Taking Your Honeymoon at your own pace

One of the most liberating realisations to make is that you get to define how your relationship is, exactly what commitment you find appropriate, and ultimately, what kind of wedding you’d like to experience. While there’s great value in the traditional approach (this format has lasted centuries for a reason), you shouldn’t feel guilty if you want to go further afield and try something unique that both you and your partner will appreciate. For instance, if you’d like to get married at the top of a skyscraper in Dubai and then base jump from the top - if this is a legal and possible provision you can hire, why limit yourself?

But it’s also important to note that the honeymoon can be designed to run at your own pace, too. Understanding that can be tremendously worthwhile, and can help you avoid the feeling of ‘needing to have fun’ and instead, you can start having it without putting expectations on yourself. But how can you take a honeymoon at your own pace, as well as find the courage to opt for something outside of the norm? Let’s consider that, below:

Finding Your Destination

Finding a destination that means something to you is often more important than simply doing ‘the done thing.’ If ‘the done thing,’ like relaxing on a beach or heading to a resort, or even doing something that all of your friends and family have done is what helps you feel enjoyment, then go for it! But don’t feel bad if you’d rather do something a little more indulgent.

For instance, it might be that instead of laying on a beach, you’d love to rent a castle room in Scotland and spend your time looking around the churches and towns as a tourist. Perhaps you wish to head to a remote European village and forget about the world for a week, wrapped up in one another and the afterglow of your marriage. In this way, you can more easily find your destination in the best possible sense, knowing that limitations need not be applied.

Real Wedition weddings: some of our couples have linked their proposal and honeymoon into the vibe of their wedding day, for instance Wedition couple K&B had a travel theme to their wedding day after their proposal too place in Greece and they featured their honeymoon plans inside their personalised wedding magazine. Wedition couple Z&J's proposal took place in Paris, so they had a French macaron tower for a wedding cake.

Don’t Be Afraid To ‘Nerd Out’

All couples are nerdy and indulgent in their own way, and this can be a worthwhile insight to admit to. For instance, it might be that while some people prefer an ultra-romantic restaurant in a beautiful tower-building restaurant with an amazing skyline view, you and your partner just want to nerd out and head to Disneyland for a week together.

There’s nothing wrong with that at all. There’s nothing wrong with humble situations during a honeymoon, either. Many people think that you need to book the ‘honeymoon suite’ of a local hotel in order to have the most romantic time, but if you’d just prefer to rent out a canal boat for a week, or even go camping so you can hike with one another, or rent a boat that you can slowly fish on for a while, don’t be afraid to do that too. The beauty of a relationship, and especially a marriage, is that you’re coming together to build something worthwhile.

Real Wedition weddings: Wedition couple V&W stayed in a Shepherd's Hut in Churchinford, Somerset for their mini moon immediately after their wedding.

Challenge Yourself…

It can be fun to challenge yourself on a honeymoon. This might sound totally contrasted to what a honeymoon is supposed to be about - that is, being with one another and forgetting the world around you.

But if you enjoy that kind of challenge, why not face it? Perhaps you could schedule a ‘productive’ break, in the way that you can come together and film your honeymoon as you tour restaurants all down the coats of the area you’re visiting. Maybe you’d find value heading on a safari, experiencing the general rigors that would include.

Or, perhaps you could work on a creative project together, however you define that. Of course, the opposite may be preferable...

Real Wedition weddings: M&W had the theme of Disney's Beauty and the Beast running through their wedding, they then had a fairytale honeymoon by going on an adventure in Bali!

...Or Rest Entirely

Sometimes, people think that the investment made in a honeymoon means squeezing every last drop of value out of it. But perhaps you’re already quite a productive person, and you just want to focus on your spouse and the person you’ve committed the rest of your life to now.

There’s no shame in wanting to rest entirely while being your most indulgent self. Perhaps your honeymoon will mean never leaving your rented suite until three in the afternoon, visiting the bar together, eating food, and then coming back and watching movies. Then the next morning, you may decide to go and lay on the beach, and lazily walk to and fro eating ice cream and talking. Resting with someone you love in this way is not necessarily laziness, but ‘active resting,’ where you decompress with someone you love bit by bit by bit.

Real Wedition weddings: C&M had a mini moon to Guernsey immediately after their wedding, giving them plenty of time to relax.

There’s No Need For One Trip

There’s another impression that many would-be honeymooners think of when arranging the trip. This is the fact that only one honeymoon is ever possible. We better get this one right, or it means that the entire future is doomed. But while a honeymoon is technically the reserved break most of us enjoy after getting married or tying the knot in whatever way is relevant to your culture - you don’t actually have to have only one honeymoon.

There are no laws that you’re bound to here. Perhaps you may even wish to schedule your honeymoon before the actual wedding itself, if that’s more convenient. Maybe you can book a few to different places over the course of a few months, and go for a few days at a time. Maybe you’ll take a special honeymoon once a year to keep the spark alive. Perhaps you have certain medical needs, requiring disability access, the need for certain climates, access to the contraceptive pill or traveling closer to home than some people may expect. That’s fine to prioritise, too.

Real Wedition weddings: K&L opted to have a relaxing mini moon on the Greek coast and then the following month went on an Alaskan cruise!

Spend Time Focusing On One Another

Instead of focusing on how to curate the perfect honeymoon, reading endless guides about it, and worrying if you’re making the right choice - just go and have a good time. Don’t be afraid of the experience being ‘perfect,’ just focus on it and your partner. This way, you can be more receptive and open to the experience, and have much more fun than you otherwise would. A honeymoon never has to be perfect to be memorable and totally worthwhile.

Real Wedition weddings: A&A opted to go on a cruise on their honeymoon, this meant they had plenty of time to focus on one another in between port destinations!

With this advice, we hope you can focus on taking your honeymoon at your own pace, and enjoying this process infinitely more because you gave yourself time to weigh your tastes and priorities.

If you would like to share your honeymoon plans with your wedding guests inside a personalised wedding magazine, then please do get in touch with liz@wedition.co.uk