Singaporebrides | Home & Travel
May 2012
Taking A Break After The Wedding
The passing of each day brings you closer to your wedding day, and every day closer to your wedding brings you closer to your own private after party – your honeymoon. A smile appears on your face as you imagine being whisked off on a jet plane for a romantic getaway, until you realise some levels of planning needs to happen before you get there.
Uh-oh. There’s that word again, “planning”. And you thought your honeymoon is the one thing out of your matrimonial union that doesn’t require any planning. In fact, it should be planned concurrently with your wedding. Look on the bright side: getting your honeymoon planning out of the way means you get to devote more time to your wedding. SingaporeBrides lends you a helping hand and dives straight to the heart of the matter, identifying five questions you should consider when planning your honeymoon.
Where to, Honey Bunny?
First and foremost, decide on what kind of honeymoon you’d like. He wants a beach retreat in the Maldives while you’re looking forward to Korea and Dongdaemun market. And you’re at an impasse. Regardless of what kind of honeymoon you want, ensure that you’ve talked it over with your partner and discuss the places you’d both like to go.
In the case of different travel preferences, always aim for a compromise. If your man wants to spend some quality quiet time with just the two of you and minimal distractions (read: shopping), then put Korea on hold for your next trip. Besides, it might be a good idea to spend time alone together to reconnect and prepare yourself for your new life ahead as a married couple.
When deciding your honeymoon destination, you should keep your options open and list down a few places in order of preferences. That way, when you move along the checklist, you won’t have to backtrack to the first step if your budget doesn’t fit the place you’ve picked.
Do We Have Money for This?
Once you’ve a list of places for your honeymoon, proceed to plan your budget. For some couples, deciding on the budget is the first thing they’ll do. It doesn’t matter whether you decide on your destination first, or your budget. The sequence just serves as a guide.
By now, you should be experts in drawing up budgets and setting aside money. This is where you have to decide how much you have and how much you’re willing to spend on your honeymoon. If money is not a concern, then we say, go all out on your honeymoon. But if your budget doesn’t allow that, try to get a big honeymoon with as little money as possible. You can do this by deciding if you want to spend little in a big city, or spend a small fortune just lazing on a beach somewhere.
More Research For You
Once you’ve got a budget drawn out, match it against the list of honeymoon destinations and find your match. When that is done, it’s research time. What, you didn’t think that was it for your honeymoon planning, did you? Matching a destination to your budget is only the beginning.
Researching on your honeymoon location allows you to maximise your vacation to its fullest. It ensures you are going at the right time, enables you to secure a lower-priced air-ticket and accommodation on site. Don’t forget to keep an eye out for the local weather during the month of your travel too – you don’t want to be facing torrential rain at a beach resort, or get snowed in in New York city when there is so much to be done.
Doing research on alternative transport (especially if you’re travelling around Europe), accommodation, food, entertainment and tipping will enable you to maximise your budget and make the best out of your vacation.
Lastly, visit websites such as TripAdvisor to learn what other travellers or couples say about a particular destination or hotel. Don’t be lured by or rely on fanciful or romantic photos on the Internet. Listen to what others before you have to say about the place before making a decision.
Home Is Where The Heart Is
Or, if you’re really tight after your wedding, or would like to avoid the hassle of packing and travelling to another country for your honeymoon, why not consider having it in the country you’re in? Go for a short staycation or sign yourselves up to a spa retreat and splurge on luxuries such as opting for a honeymoon suite in a local hotel, as opposed to a budget hotel in Rome, or indulge in fine dining rather than eating out at delis.
Alternatively, you can literally stay at home for your honeymoon. It’s a great way to settle into your new house and spend some quality time together. Even better, you can splurge more on yourselves and your new home. This option is also perfect for couples who cannot be away from work for long periods of time – just remember to set rules about checking text messages on your mobile phones and work e-mails. What remains is to stock up on food, wine and movies, and you’re set.
A poll SingaporeBrides did recently on Facebook revealed that Paris, Maldives and Switzerland were the top three most popular honeymoon destinations among Singaporean couples respectively. And who could deny the allure of Paris, the city of lovers, the crystal-clear blue-green waters of Maldives and the pristine white snow of the Alps in Switzerland? Or, if you’re feeling adventurous and want to be different, check out these spectacularly uncommon honeymoon destinations for inspiration.
One of the top most common honeymoon mistakes of all time is not planning the honeymoon early enough. So, regardless of where you’ve chosen to spend your honeymoon, always kick-start your planning early. To make the journey towards your honeymoon even more fuss-free for you, we’ve created a honeymoon packing list to help you pack so you don’t leave anything behind. Tick off the list as you pack, and once you’re done, you’re good to go.
Download the Honeymoon Packing List PDF here.
All content from this article, including images, cannot be reproduced without credits or written permission from SingaporeBrides.
Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Telegram for the latest article and promotion updates!