Weddingbee Blog

***This blog post is thanks to Mr. Apple Cider, who has been working on our honeymoon***

Our honeymoon search has been taxing. I thought I would share with you the process of how we picked our spot!

We were getting closer and closer to our wedding day, and we were getting further and further from a decision on our honeymoon. Miss AC has been reading the E-zine Utterly Engaged and came across an ad from Katie of Easy Trip. The ad offered to help one Utterly Engaged reader to find there honeymoon destination.

We decided to give it a shot and sent Katie an email.

There seemed to be too many upsides, getting our honeymoon planned by someone who would take the time to find out what we really wanted, as well as the possibility of getting it featured in a magazine! So it all started with an email to Katie, and here is an excerpt from that message:

Hello Katie,

After stumbling across your website I yelled out loud, “Thank you!” I had no idea how frustrating this honeymoon search could be and after countless conversations and email exchanges with travel agents, we are still struggling. My fiance and I have been searching the internet, talking with friends, and literally pulling places out of a hat for the last few months now, and I feel we still haven’t made any progress…

Every time we look online we find some other great deal leading us in a different direction. We have finally settled on a beach vacation, and are pretty much sold on the Caribbean (though Hawaii keeps popping up). Our first choice was St. Lucia for its beauty, mountains and beach, but the prices we keep finding seem to be a little much for us right now. We have been looking more closely at Jamaica, US Virgin Islands, and the Bahamas, but again, we are not sold on anything just yet. We also keep coming back to all inclusive deals because of the ease they can offer. We would love a beautiful setting with great beaches, comfortable and fun accommodations with a view, great food, and maybe little bit of culture.

I knew our description of what we wanted was quite vague, but we wanted to see what she could find. We went back and forth with Katie as she asked us questions about preferences, likes and dislikes, money, and much more. She gave us three options at a time that pretty much covered the Caribbean. It was clear from the start that Katie had a handle on what we were looking for. After a few more emails, Katie found this amazing place on the Maya Riviera in Mexico. Here are some pictures of the place.

The Zoetry Experience seems to fit us perfectly. Their focus on wellness and relaxation combined with luxury sounds like a great mix. The gourmet dining includes a lot of organic choices. They also have a new spin on “all inclusive”, renaming it “Endless Privileges – Luxury without Limits.”

Here are some of the many things that are included with their endless privileges:

• Private chauffeured airport transfers
• Luxurious oceanfront suites with terraces providing direct access to the private beach
• Bottle of champagne and fresh fruit basket daily
• Daily breakfast, lunch and dinner gourmet dining options with an assortment of organic food and beverage selections
• Daily shopping excursions by boat
• Hydrothalasso pool and aqua gym
• Exclusive Visia® complexion skin analysis
• Unlimited cocktails and specialty beverages from a variety of domestic and international premium brands
• Traditional Temazcal steam room ceremony every other day
• Access to sauna, steam room, Jacuzzi and cold plunge pool
• Anti-aging medical diagnostic to identify health and skin characteristics
• Daily afternoon tea time featuring live plant tea infusions
• These are some of their activities that are included:
  Fresh water and salt water swimming pools with wait staff service
• Private beach with wait staff service
• Sailing aboard “La Bonita”, our private 3-cabin catamaran
• Snorkeling - 7 minutes from the world’s second largest reef
• Hobie Cats
• Windsurfing
• Kayaking
• Tennis
• Water aerobics
• Stretch classes

Along with our reservations we were given a $200 credit for the spa. I think this resort will be the perfect place to unwind, relax and enjoy great food and drink after the wedding.

TIP: One thing that we did when researching was to find a place and then look for pictures of it on Flickr.com. Sometimes pictures on websites can be deceiving, so seeing real people’s pictures helped us to make a solid decision!

Who had a heavier hand in planning your honeymoon? You or your FI?