Weddingbee Blog

This time tomorrow, we Archers will be on a plane bound for our belated honeymoon, and we are beyond excited! I’ve not mentioned our honeymoon plans previously, so let me rewind for a second.

After our New Orleans wedding, we enjoyed a several day mini-moon. Between the wedding and the following few days, we had accounted for the entirety of our budget, so we planned to delay our honeymoon for a while to allow ourselves time to save. We were beyond humbled after our wedding to learn that we had been generously gifted by our friends and family—enough so to allow for a lovely honeymoon!

Immensely grateful, we began to assess and plan for a few potential honeymoon locations. Forerunners were the Mediterranean, the Adriatic, Southeast Asia, and Central America. We compared itineraries and schedules, price points and excursions, wanting a fabulous new experience together, some adventure in turn with some luxury, and, of course, the most bang for our (budgeted) buck. After much debate, we booked our tickets for a Costa Rica honeymoon!

We’ll be spending 12 days in Costa Rica—we’ve reserved a rental SUV and Mr. Archer is psyched to drive us through the jungle. We’ll be traveling through several areas of the country, and I’m so looking forward to visiting the different areas. After an overnight in San Jose, we’ll spend a few days in Arenal. We will be staying first in a hot springs resort near the volcano, then an actual tree-house hotel! I have booked us a couple’s massage on our wraparound patio, and we have plans to tour the hanging bridges, luxuriate in the hot springs, and zip-line through the cloud forest.

From there, we’ll travel south to Quepos, near Manuel Antonio National Park. We’ll spend three days at the picturesque Blue Banyan Inn, staying in the roomy Hibiscus Cottage.

Images above via Blue Banyan Inn

It’s a small eco-friendly resort, and the sprawling property is home to a primate refuge. We Archers love monkeys (I stand firm that Mr. A is one, and would adore a pet capuchin if we could handle it), so we are super excited about getting to volunteer there and help feed and play with the monkeys. We’ll also explore the Nauyaca Waterfalls on horseback, drink lots of frosty cocktails, and work on our tans.

We’ll then head further south to Uvita. There, we’ll follow in the well-traveled footsteps of the Cinnamon Buns, Loxes, and Brooches, with a stay at the gorgeous Oxygen Jungle Villas. I’ll own that I booked our hotel reservations at OJV before even our airfare…yes, I was overexcited, but when the place looks like this, how can you blame me?

We’ll be waterfall rappelling and canyoning, eating lots of delicious things, and spending some serious time in that stunning infinity pool.

After our stay in Uvita, we’ll return to and depart from San Jose. But our fun doesn’t end there—we have a little lagniappe, something extra. Our flight connects through Panama City, and we chose an extra long (all-day) connection. We’ve hired a tour guide and driver to fetch us at the airport, and will tour the Panama Canal and the old city, including Noriega’s house, before we return to the airport for our flight back to Los Angeles.

We are all packed for our super-early morning departure, and I’m so excited I can barely stand it! Parts of me are a bit nervous—I can kind of be an unathletic weenie, and I know the jungle and zip-lining will test my phobias of creepy-crawlies and heights, respectively, to the max. I’m not what one would consider outdoorsy, so I’m headed just a bit out of my comfort zone. But, other than feeling weird about leaving my engagement ring at home, I’m looking forward to stepping out of the box and being brave. I stocked up on bug repellent and sunscreen, purchased hideously ugly but functional water shoes, and—I am who I am—shopped for a few sassy sundresses and bikinis. I planned the honeymoon myself, using Trip Advisor and personal recommendations, so I have a folder of reservation printouts and am crossing my fingers that all goes smoothly. But honestly, we have been insanely busy, between the wedding and work, and are thrilled to get to relax, alone, together, for almost two weeks!

How did you decide when and where to honeymoon? What was the most anticipated part of your trip?