Things You'll Need:
- Internet access
- A honeymoon destination
- Your wedding guest list
- Pencil, paper, calculator
- Confirmed travel bookings
- Travel documents
- Thank you notes
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Step 1
Discuss your honeymoon wishes with your partner. What do you each see when you close your eyes and imagine your dream honeymoon? Each of you should write down answers to these questions:
1. What are your top three dream destinations?
2. What is your ideal honeymoon environment? (i.e., tropical? adventure? cruise? mountains?)
3. How long would you like your honeymoon to last?
4. What would be your ideal accommodations? (Secluded? Villas? Large hotel with all the amenities? All-inclusive?)
5. What activities are you hoping for? (Museums, hiking, golf, water sports, sight-seeing, shopping, spas, etc?)
6. What kind of cuisine would you love to experience? (Self-prepared, hole in the wall, room service, all-inclusive, fine restaurants?)
7. What would you love to do in the evenings? (Live music/shows, clubs, long walks, stay in?)
8. When do you want to leave for your honeymoon? (right away? days, weeks or months after the wedding?)
Now compare answers and create your shared honeymoon dream! Don't worry about how much it will cost in this step, just figure out what you both really, really want! -
Step 2
Find out how much your dream honeymoon will cost. Call one or two travel agents and run your ideas by them. They should be able to give you a budget range for your trip.
Write down that number. -
Step 3
Figure out how much you can contribute as a couple to your honeymoon. How much of your current savings can you put toward your honeymoon? How much can you each save between now and then?
Write down that number, and subtract it from the number in Step 2. This is how much you'll need to raise with your honeymoon registry. -
Step 4
Estimate your honeymoon registry contributions.
a. How much are your parents likely to be able to contribute toward your honeymoon? Total them up and write down that number first.
b. Take out your wedding guest list (or make a draft of one if you haven't already). Put a check next to all the people that you think would be open to the idea of a non-traditional gift, like a honeymoon contribution (note some people will opt to buy a traditional gift). Tally up the number of gifts you're likely to get (remember you'll get one gift per couple).
c. Now multiply your number of gifts by $85. (This is the average wedding gift amount. You can adjust this number according to your knowledge of your particular wedding guests' spending habits.)
Add a. and c. above and this is an estimate of how much you might raise with your honeyfund. -
Step 5
Now compare your totals from Step 3 and 4 with the estimates you got from travel agents in step 2. Do you think you'll get enough money from your honeyfund to cover your entire trip? If it's not quite enough, you have two options:
1. Try to save more before your wedding to cover the excess cost.
2. Call the agent back and ask her what s/he can do to get you close to your dream honeymoon for the amount you can afford. -
Step 6
Plan your itinerary.
Work with your travel agent to detail day by day where you'll be staying, what you'll be eating, what activities you'll be doing and how you'll be getting from place to place. Make a big list of everything that will cost you money on your trip. -
Step 7
Book your trip. Your travel agent will need to book things in advance, like airfare, transfers, hotels and some activities. So make sure you have some money set aside to cover this upfront cost. You can reimburse yourselves later with your honeyfund money.
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Step 8
Setup your honeymoon registry.
Get a free honeymoon registry account at Honeyfund.com. Neither you nor your guests will pay any transaction fees, it's completely free. There are other services (Google "honeymoon registry") but watch out for transaction charges--that's money that could and should be used for your trip.
List all the aspects of your honeymoon on your personalized registry page. Use vivid descriptions, and break down large ticket items like airfare into giftable dollar amounts ($25-150). See www.honeyfund.com/SampleRegistries for registry item ideas. -
Step 9
Let your wedding guests know about your honeyfund! This can be done by word of mouth, an invitation insert, an email or on your wedding website. But before you decide how to notify people, check out appropriate wedding gift etiquette at www.honeyfund.com/Etiquette.
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Step 10
When you receive your gifts, be sure to keep a detailed list of who gave what. Honeyfund provides a gift tracking feature that shows who gave what, and when it was received.
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Step 11
Take the trip of your dreams! Make sure you have your travel documents, passports, and your honeyfund gift list. You can take pictures of each item or activity on your honeyfund to include with thank you notes for your gift givers. You can even mail postcard thank yous from your honeymoon!
Comments
SmartHoneymoon said
on 12/8/2008 You might not find us without the address for Smart Honeymoon, which is www.smarthoneymoon.com. Sorry! See below!
SmartHoneymoon said
on 12/8/2008 Great article! I love the specific ideas. Here are some more quick ideas for anyone setting up a honeymoon registry. The two most important factors in your guests' enjoyment and success of your registry are the etiquette with which you spread the word and the level of personalization in the registry itself.
When we started our registry service four years ago, we built the couples' ability to personalize their registry into our easy registry creation tool. But we didn't know then how important it would be to help educate our couples in the etiquette department. Since then, we've added articles and links, and pass along techniques to help spread the word when you register with us.
We see a lot of honeymoon registry sites with a focus on neither of these crucial aspects of the registry, but instead spend their time trying to sell you travel or sell their service to the couple
LondonGirl said
on 11/14/2008 Thanks for the great article, we followed your advice and booked our honeymoon using contributions made to our honeymoon registry with www.JusttheThing.co.uk. Guests gave us honeymoon treats instead of household items and it worked a treat!
bswarner said
on 10/27/2008 Thank you for mentioning the benefits of a honeymoon registry and describing the attributes behind this increasingly mainstream registry option for engaged couples.
It is great to see how popular the honeymoon registry is becoming. When Traveler's Joy (www.travelersjoy.com) first started accepting Members over four years ago, we realized there was a large number of engaged couples that were not satisfied with the diversity of the traditional wedding registry market.
We are proud to have helped thousands of couples travel to destinations they may never have considered - a great feeling for everyone at Traveler's Joy.
I encourage you to contact us with any questions about our service. Most importantly, enjoy your honeymoon!
Best Regards,
Brandon Warner
President & Co-founder
Traveler's Joy, Inc.
www.travelersjoy.com
bswarner said
on 10/27/2008 Thank you for mentioning the benefits of a honeymoon registry and describing the attributes behind this increasingly mainstream registry option for engaged couples.
It is great to see how popular the honeymoon registry is becoming. When Traveler's Joy (www.travelersjoy.com) first started accepting Members over four years ago, we realized there was a large number of engaged couples that were not satisfied with the diversity of the traditional wedding registry market. Since then, the honeymoon registry has become a mainstream option for brides and grooms and the industry has experienced significant growth.
We are proud to have helped thousands of couples travel to destinations they may never have considered - a great feeling for everyone at Traveler's Joy.
I encourage you to contact us with any questions about our service. Most importantly, enjoy your honeymoon!
Best Reg