Honeymoons - where to go, when to book??

We get married August next year and fingers crossed we should hopefully be booking our honeymoon on Thursday.

To answer your Q's....

Where did you go and why?

We are off to Mexico! We chose Mexico as we both really wanted to go there as have never been and like you were looking for sun and relaxation. We had looked at Maldives but for our budget we couldnt get the luxury that we wanted but by choosing Mexico we could IYSWIM. Also our hotel had been reccomended to us by friends and other people that we have spoken to said it was great!

Weather was also a consideration it is the rainy season in june/july in Mexico but apparently this starts a bit later now due to climate change, also rain = a drop of rain then glorious sunshine and i think i can live with that.

https://www.tripsavvy.com/romantic-places-to-vacation-in-july-and-august-4165538 ( that website gives info on good places to go around the time your thinking of so you might wanna check it out i think carribean is on there so Seychelles good choice! (we looked there too).

- How far in advance did you book it?

we booked our honeymoon in September and we fly out in 2nd of June so 8mths in advance as we wanted to have it all done and booked and the opportunity to pay off bits as we go although that hasnt happened!

- Do you have any advice with regard to cheaper deals/offers, etc?

I dont really have any advice on any good deals as such, but when we went to Thomas cook at the time they had 10% off long haul holidays so ours fell into that category and then we sweet talked the travel agent (manager) and she gave us a further 10% off so i think it definately pays to ask..

happy honeymoon hunting!

We went on honeymoon October this year, we booked to go to Florida and we booked towards the end of last year.

We had a nightmare though as two weeks before we were due to go the company we booked with went bust, so we had to book the whole holiday again. So i'd just be careful booking so far in advance, in the current economic state i'd be reluctant to book holidays too far in advance because at the moment we're still £3000 out of pocket waiting for the holiday to be paid out.

We're going to Barbados as we have use of a family apartment there. I can definitely recommend it as a great place for sun and relaxation. It's very warm in August, but it doesn't get unbearably hot and is well before the start of the rainy season.

Can't help with ideas of costs though as we're not paying for accomodation and we'll be flying there from Vegas, not the UK.

- Where did you go and why?
We are doing 4 nights in Kuala Lumpar and 10 in Penang. We had ruled out the Caribbean because of hurricane season, I've had the misfortune to be out there in a hurricane before and there's no way I'd chance it again. We fancied las Vegas but couldn't agree on somewhere else to go afterwards. There was no where else we could agree on so Malaysia it is ?

- How far in advance did you book it?
We are going next August and booked it at the beginning of October. This was really the earliest we could do it because flight timetables hadn't been released until that point.

- Do you have any advice with regard to cheaper deals/offers, etc?
Shop around. I got a quote for what we wanted, then went to another company and told them what we were getting and for how much (minus a few hundred quid) and could they better it. We got it cheaper, and a better hotel in KL.

Thanks all for your answers, and Chids - good point, didn't think of that actually! With so many airlines going bust we may hold off a bit longer.

Saying that I will definitely take a look at Mexico to get some ideas!

By all means keep the suggestions coming...

We went to Duabi and the Maldives as we'd never been and it was the right time of year to go. You have to be careful with the Maldives in summer as it's their rainy season.

We got married in November and booked in December 07 - as this was when the flights were released. x

Some companies offer a service where wedding guests can give money into your "honeymoon fund" instead of gifts. This works really well if you and h2b have lived together for a while and don't need the usual toasters and kettles etc. Its a great way to lower the cost for yourselves, and it also means that guests can give you something that you actual want, it's also a little bit more personal than just money.

Thanks Laura_c86. Yep I have heard of these and it does sound like a good idea especially as me and H2b have already been living together nearly 2 years, which will be over 4 when we get married. Only thing with it is I'm not sure how comfortable I would be about booking up somewhere more expensive with the view to getting my guests to donate to the honeymoon fund. I'd rather still be able to comfortably afford it ourselves and then if we get donations that's a bonus! Although I'm sure this was what you meant anyway.

We was going to look into this but our honeymoon has to be paid 12 weeks before, so I thought it was abit soon before the wedding for people to be thinking about it.

Hi kath 79 congratulations on your wedding

Me and H2B are looking at all the different islands in the maldives there is so much choice, we too also wanted to call in dubi as well. we get married next december, we have been to the travel agents who have given us some quotes but they are all so expensive. Could i asked who you booked with and which island / resort you picked. thanks Jo

I am not married but similarly, I am also looking for ideas while heartly I want to have been to Jeneva but have not discuss with my fiance and I do not know he would like or not. So any good reason to persuade him.

I am planning for singapore.

We went to San Fran, Hawaii and LA. we got married in the July and booked it in the november i think, couldnt do it any earlier as the flights hadnt been released.

Hi Claires

That sounds really amazing, and something we'd ideally love to do too. How long did you go for? And obviously you don't have to go into detail but was it expensive if you don't mind me asking?

It fine, i think we were away for 16 days, we did 3 days in San Fran, a week in Hawaii and 5 days in LA but then obviously travelling. All the hotels were room only and i think it was about £5200 including all the flights (of which there were 6!) we did loads of tours and things, swimming with dolphins, scuba diving, universal studios etc and i think we spent about £7000 altogether.

We went to Borneo, did a week in a 5* star resort - horse riding on the beach, trips into the nature reserve to see the orangutans etc., then a week on a wildlife expedition - staying in basic accomodation, interacting with the local communities, trips up rivers and into mangroves, up mountains, into caves, loads of stuff, saw wild pygmy elephants, proboscis monkeys, orangutans, macaques, crocodiles, monitor lizards, snakes, rhinoceros hornbills, the list goes on! The third week we spent on a remote island, scuba diving every day (we're both qualified instructors), watching baby turtles hatch at night and helping them down to the shore, amazing sunsets, pure bliss. Then spent 4 days in Kuala Lumpur, saw a few sights, went up the KL tower, went shopping etc. It was the trip of a lifetime for us!

We started enquiring about a year before we got married until we found a travel company we were happy with, then spent a while changing some of the details until we were happy we had covered everything we wanted to do. I think we finalised the booking in January for our August wedding. I think it cost about £5000 in total.

We're looking at 5* hotels on islands just off the south coast of Italy (near Sicily but tiny wee island)! They look so luxurious and you can't beat the Italian food! ?

Plus h2b is part Italian and our first abroad holiday was to Italy so it's very special to us!