2014

We decided to take it easy and chose a road trip to the Adirondacks and Montreal, which combined two of the things we love—outdoors and city—for not much money. We really didn't worry much about it because we didn't view the honeymoon as a once-in-a-lifetime trip. We just wanted to be together and relax. The wedding was really stressful, so we didn't plan to do much of anything on the honeymoon. It was so, so awesome.

The most stressful part of planning was hosting the wedding in my in-laws' backyard. It added a lot of worry about weather and guest behavior. It was worth it, but it was a pain in the ass.

SmileDamnit · May 2014

I so love reading about everyone's honeymoons. We're not planning to take one right away, so y'all give me so many ideas when it comes time to planning.

I agree that the Keys are nice, and New Orleans wouldn't be bad in the winter. I'm a huge fan of Nashville, too. Great music (and not just country), a couple wineries, fantastic food. And I love.love.love NYC if you're in the mood for a big city.

Most stressful part of planning for us was finding the house to rent. It's serving as both our lodging AND the ceremony site, so we wanted something with a great backyard on the best part of the lake. It was hard securing it from 1400 miles away & finding someone who would rent their property for a wedding (albeit a very small one).

theartistformerlyknownas · May 2014

We had a lot of the same criteria as peaseblossom - some relaxing, some sites to see when we got bored relaxing, some beach, some history, good food, someplace we'd never been before and would likely not have another chance to go until after future babies are grown. So we're doing 8 days in Spain. (3 nights in Barcelona, 4 in Madrid, day trip to Seville)

OP have you looked at roadtrippers.com? You can plug in your ultimate destination and see what all there is to see along the way. We did a road trip from Detroit to Naples and back last fall, planned using that site... stopped and camped at the Natural Bridge outside Lexington, KY, then through Chattanooga, TN to see Lookout Mountain, then camped and hiked in Cloudland Canyon, GA, down to Naples to visit his BM, back up with a night each in Savannah and Myrtle Beach.

SmileDamnit · May 2014

lolo883 said:

We had a lot of the same criteria as peaseblossom - some relaxing, some sites to see when we got bored relaxing, some beach, some history, good food, someplace we'd never been before and would likely not have another chance to go until after future babies are grown. So we're doing 8 days in Spain. (3 nights in Barcelona, 4 in Madrid, day trip to Seville)

OP have you looked at roadtrippers.com? You can plug in your ultimate destination and see what all there is to see along the way. We did a road trip from Detroit to Naples and back last fall, planned using that site... stopped and camped at the Natural Bridge outside Lexington, KY, then through Chattanooga, TN to see Lookout Mountain, then camped and hiked in Cloudland Canyon, GA, down to Naples to visit his BM, back up with a night each in Savannah and Myrtle Beach.

Second Roadtrippers - we used it during our trip from CO to MT & found some really fun site.

And I so loved the Natural Bridge area when we visited that a few years agao. Did you, by chance, stop by the freaky weird haunted house/dinosaur "museum" when you were there? Hands down, the strangest place I'd ever been before.

jenna8984 · May 2014

@sapphirecounselor My mom is an agent for AAA. They are awesome! Whenever she books anything for me it's got the transfers and tours booked right with it in one easy little folder with paperwork, confirmation numbers, emergency contact numbers and everything. So easy!!

emmaaa · May 2014

@Lolo883 I haven't heard of that site. That'd be a really good tool to use travelling to and from our destination. Thanks for the heads up!

We would LOVE to go somewhere tropical or in Europe (which I would totally get over being afraid for), but we just can't afford it right now. Which is why we are SO lucky that we can use the timeshare.

The other issue is finding a place that has our "week" available. None in the Keys or New Orleans right now...

SapphireCounselor · May 2014

jenna8984 said:
@sapphirecounselor My mom is an agent for AAA. They are awesome! Whenever she books anything for me it's got the transfers and tours booked right with it in one easy little folder with paperwork, confirmation numbers, emergency contact numbers and everything. So easy!!

Awesome! I have been a AAA member since I started driving at 16. I love them. Lol, they have rescued me from the side of the road many times (at least once a year) and planned my favorite trips! They make it so convinient to travel. Tell your mom she does good work.

artbyallie · May 2014

We are in NC as well (a bit further west) and also used timeshare points from my folks. We did three days in Williamsburg, VA and three in Gordonsville. We splurged on good food and fun activities since we only paid for one night of lodging in Greensboro the night of the wedding. We're nerds, though, so our honeymoon consisted of Colonial Williamsburg, Busch Gardens, the Museum of the Confederacy (in Richmond), H's first horseback riding experience, and Thomas Jefferson's Monticello.

emmaaa · May 2014

artbyallie said:

We are in NC as well (a bit further west) and also used timeshare points from my folks. We did three days in Williamsburg, VA and three in Gordonsville. We splurged on good food and fun activities since we only paid for one night of lodging in Greensboro the night of the wedding. We're nerds, though, so our honeymoon consisted of Colonial Williamsburg, Busch Gardens, the Museum of the Confederacy (in Richmond), H's first horseback riding experience, and Thomas Jefferson's Monticello.

SIB***
@artbyallie We are about an hour west of Raleigh and an hour east of Greensboro. We are planning to splurge some on food, activities, and bar fun since we aren't having to pay for lodging st all. It's a good trade off for me!

ETF spelling

Dignity100 · May 2014

We're getting married @ Disney World and we're staying there for our honeymoon. FI doesn't get a whole lot of PTO time and I have too many animals that need cared for, so we will leave on a Sunday, get married on a Tuesday, come back home on a Saturday.

The most stressful part of the honeymoon is I wish we had more time. The other thing is, we will get Annual passes to Disney World (which is amazing) but we (maybe just I) feel that because I have that annual pass I will want to use it, so all vacations in 2015 will be Disney ones.

LadyMillil · May 2014

We've been married for a month and still trying to figure out what to do for our honeymoon. Like a lot of PP we want a part relaxing, part visiting new places honeymoon. We have narrowed it down to 3 options and should really see a travel agent to figure out pricing. Our options are cruise to Hawaii, all-inclusive resort in Costa Rica, or transatlantic cruise following the Viking route (Iceland, Greenland, Newfoundland).

mschristie123 · May 2014

We're going to an all inclusive resort in Punta Cana for 7 days right after our wedding. We both really wanted to have downtime and time to relax and not plan *anything* during our honeymoon. He wanted relaxing/drinking/laying, and I wanted a bit more excitement, so the resort that we found is a good balance. They have different excurseion (horse back riding, snorkeling, zip lining, etc) plus all the pool time you can handle in one week.

blabla89 · May 2014

That's awesome OP! If we were getting married in the winter I'd want to go somewhere nice and warm for the HM.

FI and I don't know where we're going for the HM. I'd love to go to Europe, but we've had some unexpected major expenses that put a big dent in our budget. In theory we could save enough to make up for it, but I don't want to get my heart set on a destination and then not be able to afford it. So FI is going to make an itinerary and budget for several destinations, and we'll pick one later based on what kind of deal we find for airfare. Right now our options are:

- Italy (Rome, Florence, Venice)
- France (Paris and Nice)
- California (San Francisco, Napa Valley, Lake Tahoe, then roadtrip down to LA and San Diego)
- East Coast (a couple days in Boston or NYC, then roadtrip down the coast back to Atlanta)

Blergbot · May 2014

OP, if you're interested in staying close by at all, I can't recommend Seabrook Island more highly. My mom lives just over the border in VA, and we do a beach trip every summer, so we've done a lot of NC/SC beaches. Topsail is nice if you want to see rescued sea turtles and have quiet time, Edisto Island is just ok, but they have this awesome park called the Serpentarium, which is all reptiles (sensing a theme here?), and you can travel through Charleston on the way. But you can do Charleston and Seabrook, which is a private island and just peaceful and gorgeous. Now I want to go back!

melbelleup · May 2014

We're doing 3 days at Williamsburg, VA and 7 days at VA Beach. My dream honeymoon has always been VA Beach since I grew up going on vacation at VA Beach every yr for 10 days in the summer. I always thought it would be cool to have a hotel room along the boardwalk. So that's what we're doing. Ironically, easiest thing every to decide. Williamsburg was an add on once we realized we'd have enough money to spend the 4th of july weekend in williamsburg at busch gardens and water country usa! I'm so excited for it. We also liked the idea of VA because we're only an hour from VA Beach and an hour and half from Williamsburg. I didn't like the idea of trying to manage airplanes etc.

Hardest part for me has been flowers. We keep changing them for whatever reason. As well as silly oopsies. Like, my dress fitting I scheduled with the seamstress never got officially scheduled with the store, luckily they had a 1:30 appt. available the same day. And then the whole long distance planning... it's tough, but I can't wait to just say, we did it and we're married lol

The most stressful part of the wedding! Honeymoon!

Re: The most stressful part of the wedding! Honeymoon!

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