Delayed vs cheap honeymoon

I’m sure everyone is well aware of the honeymoon tradition. A newly married couple whisks away for a romantic and (hopefully) relaxing adventure to celebrate their commitment to each other, take a break from the stress of planning, and enjoy the company of their newly touted forever companion. Traditionally speaking, the couple leaves the night of or the day after the wedding. But in the aftermath of the recession and many more contributing factors, not the least of which being career concerns and responsibilities of the growing median age of newlyweds, many couples are putting off their honeymoons to weeks, months and even years after their wedding.

My partner and I, in fact, postponed our honeymoon to a month after our wedding. Granted finances weren’t the issue (thanks to overtime and budgeting, the whole trip was paid off eight weeks before our wedding) for many couples budget is the biggest deciding factor. For those who are money conscious (either by choice or by necessity), they have dichotomist choice to make: cheap getaway now or elaborate honeymoon later. There is no right answer, but to help you think about it, here are some pros and cons of each.

Delaying your honeymoon pros: You gain time to save extra money and paid time off. Those exotic and over-the-top trips don’t come cheap. Don’t get me wrong, if you shop around right you can get some great deals, but even those deals involve a pretty chunk of money. And after shelling out a ton of cash on your wedding, it could be a good relief to save up for a while. The longer you wait, the more you can save, the bigger the trip can be. That includes your paid time off. Delaying your honeymoon gives you a chance to bank some extra paid time off as a cushion.

You can have an extravagant once-in-a-lifetime trip opportunity. Life creeps up on you quickly. If you think the year leading up to your wedding went by quickly, just wait until you buy a house, start your family, get promotions, celebrate your 30th, 40th, 50th and 60th birthdays. You may try to plan a big trip to Europe or the Caribbean but find your priorities need to shift to work and family, or maybe you just get wrapped up in life at home. While plenty of people make the plans to travel in the future, the tourist industry thrives on it, all too often our tomorrows never come. Putting off your honeymoon to take an elaborate trip may be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Con: You risk losing that “honeymoon” feeling. My biggest complaint about our delayed all-out honeymoon is the delay kind of killed that “honeymoon” feeling. Taking two days off from work and going back to the grind made it feel like just a run-of-the-mill trip. We didn’t have that overwhelming “oh my goodness we’re married now” experience. Now, I’m sure this won’t be the case for everyone, but it certainly was for us. We never got the opportunity to bask in the glow of our marriage, and I regret it.

Pro: Immediate getaway to ride high on the new chapter in your life. The hours after my wedding, and the two days I took off from work immediately following, were heavenly. It was just me and my partner relaxing and spending time together being happy without the distractions of everyday life and the real world to get in the way. I imagine that feeling would’ve lasted longer if we had taken our full-out honeymoon right after the wedding. While our honeymoon to Ireland was amazing, it felt like nothing more than a normal trip. It was more about seeing the sights than it was about being together. (In full disclosure, I also wish we had chosen a location with little to do outside of lounging on a beach and relaxing, mostly because there wasn’t time to enjoy each others’ company. We had to get everything in, in case we never made it back!)

Con: You miss out on the grandeur of a major trip. Budget can hinder plenty of aspects of your life: size of your wedding, number of children you have and even what house you buy in which neighborhood. The same is true for your honeymoon. Taking your honeymoon immediately following your wedding may lead to some budget constraints that could seriously narrow down your options. But, honestly, if the point of the honeymoon is to bond with your life partner, the budget may not hinder your experience too badly. Yet still, it’d be nice to go somewhere new and exciting to commemorate your big step.