How Long After Your Wedding Should You Go on Your Honeymoon?

Q: Our wedding is in October, but I’m worried that a lot of the places I want to go won’t have great weather that time of year. At the same time I love the idea of leaving for your honeymoon right after the wedding like they do in the movies! LOL. What’s the best time to go on your honeymoon? – Lisa

A: I totally know what you mean! I love those movie scenes where the couple drives away after their wedding reception with the streamers and cans hanging from their car and go directly to the airport! But honestly that sounds exhausting to me! Here’s why:

1. You are going to be completely WHIPPED after your wedding reception. Like, seriously tired (but in a good way!). Not only will your feet most likely be killing you, but you’ll be mentally drained as well. All those months of planning on top of all the fun at the wedding will culminate in having one major sigh of happiness and relief. With air travel the way it is these days, who wants to go directly to the airport and then sit on a plane for hours immediately following their reception? Not me.
2. Chances are the last thing you’ll want to do while getting ready for your wedding day is deal with packing for your honeymoon, especially with all those last-minute wedding planning details that ALWAYS come up. That’s why even leaving the day after your wedding sounds like a bit too much work for us as well. You’ll want to keep the day after your wedding reserved for having a day-after brunch, saying goodbye to guests who traveled a long way to see you, or (our personal favorite) sleeping in until whatever damn time you want to!

SEE MORE: The Ultimate Wedding Planning Checklist

While everybody is different and has their own preference, I think it ends up being a lot less stressful if you wait at least two days after your wedding to go on your honeymoon. We had a Saturday night destination wedding in Miami even though we were living in Nashville at the time, so we flew back home on that Sunday and then left for our honeymoon on Thursday. That gave me a few days to work, unpack then re-pack, write a few wedding thank you notes, and decompress before our big honeymoon adventure.

Worried about what kind of weather you’ll have in October? I hear ya. And to be honest, our honeymoon weather in Italy in October was less than stellar most days. If your dream honeymoon is a sunny, warm location there are a lot of places you can go with great weather (check out your Australia, Central America, and Hawaii honeymoon options).  There are also a lot of fall and winter honeymoon destinations that are worth the cooler weather. Not into any of those recc’s, or want to wait to save more money for a major honeymoon splurge instead? There’s no time limit on when you can take your honeymoon…it doesn’t expire! So do what you’re most excited about and works for you and your spouse.

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