Wedding Advice: Spend Less on the Wedding and More on the Honeymoon

What can I say, I have weddings on the brain these days. I had so much fun shopping for wedding dresses for a friend of mine that I seriously considered researching the bridal boutique business. I don’t want to own a store right now, but I could definitely imagine working in that line of business later in life, maybe after I retire.

I’ve been married for five years now and if I were to provide one piece of wedding planning advice to future brides it’s this; spend less money on your wedding in order to enjoy a bigger, better honeymoon. In my humble opinion weddings flash by in the blink of an eye. You plan and plan for days, weeks and months on end for this one perfect day and then in six to eight hours the whole show is over.

While the wedding is an amazing occasion it goes by so fast that it hardly seems worth the expensive bill. On the other hand a honeymoon gives you and your husband the opportunity to celebrate your new marriage. It’s one time in your life where you may want to drink champagne, eat chocolate covered strawberries and lounge on the beaches of some exotic location.

Whatever the destination, I think it’s extremely important to celebrate your marriage. Of course, you should save up for this expense just like any other and if you can’t afford to go far away or order champagne, then you’ll have to figure out other ways to celebrate your new union.

My husband and I budgeted very carefully for a wedding and honeymoon and as I planned the big day I cut back one item after another in order to ensure we could experience the honeymoon we wanted. We were both in good financial standing at the time, which certainly helped us attain our goal.

The morning after we celebrated our wedding we boarded a plane for Hawaii. Looking back on the occasion I can’t imagine the wedding without the honeymoon. While I commend those couples who wish to delay their honeymoon in order to save for it, I would still suggest finding ways to cut back on the actual wedding in order to enjoy a longer, more decadent honeymoon if possible.

2 thoughts on “Wedding Advice: Spend Less on the Wedding and More on the Honeymoon”

  1. Ho hum. I've been married for 3 years and we planned a BIG wedding (we wanted to elope, both sets of parents said no). So, pretty much, we all paid for it. My parents paid for the hall and my dress and accessories, his parents paid for the rehearsal, flowers, DJ and a few other things and we paid for the rest.
    We planned a week trip to Aruba 2 days after the wedding. The wedding itself was great, went by quickly. On the plane to Aruba, I flipped out, and my husband took me off the plane before take off….I must have acquired a fear of flying (I flew all the time when I was younger). so we went to Atlantic City (an hour drive from home). We got all our money back from the honeymoon and relaxed in AC…granted it wasn't on a tropical island or anything, but we made the best of it šŸ™‚

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  2. @spaghetti0625 – I completely agree that a honeymoon doesn't have to cost a lot of money. I know a couple that got in their car and camped for a couple of weeks to celebrate their marriage. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that!

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