Wedding Blog
Even before we knew any of the details about our wedding, our thoughts turned to the honeymoon.
This would the first real chance we have had to travel someplace for an extended period of time. Only one problem- the whole world is before us, and where should we go? We only had a couple of requirements:
-a country neither one of us have been before
-ability to stay in smaller, boutique type places
-good food/wine
-city and beach/pool/lazing around time
-if possible, private outdoor swim area
We figured that after the wedding, we would want to spend about a week relaxing and hanging out. We would then follow that up with a week of exploring some fascinating city. We also knew that we didn’t want to rent a villa, as we wanted the amenities of a hotel- like clean towels every day.
So we scanned the globe, looking for possible destinations.
What criteria did you have in choosing your honeymoon location?
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Share this post: Oh The Places We’ll Go, Part 1
I don’t think we had criteria. I found a really sweet organic cooking school in Tuscany associated with the Slow Food movement that puts you in an apartment for the week and has a pretty relaxed itinerary. So we are building our honeymoon around cooking school for a week in the Italian countryside.
our first criteria was somewhere we’ve never been before. the 2nd being we want a mix of relaxation and adventure.
1. Someplace we could afford…hehehehe.
2. No planes. I don’t like to fly and there was no way I was going to sit in a cramped chair for hours waiting for our honeymoon to officially start. Did I mention I don’t like to fly?
A perk would be if we could visit it in the future and relive our honeymoon moments without feeling like it was a one-time thing.
We took a nice long relaxing week and a half drive down the Oregon Coast. It was beautiful and fit all three of our requirements.
How about Belize? I had the same criteria, and Belize was a perfect fit!
Ko Samui, a resort island in Thailand might be a good fit for you. We went there on our honeymoon (along with Bangkok, Tokyo, and Kyoto and that was our favorite part). Loved the snorkeling, too!
Choosing a honeymoon location turned out to be the most stressful part of our wedding planning. So much so - we almost threw in the towel. We’d think we found the perfect place - then something would turn us off.
#1 - Flight - Since we only had a week - I did not want to spend a whole day traveling or be stuck with a 4 hour layover.
#2 - We did not want some all inclusive place with no character of the country/town we were in. We’d heard many all-inclusives could feel like you were anywhere.
#3 - We knew we wanted to be close to the ocean - Caribbeanish. (No South Pacific for us - didn’t meet the flight reqmt)
#4 - We knew we wanted a place with lots of adventure to keep us occupied. No sitting around for us! (Ok except maybe our morning coffee in a hammock listening to the waves!)
#5 - We wanted somewhere off the beaten path. (Not St Lucia, Not Bahamas, Not Jamaica)
#5 - We were looking for a quaint place (not too many rooms/guests) that would serve us breakfast, but give us the freedom to explore a local town for supper every night. We really wanted to experience the local culture.
We stayed at a great little B&B on the beach in Playa Langosta Tamarindo Costa Rica - LOVED IT!
No criteria, I just know I want to go to Bora Bora!
We’ll see if I’ll actually have money for that when the time comes though…Your requirements sound pretty good to me! Except I don’t mind if I’d stay in a large hotel (anything that’s nice is fine with me!) and I think I’d like my vacation to be a little more on the adventurous/activity side, although I’m sure the S.O. would disagree!
GREECE, my husband had been before so that was his #1 choice..and off we went. we went to athens and the island of santorini for 2 weeks. it was beautiful, we had lovely hotels, stayed in a villa-like hotel (they came and c hanged our towels, but we had a suite-like atmosphere.. with our own private patio overlooking the villa’s pool and the ocean…
and guides, it was safe, wonderful, beachy, relaxing, good food…and so so so beautiful.
My criteria: I want to experience travelling before I settle down and start making babies… but we are having a dilemma. 
My fiancé when he was younger lived in france for about a year. I being italian would love to visit Italy and the rest of europe, but my fiancé isnt really agreeing.
He would love to have our honeymoon at walt disney world… but Ive been and even though I think it would be romantic, I dont want my last trip to be in florida (no offense to anyone)
We’ve gone down south already two summers ago.
So thats not out of the question….
so we havent really decided … its complicated
1) europe as I’d never been
2) not too cold as our wedding was in early march
3) mr bee doesn’t like the beach too much though i love it! so a city where we could see and do stuff.
so we ended up going to barcelona and a bunch of cities in the south of spain. 
I wanted to go somewhere neither of us had been and something with both culture and beach… so we are going to Thailand (and Japan - but FI has been there). We also wanted somewhere that we got more bang for our buck so Europe was out!
Jilian: Tamarindo is the BEST! I went there with a girlfriend a few years ago and loved it.
Hubs and I went to Aruba, which I highly recommend. Miss Dahlia, it meets all of your requirements except, I think, it might be hard to find your own pool (plus I don’t know if either of you have been there before).
We wanted to go to a place where the US dollar was strong . We’ve been to Europe a couple of times as well as Puerto Rico and we always had to budget travel. We went to south east asia for our honeymoon and lived it up! Not once did we question if we should get that pre-dinner massage or that extra dessert.
We can’t really afford anything that fit into our initial criteria of super fabulous and luxurious
So now our criteria is a good mix of beach and other cultural activities, great food, and reasonable prices.
Well for us, I knew right away I wanted to stay away from the tropics since I’m not too much of a beach-y person. I had studied abroad in Florence so I knew it had to be Italy!
I’ve heard that the first European city you visit, you tend to have a certain cling to it– and since Italy was mine, I wanted my Fiance’s to be Italy too! (He has never been to Europe)
Venice is very small, so we won’t get too overwhelmed with all the sites. We wanted to make sure that we were to RELAX! And where else can you get the best Italian food but ITALY?! =)
[...] that we had our flights booked and all of our hotels figured out before I sharing.(Honeymoon parts 1-what we want, 2-Mexico, 3-Spain, 4-Greece and [...]
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Ms. Dahlia, Detroit/Cleveland
Age and Occupation: 24, PhD Student
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 24, IT System Administrator
Engagement Date: December 31, 2006
Wedding Date: May 2008
Blogging Since: September 19, 2007
Venue: United Methodist Cathedral & historic downtown hotel in Cleveland
About Me: I enjoy cooking, dancing and swimming. I am a geek and apply game theory to my everyday life. Winter is my favorite time of year, especially when spent curled up with good coffee and a book by Madeleine L'Engle.
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