The 6 Biggest Mistakes Honeymooners Make

Your honeymoon will be great because you’ll be far away from wedding stress with your shiny new husband.

By Meredith Bodgas

Choosing a Site-Seeing Destination When You Just Want to Relax

A friend and her hubby traipsed around Europe for their honeymoon…until the bride collapsed into a puddle of tears on an Italian sidewalk halfway through the vacation. Why? Going from landmark to landmark on a schedule in a foreign city where you don’t speak the language can be stressful. Even if sitting on a beach doing nothing sounds just as stressful to you, bake some downtime into your honeymoon itinerary. On that friend’s advice, Paul and I saved Italy for our one-year wedding anniversary.


Booking an All-Inclusive Hotel in a Destination Known for Great Food

Another friend went with her honey to Aruba and stayed at what may be the sole all-inclusive hotel on the island. She wound up venturing outside of the resort one night to sample the local fare and was blown away. She regretted taking the hotel’s meal plan because their food wasn’t as good as the unaffiliated restaurants there.


Cheaping Out on the Flights

Flying first-class just isn’t an option for many honeymooners (it wasn’t for me!), but you shouldn’t feel like you’re roughing it for this celebratory vacation. A friend had a harrowing experience on a discount airline (I’m talking a rung or two below JetBlue) during her honeymoon, and she was shaken up for the rest of the trip. Another honeymooner I know chose to save some dough by taking flights with multiple connections. Sure enough, that bride and groom missed their last flight and lost a day of their honeymoon, chilling in an airport.



Cheaping Out on the Hotel Room

Sure, in site-seeing locales you won’t spend all that much time in your room. Everywhere else though, a nice room is worth a little splurge. No, you don’t need the honeymoon suite (what would you do with the extra room anyway? Wait, don’t answer that), but you do need enough space for your luggage and a comfy bed. Ambiance couldn’t hurt, either. After all, you will be having lots of sex on this vacation, won’t you?


Taking Too Little or Too Much Time Off

Yes, there really is such a thing as a too-long honeymoon, especially in a destination where there isn’t much to do. And of course, spending just a few days in a locale that took you a couple days to fly to isn’t worth your time or money.


Leaving Too Soon After the Wedding

There is something very romantic about exiting your wedding reception and piling into a limo that whisks you off to an airport. It’s also a bit unnerving because there are so many details to work out (stowing your luggage and passport in a safe place, assigning someone to take all of your wedding presents home, finding a place in the airport to change out of your wedding attire). Plus, you will be exhausted after your own wedding, not wanting to think about catching a flight. Paul and I left two days after our wedding, which still didn’t seem like enough time to decompress, open gifts, and pack for our trip.