Choosing WHEN to honeymoon: To travel now… or then?

Are you planning on going on your honeymoon straight after the wedding? It used to be a given that that’s how a honeymoon was done, but increasingly couples are choosing to delay their travel plans until a few weeks, or sometimes even a few months after the wedding. Why would they do that, you ask? Well, let’s take a look at the pros and cons:

Delaying the honeymoon after the wedding – PROS:

• It gives you time to relax! Be under no illusions here, weddings are a BIG day and you’ll spend the entire time posing for photos and mingling with guests. You’ll love every minute of it, but by day’s end the beautiful bride’s feet will ache from those fabulous shoes and she’ll probably be wishing that stunning gown wasn’t quite so well-fitted... Going straight to the airport and dealing with queues and jetlag may be the last thing you want to do.
• Less planning. Even those with outstanding organisational skills will be rushed at the end – it’s unavoidable with so many things that need to be checked at the last minute. Then there are bridesmaids coming over to have hair and make-up done, relatives milling around your home, pre-wedding photos… do you really want to try and organise your packing at the same time? Do you want to be wondering where you’ve put your toothbrush on the day of your wedding?
• Getting the season right. This is a big factor in the honeymoon-delay rationale. If you’ve always wanted to go to Venice on your honeymoon, there’s no point going in winter when it’s flooded, even if that time of year is perfect weather for a wedding where you live.

Delaying the honeymoon after the wedding - CONS:

• Where’s the buzz?! After the massive high you’ll be on from your wedding, it’s not much fun to just go home afterwards like it wasn’t a life-changing day!
• A holiday, or a honeymoon? If you delay the trip by too much, you run the risk that it will feel like a “normal” trip instead of a honeymoon.

Tips for choosing when to travel if you don’t want to delay the journey

• Give yourselves a day to recover. If you’ve got a long flight ahead of you, consider staying locally for a day at a gorgeous hotel in your own city to relax and recover from the wedding before heading off to the airport.
• Can you plan the wedding date around the honeymoon? If there’s somewhere you REALLY want to go for your honeymoon and certain seasons are off-limits at that destination, try to choose a wedding date that falls in the right season for visiting.
• Let the destination suit the season. Be ruthless! If the seasons really don’t match up for the wedding and honeymoon destination and you don’t want to move the wedding or delay the trip, then go somewhere else instead! You’ll thank us for this tough love approach one day!
• Plan to take it easy when you get there. It’s a good idea to schedule those easy-going gifts like massages and theatre tickets for the first day or two of your honeymoon to give you a chance to wind-down, and leave the horse-back riding and scuba-diving for later on.

A few ideas to think about, anyway. Happy planning!

From Michelangelo to the Minotaur: Stepping back in time in Italy and Greece

Planning your honeymoon registry? Wish you could get some tips from others who’ve done the same? We’ve spoken to a few couples who used Our Honeymoon Registry and they’ve shared some ideas and experiences from their trips.

Bartek and Claire

Where did you go for your honeymoon?

Italy and Greece

Which honeymoon registry gift ideas worked really well on your trip?

A colleague from work gave us a gift of a gondola ride in Venice, which we loved! Also, a few family friends gave us some accommodation while we were there, which was right in the old part of town in a beautiful building with its own water-gate onto the canal. We would never have been able to justify the expense of such gorgeous accommodation if we were travelling normally, because you can stay much more cheaply out of town, so this was a great opportunity to make the trip special using the registry.

Favourite place to go there?

Santorini (Greece)

How did you decide on the gifts you put in your registry?

Honestly… my ancient history class back in high school! I’d studied all these places in Greece and Italy but had never actually stood there and looked at the real things. So I mapped out places like the Sistine chapel, the ruins at Pompeii and the palace at Knossos as my starting point. Then I spoke to friends who’ve been there before and looked at travel books to see what other things were in the area that we might want to do, and any special accommodation we could stay at.

Best food experience?

Really loved the bread and tzatziki platters in Santorini. A big part of that was eating them outdoors gazing at the setting sun over the ocean with a few drinks!

Something you wish you’d done or known when you were there?

In Rome, we learned never to buy any food if you can see the Colosseum from where you are – it’s overpriced and nasty “tourist” fare instead of authentic Roman cuisine.

Best tip for travellers in that country?

Breakfast isn’t big in Italy… in fact I’m not sure it exists. So if you’re like me and can’t step outside without having had the most important meal of the day, go exploring to find shops where you can get things like fresh bread or fruit to take back to the hotel for the next morning (these are good even if you don’t have a fridge). I discovered the gelato shop down the road served a great natural yogurt with honey, which was my go-to option.

Best tips for newlyweds who travel?

Schedule in some low energy gifts – even if you think you love energetic activities. Things like massages or theatre tickets are good for breaking up the more intense activities, because all travel has the potential to be tiring and stressful at times if it’s too full-on, and you don’t want something like that to stop you enjoying the time with your new husband/wife!

A few key items to pack for an awesome honeymoon in that country?

A few snappy outfits that don’t crush too badly and comfy flat shoes (putting those squishy inserts into the soles is a good idea) – no sneakers!! People dress impeccably well in Rome and I’d packed my usual travel wear of loose cargoes and floppy shirts. I had just a few nice outfits I could muster up, and ended up buying a few new things while I was there (I know, poor me!) because I felt like I stuck out so badly. When in Rome…

You spoke, we improved!

Over the past few months we’ve had some customers contact us to say that they felt the registry could be improved with a few extra features they felt were necessary as they set up their registries. We love customer feedback, and our goal is to have an online honeymoon registry offering not only the most beautiful registries out there, but also the site which gives you the most control over the look and functionality of your registry. So, we’ve taken the feedback on board and built those features into our product!

Here’s a little update on the new features you can use when creating your registry:

People in America like to use US dollars in their registries… people in England like to use pounds... you get the picture. Fair enough. Now you can select the currency you want to work with in your registry from a wide range of options. After all, the money is going directly into your bank account, so it makes sense to be the currency used in your country. Simply select the currency you want to work in on the “Account Information” page, as shown below.

Clearly, this function is not necessary for a standard gift option – why would you need 15 souvenir T-shirts, for example? That’s the reason why we didn’t include this option in the first place. However, a few customers have pointed out that it is useful for certain types of gifts, especially charity donations. If you nominate charity donations as a gift, there’s no reason to limit only one person to giving the gift, but you also wouldn’t want to repost the same gift option 15 times on your registry just in case that many people want to choose it.

By the same reasoning, it’s also useful if you want to give multiple people the option to contribute to a larger gift, such as flight tickets or a flight upgrade. It’s up to you, but we would suggest you let people know if they are contributing to a gift rather than giving it outright; many guests particularly like using Our Honeymoon Registry because they have given an actual gift experience rather just than donating money. That said, “contribution” gifts, so to speak, can be an easy way to add extra gift options if you’ve run out of ideas for different price ranges that you’d like to include, as you can make it whatever price you want. Mainly, it’s another option for you to use if want to – the choice is yours! To use this function, tick the box on the “Edit Gift” page, as shown below.

So there you have it: two more ways you can personalise your registry just the way you like it. Feel free to call or email if you have any queries or suggestions of your own – we love feedback!

Happy planning!

How to travel like a rock-star – because you have a travel registry, and you can!

This is a post for those who like to travel in style and maximum comfort. We know that this isn’t for everyone – a lot of people like to use their honeymoon registry gifts to have as many different experiences and adventures as possible on their travels, and pampering takes away from opportunities to explore. However, there are those whose ideal honeymoon is less about packing in the adventures and more about relaxing in five-star style, and a honeymoon registry is a perfect way to maximise the pamper-factor because it makes for great gift opportunities. Plus, putting those extra-special lux registry items in will distinguish this wonderful honeymoon from your other travel experiences, where most people exclude a lot of those things they’d have liked to do due to cost factors. So, what are our top registry gift ideas for glamming it up on your honeymoon?

• Limousine pick-up to and from the airport. Should you have to wait in line for a taxi when you’re on your honeymoon? Hell no!
• Champagne on arrival. Hit the ground running with the honeymoon celebrations.
• Fine cuisine. Wherever you are, don’t overlook the gift ideas that come from going to really good restaurants. It takes a little bit of planning and pre-booking, but it’s worth it because fine food will really add to the richness of the memories you’ll take home with you.
• Flight upgrade. Some people love this gift option, others see it as a bit impersonal. It’s all about your priorities, the price range of your gifts, and how many different activities you’d like to do when you arrive. Realistically, this may be the sort of gift that a few people need to contribute to, rather than a single gift option. It can be a great gift option if you have a long-haul flight ahead of you and you plan to laze on a resort which doesn’t have a very wide range of gift options upon arrival. The extra space and comfort on the flight will make the journey so much more comfortable and can help reduce jet-lag because you often get a much a better night’s sleep.
• Spa treatments. Perennially popular with our customers, this one’s just a great registry gift option all round. The wonderful thing about a gift registry spa treatment is you’re not breaking the bank, so you don’t have to stop at one! It’s a great chance to try some of the weird and wonderful options you’ve always wondered about but probably never prioritised. There are hot rocks, seaweed wraps, whale choruses and luminescent tanks of jellyfish out there to sooth away the stresses of modern life – so find the best options at your destination and go wild with the registry!
• Mani/pedis. Sandy beaches can be so darn destructive to those wedding-perfect fingers and toes. Or maybe you just love the foot massage that goes with it. If it’s not to the groom’s liking, you could check to see if they do foot massages as a stand-alone treatment. Alternatively, you can choose to do two totally separate gifts, one for the bride and another for the groom, to be done on that same day. This can be a good option if there are a few things one person might like to do, but not the other; for example, one might absolutely love a day playing golf, but the other can’t stand the thought of it.

Just a few options to think of if this is way you love to travel. It’s all about personalising the honeymoon to make it just perfect for the two of you. Happy planning!

Spotlight on the Amalfi Coast

The Amalfi Coast is easily one of the top romantic destinations in the world - a series of picturesque historic villages perched along the Sorrento Penninsula stretching south along the Italian coastline. Encompassing towns such as Salerno, Ravello, Amalfi, Positano, and Sorrento, the area is so beautiful and infused with the culture of Italy it’s been World Heritage listed!

Registry gift ideas for this Mediterranean idyll?

• Entry tickets and guided tours of Villas Ruffolo and Cimbrone, in Ravello, with breathtaking ocean views and romantic gardens winding around architecture dating back as far as the thirteenth century. The garden of Villa Ruffolo is also the site of the Ravello Festival, which runs throughout the year and includes orchestral and operatic performances.
• Transport hire, to wind your way along the Amalfi coast road.

• Picnic supplies for a day trip to the beach – Prosecco, cold meats, cheese and fresh bread, with Limoncello as an aperitif (or whatever else takes your fancy!).
• Guided day trip around Sorrento.

• Symphony at Oscar Niemeyer Auditorium.
• Café breakfast - local Sfogliatella Santa Rosa pastries and coffee.

• Windsurf hire in Cetara.
• Accommodation in a local farmhouse.

• Boat trip to Grotta dello Smeraldo.
• Souvenir artwork.

... and why not send thank-you notes home on traditional hand-made Amalfi paper? Happy planning!