- Blog
- Bios
- Boards
- Classifieds
- DIY
- Gallery
- Vendor Reviews
- Shop Weddingbee
Weddingbee boards
NZ is amazing and I can say with full certainty that it is far and away the most beautiful country I have ever been to (and that's saying A LOT)! However, with that being said, there's really no point to going to NZ for only 4 days. It's a very long journey and it is an unbelievable country - I think you will seriously regret not having more time there and it may taint your whole wedding experience. If you can't afford to go for a longer time now, I would shelve New Zealand and save up for a time when you can do it properly.
A week in Europe would probably be a better option - you get to spend more time together and will actually have a bit of time to appreciate your time together.
For me personally, before I'd even read your post, my initial reaction was HONEYMOON! The wedding day goes by so quickly but to spend some quality time with your new husband, soaking in everything that's just happened is such a worthwhile endeavour.
Like I said, New Zealand is amazing but to do that long of a trip for such a short time would be incredibly draining and I really think you would be quite sad about having to leave so soon and not being able to explore more of the country. It's just not practical for a long weekend IMO.
I agree with Ree723. New Zealand for four days will leave you disappointed. You'll spend too much of the time exhausted from travel and have too little time to really feel like you are there and experiencing how beautiful it is. Pick one or two places in Europe if you are going for a week and you'll get a much better feeling of having "been there" and made memories.
@Ree723: I diagree that spending four days in NZ would taint my wedding experience (my wedding is one day- why would spending four days in NZ have anything to do with it?). If we went to NZ it would be for the wedding experience, not seeing the country. If we went to NZ we'd go back on our one year anniversary to properly see the place.
We'd spend the four days relaxing in NZ, it's not like we'd be trying to see the country AND have our wedding. We'd maybe go to a spa and go on a horseback ride, but we definitely wouldn't be trying to do both. That would be too exhausting.
If I'm just answering the basic question: I'd rather have the honeymoon!
Also, I agree with PPs about NZ. That's more than a 4-day trip, IMO. I'd rather do Europe and get to see more.
Basing this only on how you responded to other people's opinions, i think you've already made your decision on what you think will have the most meaning.
@Jinxstar, auggiefrog, AmeliaBedelia: Thank you for letting me know what you would choose!
@Iluvmydog: I haven't made my decision yet, I just wanted people to know that if we went to NZ we wouldn't be trying to experience the country there and have a wedding in four days because I think that would be too much. We'd just relax and take in the scenery (and maybe do an activity or two).
@FutureMrsHoneybee: I only meant that you lose two days getting there (you leave on a Wednesday, arrive on Friday etc). Then you're jet lagged. You run off and get married, spend a day or two relaxing and then jump back on a plane for 14 hours and have massive jet lag to overcome. It would be completely and utterly exhausting. It sounds like you have a romanticized notion of a NZ wedding right now and I would hate for your dreams to be dashed because you didn't have a realistic expectation of what it was like.
If you just want to go for the wedding and to relax at a spa for a couple of nights, there are a LOT of other places where you could do that much easier and for a cheaper price.... especially as you said you're considering going back to NZ for your anniversary.
I've been to Mt Cook where you want to get married and it is truly gorgeous, but it's not easy to get to from Christchurch (assuming that's where you'd fly in as that's the nearest international airport), so factor in additional travel times and costs to get to Mt Cook. It is a beautiful mountain village - but you could get a very similar experience in the Rockies, or British Columbia, Canada. You don't need to fly halfway across the world for a couple of days to get married on a mountain that looks very similar to lots of other beautiful mountain towns (no offense to the Kiwis out there!), especially as you only want to spend a couple of nights in a spa and going on some horseback rides whilst there. You could have that experience anywhere.... it just doesn't make sense to me to fly all that way and not take the time to see the country, especially when it's a country with as many amazing sites as NZ.
[deleted]
ETA: I deleted the last part of my post as I don't want to put a negative spin on whatever you decide to do. Good luck whichever you decide!
Honeymoon! Both for my own personal answer and as an answer to your question. If you're from the States, you are going to be so so jet-lagged and exhausted to fully experience your wedding day. It does look beautiful though...maybe a 5 or 10 year renewal ceremony? :)
I'm surprised so many people said your honeymoon...I'm the completely opposite! You will have other vacations, but this is your one and only wedding! I'd rather put the money into that and make your next vacation a super nice one =)
@Ree723: That gave me some things to think about. Thank you.
@sadiefrost: Thanks! I don't think a vow renewal would be the same (feeling-wise). It would still be nice and romantic though!
@courtney1188: That's how I feel about it sometimes too. I mean, you only get to get married to him ONCE. You will hopefully get to take more vacations as a married couple. That's what's bothering me.. I don't want to have an exhausting wedding experience, but at the same time, if I don't do it, then we will never get to have the memories of getting married on a mountaintop together. I'm feeling so confused. :(
@FutureMrsHoneybee: What about having a mountaintop wedding in Erupe followed by your honeymoon, since you'd already be there? Is that an option?
@Wonderstruck: I agree.
OP, You only get married once, whereas you will have many opportunities for a vacation anywhere in the world. I would make your marriage experience what you really want it to be. There will be opportunities for you to go to Europe in the future, but, if the wedding of your dreams is in NZ, then I think you should have what you really want.
I'll say something to you that I always say to brides who are torn between two wedding gowns: Clearly, you like both of these options very much, so you could live WITH either one of these choices. What REALLY matters is, however, is which choice will you be truly upset to have to live WITHOUT? Which experience, if you do NOT choose it, will drive you crazy and "haunt" you that you didn't go for it? Once you answer that question, you'll have your answer as to what you should do! :)
@courtney1188: I still haven't found any mountain-top wedding options that I like in Europe. :( That would be an option if only I could find a company in Europe that performs weddings on mountain-tops. I've seen a couple weddings in Europe that are in the mountains, but none of them are actually on TOP of them the way that I want it to be.
without a doubt in my opinion, the wedding is more important than the honey moon. I would rather have my dream wedding. I feel like ANY destination you travel to with your hunny would be amazzziiinnnng and you could take an amazing honeymoon vacay every year ya know?? You cant have a big dream wedding more than once ;) Realistically. Lol i dont know. My personal thoughts :)
@Brielle: :) Thank you so much for that. I will make sure to ask myself that in upcoming decisions, lol!
The wedding does take priority over the honeymoon for me. BUT, if everyone is sitting here telling me that the experience won't be worth it because we'll be too jet lagged to fully enjoy it, I can't argue with that because I've never been on a long flight (neither has FI) so we don't know how we will feel. It's very confusing and disheartening because we've been on four day trips before and we LOVED it, but we didn't have to deal with jet lag so I just don't know what to do. :(
Wow I haven't done either yet. I have however done plenty of long haul flights. The advice you are getting is correct-- it can be a huge adjustment. If you've never done it before you won't know how it will affect you. And if it were me and my time period were so limited I wouldn't risk it for my wedding day.
Just a few personal examples, I went to Australia and was fine during the trip, but on the return to the east coast, it took me a week to get fully adjusted to be awake during normal hours and if I had to head immediately back to work I wouldn't have made it. My bf and I took a trip to hawaii and couldn't stay awake past 6 the first half of the trip. (imagine the damper that put on the romance). That's not to say that you couldn't try to minimize the effects. on my last 24 hour flight to Africa, I took pains while traveling to try to adjust to the times I was headed towards by only sleeping during their night hours, but that meant some times when i was awfully tired and not at my sweetest for my honey. I guess if it were me, I would just want to feel my best on my wedding day and knowing that travel on a tight timeframe might screw that up I wouldn't risk it.
I think the Europe trip is certainly more manageable and there are plenty of amazing spots to get married there. If you want to keep the mountain theme, have you considered switzerland? I haven't been there personally but I hear the Black Forest in Germany is amazing. That said, its your wedding so you should do whatever makes the two of you happy. People make short trips around the world all the time. Go for it if that's what will make your wedding day.
@SeaRhapsody: Your comment was the straw that broke the camel's back if you will, lol. Thank you for helping me.
We ultimately decided that while we do want to go to Europe, it's not exactly what we want for our honeymoon. (FI still wants it to be a surprise but he mentioned things he would like.) We did a find a place. :)
If you want to know what we decided, you can read about my decision here: http://boards.weddingbee.com/topic/so-i-am-sad-to-say-that-the-new-zealand-mountain-top-elopement-is-out?replies=3#post-3213912
Thank you all. Really.
HONEYMOON!!!
Because ours was freaking awesome. We backpacked for 3 weeks through Europe. It was a dream of ours and we made it happened. Would not have traded it for the world.
And I say honeymoon vs dream wedding because yes you only get married ONCE. But at the end of the day the result is the same. You are married to your husband. It doesn't matter if you have $300 centerpieces at every table or centerpieces from the dollar tree. It does not matter if you are wearing a cocktail dress from a department store or a Vera Wang. It doesn't matter if your photographer is a student or a 5K photographer. What matters is that you are married.
But the proper $$$ for an awesome honeymoon can change the experience.
For us we were lucky enough to have both our "dream" wedding and honeymoon!
We're doing both but not without sacrifice. We're having a dream wedding (relatively) and we're delaying our dream honeymoon by a few years.
OK I read more. I have forumalated my opinion I would choose the wedding. You only get one of those, but you can have many trips to wherever should you choose to. The "newlywed" feeling is just that. If you want the lustly love feeling take yourself there mentally. So to me expericeing a trip as "newlyweds" just to feel like newlyweds isn't a reason to me. I'd rather have the best wedding EVER, and make the best trip ever (europe)- later.
I would do honeymoon!!
First of all, all the drama that came with our wedding planning was something I could DEFINITELY have done without. A small intimate wedding with just the two of us (and our dog) and maybe our parents (if they're good. ha!) was actually my dream!! In the end you two will still be married regardless of how much you spend and how many guests you had.
In my experience, the big wedding production was for the parents' and the honeymoon was what was for us. Which is why I would go with a dream honeymoon all the way! We went on our dream honeymoon and if I had to choose wedding or honeymoon, I wouldn't have given up the honeymoon for anything.
You must log in to post.
| Visit our sister sites | eHarmony Online Dating |
eHarmony Advice Dating Advice |
Project Wedding Wedding Songs |
JustMommies Pregnancy Calendar |
Create the honeymoon of your dreams.
| User | Posts Today |
|---|---|
| rachgirl82 | 39 |
| pengoala | 33 |
| MissBoPeep | 28 |
| Future Army Wife | 20 |
| Beckster329 | 19 |
| couawilou | 18 |
| Sunfire | 18 |
| KatNYC2011 | 15 |
 vorpalette |
15 |
| beargoose | 14 |
| User | Posts Today |
|---|---|
| rachgirl82 | 4 |
| loveroflove | 3 |
| slicey19 | 2 |
| KatNYC2011 | 2 |
| hergreenapples | 1 |
| carriejuly | 1 |
| knittylady | 1 |
| SutSip | 1 |
| BoiledPNut | 1 |
| relaxedabout it | 1 |
Looking back with what you know now, would you choose to have your dream wedding or your dream honeymoon if you had to choose one?
Here's my situation. My fiance can either have our dream wedding (we're eloping) or our dream honeymoon. We don't get to have both.
Here's our options:
Option 1) Get married in our dream location, on a mountaintop in New Zealand. We could stay there for four days (no, we can't make it longer). The flights would also be long (13 hours). It would be a whirlwind experience with some memories that we wouldn't be able to have again.
Here is where I would want the ceremony to be in NZ: http://www.theweddingcompany.co.nz/aoraki-mt-cook-weddings-new-zealand.html
Option 2) Have a honeymoon in Europe for one week (we'd probably elope in our local forest beforehand). We would make numerous memories together while we have that newlywed giddiness for each other.
I think both adventures would give us unforgettable memories. I go back and forth on this because on one hand, you only get married once, so do it the way you want. But, at the same token, we will only have that just married feeling once, so I'd like to spend more time being alone in another country and having that feeling together.
I am assuming that since you guys are married you have a better insight to what matters most. Can you let me in on your wisdom please? :) Which would you choose? (FI isn't sure what he wants to do either).