Planning the Getaway
With all the stress and planning that goes into a wedding, most couples look forward to time away after the big day. A lot of what you’ll do depends on where you go and how much time you have. When planning your honeymoon make sure to consider those two very important elements to make the most out of your getaway.
Seven days is the typical length of most honeymoons today, says Scott Ellingboe, chief executive officer of The Honeymoon, an online honeymoon registry based out of Minneapolis, Minn. “People are still working and can’t afford to take too many days off,” Ellingboe says.
But if you have more time use it, Ellingboe says, especially for European honeymoons. “If you’re going to Europe you need to take 12 days because you’ll need at least two to three days just for traveling.”
Cost and time of year are two other big factors to consider with any honeymoon. Couples need to ask themselves, “What’s our priority? Is it length or quality?” If you’re on a budget, five days at a five star resort is just as good as eight days at a less swanky hotel.
For these four to five day “mini-moons”, most couples keep the trips domestic, but splurge on the accommodations. “Couples are living large in four or five days,” Ellingboe says. “They book nicer hotels—everything is a little bit higher class. For those few days, they want everything to be top shelf.”
Couples should also take into account what they want to achieve, says Joann Delgin, chief romance office at Sandals Resorts. “Couples should consider if they can accomplish everything, including the tours and amenities of the islands,” Delgin says. “They may want to enjoy the culture of the island itself.”
In this economy, couples are not skimping on everything a honeymoon has to offer. “Honeymoons are only about the couple,” Ellingboe says. “People are entitled to be selfish on this particular element of the nuptial process. There’s a sense of ‘this is a once in a lifetime vacation, I’m not going to let the economy ruin it.’”
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