In my experience, planning a honeymoon is not as straightforward as it sounds.  I can safely say that over the last few weeks I have spent many hours surfing the net to find a dream honeymoon and today at long last we have finally booked a Honeymoon to Mexico to the Dreams Riviera Resort Cancun.

These are some of the questions we are asked ourselves repeatedly

‘Where do we want to go on Honeymoon?’

‘How much do we want to spend?

‘Do we want to visit more than one place’?

‘Do we want to depart the day after the wedding’?

Not only did I underestimate the cost of a honeymoon but also the time that I would invest into researching where we would go.

Both of us were quite flexible on location and didn’t really mind where we went, however one thing we were sure about was that we wanted somewhere that would be pure luxury knowing that we would never get to do again. We also had to consider the time of year.  As we are having a Christmas wedding we would be planning our honeymoon for January so we wanted to be sure we went somewhere that would be nice and warm.

I quite fancied the idea of Mexico as I am very found of chicken fajitas.  I know this probably sounds really silly however it was not my only reason.  In speaking to family and friends Mexico seemed to be quite a popular choice among couples.  We were also advised by a travel agent that it is probably one of best places in terms of value for money as the all inclusive packages in the hotels offer a lot.

Other places we considered were Dubai and Cuba and we quite liked the idea of going on a cruise. 

During the early stages of searching the net I came across one hotel, the hotel we have booked, and immediately fell in love with it.  The hotel had only opened last year so I liked the idea that everything would be brand new.   Out of all the resorts I had looked at in Mexico I had narrowed it down to four hotels.  Dreams Riviera Cancun, The Royal Cancun, Secrets Silversands Hotel and Sun Palace Hotel.  Each of the resorts offers a complimentary honeymoon package and then an optional upgrade honeymoon package.

The company that we booked our honeymoon through was Caribbean Collection.  We priced our honeymoon with several companies and Caribbean Collection offered us the best price. Diane, the consultant that I dealt with or should I say pestered was very patient and helpful.  She had visited the Dream Riviera Hotel just before Christmas so hearing her experience was an added bonus.  Other online holiday sites I used were Thomson, Thomas Cook and First Choice.  I also googled every hotel we were considering and used the Trip Advisor site to read other peoples reviews.

One piece of advice I would like to share with other couples out there who are looking to book a honeymoon is to be careful of fluctuating flight prices and hotel prices as these can happen overnight.  We had initially priced our honeymoon about 4 weeks ago and between the first quote and time of booking the prices had increased by £200 per person.  At the initial stages of pricing the honeymoon the travel agent did say to us to book as soon as possible as flight prices can increase very quickly however being like any other customer I thought this was only a sales spiel to get me to book early.   

As our flight to Mexico departs from London we have to wait patiently now for the flights to be released from Belfast to London as New Year flights are not out yet. As we are getting an early morning flight from London we will fly out the day before and spend the night in London.

Despite the large amount of time I invested into searching for a Honeymoon I must say it was an enjoyable experience and I do hope that this is not my last luxurious trip away.

****************************

Links to Ireland’s Wedding Sites

Northern Ireland’s wedding forums

http://www.niweddingforums.com

Ireland’s online wedding guide

http://www.bookourwedding.com