No honeymoon or delayed honeymoon?

[nicole]

I got married this September and because of lack of vacation time and money we weren't able to take a honeymoon. The plan is to take a vacation next year around our 1 year anniversary, but I don't know how likely that is.

So did anyone else not take a honeymoon? Do you regret it? Did anyone else delay their honeymoon? Did you actually take it later or did life get in the way?

[mrs_pell]

We were pretty much in the same situation. Lack of vacation time (especially since we got married in my home town and I had to take a week off prior to the wedding), and lack of money. We took a mini-vacation on our 2 year anniversary, but other than that, our time off goes to visit family out of state.

Do I regret it? Ehhh...sometimes. But, not really.

[Reenie]

We took a delayed honeymoon; so delayed, in fact, that to many people, it probably wouldn't count as a honeymoon (we were married in November 2004 and honeymooned June 2006), but we do. I am glad that we did it, and I am glad that we delayed it. We looked forward to the honeymoon almost as much as we looked forward to our wedding. It was the best trip of our lives. Plus, right after the wedding, we were absolutely exhausted, and we're people who like to do things, so we were glad to go when we had energy. We delayed it because I am a teacher and I can't just take vacations during the school year, and also because DH had classes that he had to take that following summer, so we just went the next year. It was fabulous. Take the delayed honeymoon. You won't regret it; it was great fun, and it's a great thing to look forward to!

[nicole]

I'm so glad to know there are others!

mrs_pell - We kind of did a similar thing. We got married where we live now, but we had another reception a month later in my hometown and we took a week off for that plus a week off for the wedding itself.

Reenie - Do you still think it would be worth it if it were just a small vacation and not something really fabulous? We're thinking about a week at an all-inclusive in Mexico somewhere (Riviera Maya) but it's not by any means our dream vacation.

[kalogrias]

We did that, too. We were supposed to go on this amazing honeymoon to Tahiti or Fiji...and then DH forgot to book the tickets. Actually, he thought that I had done it, and I thought he had done it...anyway. We ended up going to Carmel, CA for a few days after our wedding (nothing huge for us since we drove up from San Diego), but scheduled a two-week trip to Europe a few months later. And then that turned into visiting family and friends, so we planned a trip to Singapore a few months after that -- and that became our honeymoon. It was amazing and wonderful, and I am so glad we did it that way. IMO, it was better to wait -- we got to do what we wanted, how we wanted to do it, and our mental and emotional states were WAY better than they were immediately after the wedding.

[LeslieandPaul]

We got married in August 2005 and had a couple mini-honeymoons (went to the city for 2 nights right after, Whistler for 2 nights in November, and Phuket when I visited DH in Thailand [it was free]). We took our official honeymoon in April-3 weeks in Europe. It was totally worth waiting for because we had the money, the time and we were more relaxed.

[Txfish]

Us too -- married in April 04 and vacationed for a week in Hawaii at the end of May that year. I totally agree that we were more relaxed & rested for it by waiting a little.

You betcha it's still a honeymoon!!! Have fun when you go!

[Chimichanga]

We took a delayed honeymoon by choice. I took a week off before the wedding and didn't have vacation time until Sepetember (got married in August). In October we took a week cruise. We had planned to take the delayed honeymoon.

I thought it was great! We were able to come down from the wedding hustle and bustle and "relax" at home. Then we were able to get excited about our honeymoon and have a nice relaxing time. I think if we would have left right after our wedding, we would have been too tired to enjoy the first couple of days!

Definitely take a delayed honeymoon if you can. Even if it's not your dream vacation; it will be nice to have it. :)

[blondegirl]

We got married in September 04, and we still haven't taken a honeymoon! I got pregnant before the wedding, and that threw everything off!

Our original plan was to get married in Hawaii, and stay for our honeymoon. We then found out I was pregnant, and decided to have a local wedding and then take the honeymoon after the baby was born. Needless to say, that didn't happen! I got pregnant shorty after DD was born, so the honeymoon was again put on hold. We still have a plan to go to on a Delayed Honeymoon, even if it isn't to Hawaii! My MIL is going to pay for the honeymoon, and my grandparents have a timeshare program we can use anywhere. In fact, I"m looking into places to go right now!

[Rosebud]

I know several couples who've delayed their honeymoons for one reason or another:

- One of my best friends waited a month for hers, due to a business trip she had to take.

- Friends who got married last November just left for their honeymoon two days ago-- a full year later. They wanted to take a really amazing trip (three weeks in Thailand and Cambodia) and needed to save up money and vacation days.

- A co-worker who's getting married this weekend isn't planning a honeymoon until next Spring, when the weather will be better in the destination she wants to visit.

I don't think it matters if you take the trip immediately after your wedding or not-- it'll still be special and exciting when you do take it!

[vee05]

We took a delayed honeymoon too. We got married july 05 & didnt go till December 05. It was 10 days in Las vegas/Grand Canyon & the most amazing and relaxed time ever :)

[WisWis]

We're finally getting around to planning our delayed honeymoon. We got married in Dec. 04, and we'll be "honeymooning" in July 07. It should be worth the wait, I'm hoping! DH was in the Army (and Iraq) when we got married, and as soon as he came home we bought a fixer-upper house ($$) and he went back to school ($$). We're finally to the point where we have the extra cash to go somewhere different. We're planning to spend about two weeks in the northwest exploring some of the national parks. Not everyone would find it exciting, but we're really looking forward to it!

[maniach]

We got married this past June and honeymooned in October. We had to settle on where we wanted to go and what we wanted to do because we were on a fairly tight budget. We went on a cruise to the western Caribbean which was fun, but also kind of long. I would definitely have preferred STAYING somewhere as the best part of the cruise was the day trips.

DH and I had been together 8.5 years when we got married and other than the occasional weekend away had NEVER been on vacation. Because of that, it was VERY important for us to take a vacation, even if it wasn't the perfect honeymoon.

I think it's important to look at it as what you can afford (both monetarily and in time off work) and what your lifestyle is usually like. If you are often vacationing in Mexico, than that probably wouldn't make a spectacular honeymoon, but if you've never been and your vacations generally don't have you leaving the state, it might be just what you need!

[cocoa_femme]

We had a delayed honeymoon. We were married in October and honeymooned in December - because my parents had a timeshare for then.

[Weddings by]

Do you still think it would be worth it if it were just a small vacation and not something really fabulous?

Hi, Nicole! Pre-WC, I hadn't heard of people going anywhere special for their honeymoon. I knew people did, but not any regular people whom I knew. I had one friend go to Mexico, but their family has a time share there, so it was inexpensive, plus, living on the west coast made it fairly close. We went to the beach for a few days, couldn't afford more. To us, the important thing was to have some time together to just enjoy each other's company. We hardly ever went outside, anyway. If we had been somewhere faboo, we would've felt that we had to experience the location rather than just lounge around.

Sorry that I can't answer your original questions.

[Kristy]

We didn't go on a honeymoon. It basically came down to both of our employers complaining we were taking too much time off for the wedding, so we just didn't go on one. We went to Cancun for our 2 year anniversary, so we counted that as our bleated HM.

Do I regret it? A little. It seemed like the wedding was a whirlwind and before I knew it, we were thrown back into regular life again, so it would have been nice to have had a few days by ourselves to relax.

[PinkMartini]

We got married in June of this year and still haven't had a 'honeymoon' :(

I was working when we got married (with no more time off than I took for the wedding) and 5 months pregnant so we decided to take a honeymoon after we had the baby (3 weeks ago)... We got married on a Friday and we were back to work on Monday....

Haven't really talked about it for a few months - but I doubt we'll ever go on a 'real honeymoon' at this point. We'll have the baby with us whenever we travel from this point on. It does make me sad, as we didn't have any of the things that really go along with weddings (I didn't have a bridal shower/neither of us had any type of bachelor/bachelorette parties/we didn't even have a reception) so I was really hoping for a honeymoon.... :(

[Amuse Bouche]

We got married in March and took a two week honeymoon trip to London and Scotland the following August. Part of that was due to weather (most of the places we wanted to go aren't super nice in March) but most of it was due to timing -- I was in school and didn't have time to take off until August after I had graduated and taken the bar exam. It was a bit of a letdown to come back from the wedding to normal life, so we took a spontaneous weekend trip a few weeks after the wedding as a mini-moon. After that I'd highly recommend a delayed honeymoon because we really had time to plan it and anticipate it separately from the wedding.

[kithara]

DH and I were married in June and we haven't had a honeymoon yet. And I regret it. I feel kinda feel like we missed out and we might never get around to having a nice honeymoon. But we are planning to do one eventually - whenever DH has a break from school and has his travel papers - AND when I have enough vacation - AND when we don't have to visit one family or the other. It just seems impossible sometime, but it's very important to me.

In the entire time we have known each other, DH and I have only had one non-family related vacation together and it was for one weekend. We really need a honeymoon!

[tinkerbelljenny]

We got married in 2002 and never took a honeymoon. Dh had to work and I got pregnant right after the wedding so we didn't go anywhere. I would love to eventually take one even if it is for our 10th anniversary!

[akacharlotte]

Ours is sort of delayed. Our wedding is 04/21/07 and we leave for our honeymoon on 05/06/07. I'm perfectly happy with our decision. It was partly monetary. The rates go down May 1 so we saved a bit of money.

[MelodySoul]

We got married last September and still haven't been on a honeymoon. We didn't even get a weekend away. We hope to take one sometime in the next year.

[NYCBella]

Our wedding was 10/13/07 and we will be HMing 2/16/08.

Since I'm a teacher I couldn't take time off in the middle of the school year. We knew if we had a fall wedding there would be no HM right away & we ok with that decision. My only other date options to have a HM right away was to have a summer wedding or a wedding over a vacation/holiday. Neither of those were for us.

If we could do it all again, we'd have taken more time off after the wedding. We just took 2 days...

[ginastorm]

We never went on a honeymoon. We were both in grad school and getting married in a location about 4 hours away from school. We used our Spring Break to tie up any loose ends and got married the last weekend of Spring Break. We did take that first Monday off, but we were married on a Saturday & we were back in class on Tuesday. DH even graded papers as I drove back to school on Monday night!

[ivansbabe]

We also didn't go anywhere on our honeymoon other than stay a few nights in a fun boutique-y type hotel right after the wedding. We did however take 3 weeks off of work since it was around the holidays. I don't regret it because I don't know what I would've missed out on actually. We loved that time off together doing nothing or anything we wanted. A few years later we did get our big vacation, probably nicer than what we would've done for our honeymoon so it's all good.

[Renrel]

We wanted to go on an African Safari for our honeymoon, the trip of a life time type thing. We were unable to pull it all together in time so we delayed that trip by 6mths. We did however, go for week to a boutique resort in St. Lucia right a day or two after the wedding. While the trip was very nice it some how did not feel very special (other than my willingness to splurg on Spa treatments, an expensive bathing suit and an expensive camara which I probably would have felt guilty about if it were not my honeymoon). Techniquely I call that St. Lucia trip our "Honeymoon." I refer to the Africa trip (3 weeks plus and the cost of a house downpayment) as our Wedding Year Trip. That was an amazing trip that we will always remember and we have lots of reminders of it through out our home. We are also partial to animal themes ever since we took this trip.

However, the trip that felt like (and is in our hearts I think was) our honeymoon, was a trip we took to Greece during the year of our engagement. It was around 10 day if I remember and a very nice but not over the top trip. It just felt like a honeymoon. The way we as a couple were together felt extra special on that trip, including the times we were fed up with each other, which I think is also a part of the honeymoon experience.

(I am sure we sound spoiled with these three wonderful trips in a two year span, and I think we were for a few years when disposable cash was high. We also married when I was almost 40 and DH was a few years past, so we had some cash and vacation time accumulated over the years. Since being married our traveling has been minimal. We have not had a real vacation since DS was born 4 yr ago, just visiting family at their homes and a few days away here and there as a couple. We do not forsee anything more exciting than maybe a few days at Disney in the near future either.)

[rileyandfredsmom]

Like PinkMartini we haven't had a honeymoon either. We were married in Nov. 2002 and life has just gotten in the way of a honeymoon. There are a lot of days that I regret not having a honeymoon, it just seems like such a special time for people that I missed out on.

[mgmhmj]

We're getting married in 3 1/2 wks (March 8), and we're not doing a honeymoon. We're building a house, FH is in school, and to say that work is hell right now for both of us is an understatement. I'm hopefully about to change jobs, and we're paying for most of the wedding ourselves. Which means no expendable cash + no time = no honeymoon.

[Kingdono]

We also did not go on a honeymoon. I do regret this and would love to go on a fabulous trip celbrating our 5 year. I thikn I would also like to do a small ceremony to re new our vow. Due to things beyound our control I never ended up saying vow's only my DH.