Your honeymoon is the perfect opportunity to take time off, connect and loose yourselves in blissful romance after the hustle and bustle of your wedding planning. But don’t forget, you have to plan that too. Here’s our guide to organizing each piece of that amazing time you hope to spend together.
Six Months or More Ahead
- Set a budget.
- Start trading dream honeymoon destinations with your fiance. Where do you want to go? What do you want to do? Start researching possible locations online, talk to a travel agent and poll friends for ideas.
- Find a travel agent who specializes in your destination, activity (maybe sightseeing, hiking or diving) or mode of transportation (like a cruise specialist).
- Research hotels, check room availability and reserve a room.
- Book your tickets, get seat assignments, order special in-flight meals and check luggage allowances.
- Reserve a rental car.
- If you’re traveling abroad and you’re feeling ambitious, download a language app on Playstore or iTunes and start practicing the basics of the language.
Three Months Ahead
- Obtain your passports and visas, if necessary.
- Consider signing up for travel insurance if one of the following apply: one of you has health issues; you’re concerned about your safety.
Two Months Ahead
- Buy a camera (if you don’t already have one and want higher quality photos than your phone will provide). Practice using your camera to make sure it’s working properly.
- Research and book tours, theater tickets, hot restaurant seats and any other activities that require advance reservations, earlier if you’re traveling during peak season, through your travel agent or soon-to-be hotel concierge (get their name and tip them when you arrive).
One Month Ahead
- Make a packing and shopping list.
- Reconfirm all reservations.
- Exchange about 50,000 NGN (or at least enough to get you to your hotel from the airport) into small bills in the currency of the country you’ll be visiting. There is usually an exchange counter or ATM at the airport, but it can be nice to have cash in hand (it will also help you get used to the exchange rate).
Two Weeks Ahead
- Pick up airline tickets and all applicable vouchers from your travel agent. Read all materials carefully to make sure the information is correct. If not, your travel agent can correct it.
One Week Ahead
- Make two to three sets of photocopies of your passport and basically any paperwork people would need if your wallet were stolen or something happened to you (better safe than sorry). Give one set each to a parent and/or a relative or friend, pack one set in your luggage and leave one set in your safe at home.
- Download any helpful travel, budget or guide apps (like Google Map).
- Ensure you make arrangements with the Company Managing your Wedding Gift Registry, so that gifts bought during the period of your honeymoon are delivered on your return.
- Receive honeymoon funds from the Company Managing your Wedding Gift Registry in a situation where your family and friends has been able to contribute something for your honeymoon.
- Set out clothes to pack and buy what you need.
- Make sure you have extras of everything you can’t live without: migraine tablets, allergy pills, asthma inhaler, glasses or contacts and so on. Carry all medications in their original prescription bottles to avoid questions at customs.
- Make arrangement with your phone service provider to get an international travel plan if you’re traveling abroad.
Three Days Ahead
- Reconfirm overseas flights.
- Order champagne to be waiting for you in your hotel room (okay, not a necessity, but a fun welcome).
- Buy or download any books and magazines for the trip.
- Confirm and sync all important contacts in your phone and any other devices you’re traveling with (in case something happens to your phone). Go a step further and keep a notebook with handwritten contacts, just in case.
- Make arrangements for your rides to and from the airport.
- Email or leave a copy of your itinerary and a set of house keys with a relative or close friend in case of an emergency.
- Check weather forecasts for your destination (it may affect your packing list a bit).
- Prepare your house or apartment for your departure—eat or dispose of perishable food, water plants, set timers and security alarms, and turn off recurring clock alarms.
One Day Ahead
- Reconfirm flights.
- Make sure your luggage (carry-on and checked) is labeled both on the outside and inside with your name, hotel address and phone number.
