Planning your Fantastic Honeymoon

Plan a Honeymoon without Breaking your Piggy Bank and make it Unforgettable

With wedding costs skyrocketing, so many couples have to skip the honeymoon in favor of inviting 20-50 more guests or getting the designer dress of their dreams. While priorities vary for each couple, once your fantastic wedding day is over and done with, many newlyweds wished they had spent less time, effort and cash on the D-day details and more on each other.

A honeymoon is usually a couple of days or a week long and the memories you get to make while bonding your heart with each other as man and wife far outweigh the lace on the placemats or the name of the band playing at the reception. Here are some tips on planning your honeymoon, making sure you get o go on a fantastic and unforgettable honeymoon

• Plan Ahead

Make a firm wedding budget and allot your desired amount for the honeymoon. Don't let cake, flowers or bridesmaids gifts eat up any part of that budget. Don't postpone the honeymoon saying that you'll take it later; tomorrow never comes for honeymoons. Now is the time; later work, kids, family and everything piles up and the charm of a honeymoon at the right time fizzles out.

• Go Local

If airfare is eating up your entire budget, forget about Hawaii or Europe and save the flying time and airport hassles by going away some place local. Not only will you save big money, you won't get lost as much, you'll have a honeymoon memory you can visit again if you like and you can even come home early if the place doesn't turn out to be as you expected.

• Stay Savvy

The least expensive way of going on a honeymoon is to stay at someone's house while they are away. Look into home exchanges where someone can stay at your place while you see a different locale. Similar to the Cameron Diaz- Kate Winslet movie, you might snag a great deal on seeing a new city without spending a dime on hotels.

If you can't find a time share or other free accommodation, you can still have a great honeymoon by skipping the five star hotels and staying at a bed and breakfast instead. The rates are much lower, the policies less stringent and the innkeepers more friendly.

• Souvenirs

There is no need for you to get souvenirs from your honeymoon for all your friends and family. Chances are you threw a great wedding and everyone got a favor; pick up a trinket or two for your new place together but leave it at that.