Weddingbee Blog

When Mr. Starfish and I started to plan our honeymoon, we had dreams of Aruba, Jamaica, Bermuda, Bahamas, Key Largo, Montego… pretty much anywhere in the Beach Boys Kokomo song. It was a once-in-my-life dream to visit every place in that song before I die. Actually it kind of still is. We also considered Disney and Hawaii—anywhere sunny and by a beach. I dreamed of fruity drinks and relaxation.

When we realized Mr. Starfish won’t have enough vacation time, we decided to do a minimoon in Newport. The closer we get to the wedding, the more excited I get about our minimoon! I thought we’d be down there all the time planning the wedding, but we’ve only been there once this year. I really miss Newport. There are so many fun things to do. Plus, it will be really fun reliving all our favorite memories when we start our new life together. We’re looking for a mix of old favorites and new adventures.

We really don’t want to plan the whole trip, since we want to relax, but the planner in me still had to come up with fun options to consider while we are there.

Restaurants will be super hard to decide on. We have so many favorites—one of the perks to knowing your honeymoon destination is knowing all the great spots to hit! We’re looking for a few nice restaurants and a lot of affordable options.

For nicer restaurants we’re thinking anything in the Newport Restaurant Group. We’ve spent most of our college Valentine’s Days, anniversaries, and birthdays at these places. I can’t wait for fresh seafood and steak! I’m torn between a dinner at the Mooring (known for seafood) and 22’s (known for steak). Even though we’re doing our rehearsal dinner at Sardella’s, we’re planning on going back for a second night, since they have awesome dinner specials for 2 people Monday through Wednesday nights. We’re planning on a picnic on the beach at least once during our trip and getting sandwiches from Bliss, which is where our engagement picnic sandwiches were from. Mr. Starfish loves the brunch at Miley, our college cafeteria, so we will be heading back to campus and eating cafeteria food on our honeymoon, because I love him that much.

Every time we go back to Newport, our focus tends to be on food. It’s really good, so we always go to old favorites. For our minimoon I want to try new things that we’ve never done before. There’s so much we didn’t do during our four years of college, we were so into the college life, we didn’t really fully experience all the island has to offer.

I’m a fan of ABC’s the Bachelor/ette and they always go on crazy dates like helicopter rides and yachts. Mr. Starfish and I never have dates like these, but Newport has potential for them. BIL Starfish sent me a link to Bird’s Eye View Helicopters. They have a few different packages like an air and sail package that is a helicopter ride over the mansions for two and then a one and a half hour sail aboard a schooner. This one sounds awesome, but is only available through September. They have another option offered year round called the Helicopter and Vineyard package, which includes a helicopter ride and wine tour. Newport has a few vineyards in the area, so I’m thinking wine tasting will end up on the itinerary regardless of the helicopter tour, most likely at Sakonnet, Greenvale or Newport vineyards. I’m not much of a wine drinker, but Mr. Starfish has been starting to try it out. This could be a fun way to test out different flavors he hasn’t tried yet.

After seeing the Bird’s eye view helicopter and boating package wasn’t available in the fall, it made me wonder if any charters or cruises are. I found the Starlight, which does offer sails in October. The Starlight is a private charter that will do sails for two and allow you to bring your own picnic or bottle of wine aboard. The sail goes through Newport Harbor, Narragansett Bay, and along the shoreline of Ocean Drive. Mr. Starfish loves boating, I only recently started to enjoy it, but I think this would be a super romantic way to spend a few hours on our honeymoon. We both love the ocean.

There are other options on the harbor as well, such as luncheon cruises, but I love the idea of a private charter. It’s something we’d never do, but honeymoons are a time to do super romantic dates that you never really would otherwise… very bachelor/ette style.

When Mr. Starfish proposed, we went apple picking at Sweet Berry Farm, I forgot how much fun apple picking is in the fall. I’m not sure if we’ll do it on our honeymoon, but who knows. I really had fun last year.

I don’t want to fill our honeymoon with lots of timed activities; I do want to relax with Mr. Starfish. Right now we work opposite schedules and don’t have a lot of downtime together. The hotel we are staying at has a hot tub and fire pit, and I feel like we’ll spend a night or two cozied up by the fire making s’mores. During the day, we can cross the road to the beach and take a stroll on the cliffwalk, or drive to campus and walk around there. I also see a couple picnics on the beach.

When we first opted for the Newport minimoon, I have to admit I was a little disappointed. After dreaming of Hawaii and tropical islands, it didn’t sound exotic or romantic—it had more of a “been there, done that” feel. But after some research, I’m learning about all the fun things Newport has to offer that we’ve never tried. I especially enjoyed reading Mrs. Swan’s recaps, of her minimoon in Newport, including rainy day fun. Finding all of these fun options has me really excited for our minimoon, and I can’t think of anywhere better to start our lives off together than a relaxing week in Newport.

What activities do you have planned for your honeymoon or minimoon? Do you have any bachelor/ette worthy dates planned?