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Stick names of all the places you want to go to in a hat and draw!!
What would the cost difference be?
Well, depending on where we would end up going for a more expensive vacation, we'd probably save at least $2K, probably more, by going a less expensive route. Of course I totally just pulled those numbers out of nowhere.
Have you looked on www.europeandestinations.com for Italy? We are going to Mexico (from NYC too) and it was VERY economical, we are renting a private villa (from www.vrbo.com) which worked out great price wise and privacy for the honeymoon!
I feel like every day I change my mind about the location, too. Another thing is that I've traveled more than my FI has so while ideally I would like to go someplace I've never been, there are so many great places that I have been that I want to go with him.
I'm not recommending one over the other, but we had similar concerns as you when making this decision - we had just bought a house, paid for our wedding ourselves, and moved halfway across the country.
We thought it would be more resposible to use the money for practical things like the mortgage, etc., but ultimately decided to have an awesome honeymoon that we'll remember forever. We had never spent that much time before completely by ourselves, away from everyone and everything and just exploring and living. We don't expect to be able to take that much time and go all out ever again, and we both agreed when we got home that it was soooo worth it.
That said, not sure how you'll feel about this but we also had a honeymoon registry that went over really well with our guests - a large number of them gave us honeymoon gifts so it didn't hurt our bank account nearly as much. This could be an option for you, depending on how you feel about honeymoon registries.
We ended up going on the more expensive honeymoon. We can justify this because we feel this was going to be one of the only times that we can take that length of time off. Our other honeymoon ideas were great, but we felt as if that we can always go to those places for anniversarys. Hope that helps.
BTW we went to Santorini and Athens and sooo do not regret going. We really enjoyed ourselves.
@reealeastcoaster - where did you two end up going (if you don't mind me asking)?
I have a Honeyfund registry which is sitting there waiting for me to make a decision and put stuff on it....
I agree, when will you have a chance like this again! Are you saving up for anything special or just want to start saving? I vote go big on the honeymoon.
We used Honeyfund too 
We spent a week touring New Brunswick (the province we live in) because I hadn't really seen much of it before, and because I was MOH in my best friend's wedding the weekend after ours in Nova Scotia.
After her wedding, we flew to Barcelona, spent 2 days there, then took a Mediterranean cruise with stops in Villefranche (Nice/Cannes/Monaco), Livorno (Florence/Pisa), Civitavecchia (Rome), Mykonos, Kusadasi (Ephesus), Santorini, Athens, and Naples. We got off the ship in Naples and spent the rest of our honeymoon in Italy - 2 days on Capri, 4 days on the Amalfi Coast, and 2 days in Rome.
We didn't put the cost of the entire honeymoon on our honeyfund-we felt too embarrassed to do that. We also sent postcards to people who had bought us experiences in the places we visited, and are making a blurb book now with our favourite pictures. Everyone who contributed to the honeymoon keeps asking to see them, even though the trip was months ago now. That book will be making the rounds at Christmas!
We'll never take a trip like that again for sure, but I am so glad that we did it for our honeymoon. Neither of us had ever travelled outside of North America before, and we feel like we're different people after this experience - I'm definitely more easygoing!
@Kittyachi: We're in the same boat. We just can't freakin' decide. There's a whole bunch of options on the table right now. It's becoming more frustrating than anything!
@hotchild - I know, right? It's a good kind of frustrated to be, though.
Wow, I was really expecting a lot more "save the money" type responses. Maybe it's time to add a poll...
We totally wanted to do something really different and go to Buenas Aires, Argentina. Then we looked up how much plane tickets would cost at the time we're going (right after the holidays). $2500 for ONE ticket. We wanted to spend that much total! So we are going on a cruise, instead.
Part of me is disappointed that we don't get the big glorious honeymoon, but at the same time, we don't plan on having kids anytime soon, and we just bought a house. I made him promise me we would do a big trip like that before we had kids. So that's our plan.
@otb: We're doing something similar! Our passport issues and $$ have influenced our decision. We're doing Caribbean/Central America and then saving like hell for a big vacation to Africa in a few years. Fiance is dying to do Botswana and I love Africa HARD, so for us it's worth it to do the quick cheaper getaway for the honeymoon and save up for a big trip later. We obsessed about this for a long time though, it's a tough decision to make. I always worry that we won't be able to stick to it too....
We did a less expensive honeymoon, and I honestly have no regrets. We got married in NY two hours away from Vermont, so after our wedding, we rented a car and drove to a B&B and stayed there for a week. It was amazing and perfect. I found that after the wedding, I was exhausted, and while a big trip to Europe would have been wonderful, I just wanted to relax and sleep and eat! We did all those things in Vermont. We weren't pressured to do anything. We did things when we felt like it it. We ate amazing food right downstairs in the dining room, cooked by a world-class chef. We slept a lot. We sat around a lot and starred at nature. It was the perfect honeymoon.
Honestly? My opinion on honeymoons is: it's great if you can go on that dream vacation, but all the honeymoon really is, when you break it down, is spending time with your new husband. You can pretty much do that anywhere :)
This also worked for us because we've decided not to have kids anytime soon, so we know that we'll be able to take vacations for years to come. And we're happy we get to do them when we're not so emotionally and mentally drained from wedding planning.
If you're flexible on where you go look who's offering deals. You can have a once in a lifetime trip but still be somewhat reasonable with money.
I drove myself mad debating with myself about what would be best. My FI was like, "eh, whatever" so it was like me and the voices in my head trying to figure it all out. Eventually we just went with both, we splurged and didn't. I mean we decided to go somewhere where we could live it up, do all of the lavish things people wanna do on their honeymoon but its not so expensive that we'll regret spending the money. Did that make sense? Lol, its been a long day :)
I would take the once in a lifetime trip. Once you start getting the house and kids, all your "extra" money goes towards that. Yes, you can have great trips after those things, but it gets pushed to the back burner.
I really want to go to Europe because I have never been. I've traveled a lot, just not there and France and Italy are on the top of the list. BUT, I know that after the wedding, I am not going to want to spend an entire day on a plane and then chase around sight-seeing. We are opting for a chill beach vacation with snorkeling and scuba diving being the biggest activities and a whole lot of realxing beach time.
can you just go for a week in Italy? Maybe you could keep your eyes out for Honeymoon packages that way you could get a total deal and save some money for a house?
I didn't vote, but that's bc I say make a compromise. Either, you can do Italy for a shorter period of time or you can do somewhere cheaper for the full 2 weeks. Then, see which ones makes you happier!
We just came back from our honyemoon in Thailand and Cambodia and it was soooo worth it. You still have time to save. The most expensive thing is the airplane ticket. Once you are there, it is not expensive at all.
Go for it!
So not to hijack El Capataz, but I'm sure the hive would love to hear details or see a teaser pic or two. Hope you had a great wedding!
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FI and I have gone a number of different directions when talking honeymoon. Originally, we wanted to do Thailand and Cambodia but decided that was far too expensive. Then we wanted to do two weeks in Italy. That is still on the table, but I have been freaking out about money lately and I'm now thinking that it's probably more responsible for us to do a less expensive honeymoon and save for a house.
I'm torn - part of me says "when are we going to have a chance to take a vacation like this again"; the other part says "we should save every penny."
What would you do? If you would go less expensive, where would you go (we would be flying from NYC area)?