Destination Weddings can save you money! You can save 17% and more on a destination wedding, some people even pay for part or all of their wedding party and still come out ahead. Not to mention everyone not only gets to come to your wedding but they can stay and play for 4-7 nights as well. Think of Spain, Italy (both Umbria, Tuscany/Amalfi Coast have excellent places) and Greece!
Romance rules in these places or you can go to a dude ranch in the USA or wine country for a getaway.
Honeymoon options and free registries can (and do) save you $$, give you $$ and give your friends and relatives a really different approach to gift giving. They will see that you get something you really want instead of another toaster or set of towels.
Honeymoon Cruises: What better way to see different places in a 7-14 day period, have privacy, excellent food (anytime of the day or night), pools, spas, golf on board (or on land) and easy access on the Eastern Seaboard (many ports from New York to Ft. Lauderdale), New Orleans, Galveston, and from San Francisco to Long Beach/San Diego on exclusive beautiful ships to romantic places in the Caribbean or the coastlines of Mexico? You can go dance the night away without cover charges, have a drink in the lounge and watch the sea float by, order dinner (or breakfast) in your cabin and so much more. Go to the website to see many options, email us for others. We have many different ports (Mexico, Barbados, Europe), we have special amenities for Honeymooners and great prices as well. You can also sign up for the Free Honeymoon Registry while you are there.
Wedding Solutions Options For Honeymooners
But one of the best bargains comes for couples planning a destination wedding: a free ceremony. Hotel chains like Sandals (Caribbean) and Palace Resorts (Mexico) give couples a complimentary wedding when they agree to spend their honeymoon at the hotel. (There are others that do free weddings as well, these are just two of the very well known)
Sandals requires a seven-night stay at one of its 12 Caribbean properties and includes a basic wedding package that covers the couple and two guests. The cost for a seven-night stay is an estimated $3,500 to $5,000, not including airfare. The details are different at every resort, so couples should look into the number of guests permitted and add-on packages. (Right now Sandals has a Fly Free promotion!)
One&Only resorts offers honeymooners a romance package at the One&Only Reethi Rah, which includes five nights in a villa, daily breakfast, a star-lit dinner and luxury-yacht transfers between the airport and the resort. Packages, depending on season, vary from $4,602 to $5,952.
Couples with tighter budgets need not overlook these destinations, however. To defray the cost, they can set up a honeymoon registry, through which guests can purchase gifts like a massage for two ($130 per person), a candlelit dinner on the beach ($90) or contribute toward a roundtrip ticket.
Such registries can be customized (by you for what YOU want to do) for the destination, so a couple headed to Patagonia can request gifts like a guided tour of a national park or drinks and dancing at a jazz club in Santiago. Depending on which requests are fulfilled, a registry can knock $1,000 to $2,000 off the price of a honeymoon.
Finally, just for fun, mention that you are newly married. Often you will find you will get congratulated with a free dinner or a reduced hotel rate. Don’t be shy - let people know that you're a newlywed and suddenly you'll find champagne on your table. And you should consider all-inclusive accommodations for the savings and less hassle (no wallets, no purses needed) and you don’t have to worry about the cost of dinner or that special drink.
