Save Money on Your Honeymoon

Every couple who's about to marry looks forward to their honeymoon, but not all have enough money left over after the wedding to take one. (No one says you have to go on your honeymoon right after the wedding. You could wait a couple of months until your cash reconstitutes... or slip away for a honeymoon before the big event!) Whenever you take the time to honeymoon, these ideas can help you save money and travel in style.

1. Sign up with a Honeymoon Registry
It's customary for couples to register for wedding gifts. But what if you already have most of the items on a typical registry list? Join a honeymoon registry, and you create a wish list of vacation items — hotel nights, candlelight dinners, excursions. When guests purchase those as gifts, some or even all of the honeymoon gets paid for by others. After you register, ask your maid of honor and best man to spread the word. Do read the small print: Some registries take a big chunk out of gift dollars.

2. Budget Before You Buy
Before you try to figure out how to save money on your honeymoon, know how much you have to spend. Whether you're surprised in a good way (lotsa money!) or in a not-so-good-way (we'll be practically broke after the wedding), it's necessary to have an amount in mind in order to start pricing flights and lodgings. Use the following tools to help decide how much you can afford to spend on your honeymoon trip:

3. Take a Cruise
Cruises are cost-efficient vacations, especially if you leave from your home port rather than flying to meet the ship. They're all-inclusive for the most part. And the shorter the cruise, the less you'll have to pay. There are even overnight "cruises to nowhere" (but those are basically party and gambling boats and not as nice for honeymoons). If you choose a cruise lasting from 3 to 7 days, that's ample time to celebrate your new state of matrimony.

4. Enjoy a Quickie
Not every honeymoon involves a grand tour of Europe and lasts two weeks or more. You can pack a lot of lovin' into a long weekend, especially if you don't travel far from home. Look into romance packages at local hotels and weekend getaway deals.

5. Discover the New Bargain Brands
There's a lot of competition in the travel industry, and you're the beneficiary. When you travel, you no longer have to pay top dollar for airlines or hotels. Discover which brands consistently offer the most value at the lowest price, and where you can get more for less

6. Go Off-Season
Regardless of the month you plan to take your honeymoon, it's always low season (a cheaper time to visit) somewhere. For instance, instead of paying top dollar at a ski resort after a December wedding, you can get bargain rates — and find plenty to do on the slopes — in July. If you're beach lovers, don't let the words "hurricane season" completely scare you off of visiting Florida or the Caribbean between June and November. Plenty of people live in those places year-round, and more often than not showers are brief and the sun soon emerges.

7. Bid on a Travel Auction
Going... going... gone! That can be you, if you bid on and win a travel auction. Thanks to the transparency of prices on the Web, couples who put in the time to research beforehand can be savvy about what cruises and vacations cost. That enables them to bid on a travel auction without paying more than something is actually worth.

8. Check into a Casino
Casinos tend to lowball room prices to lure in gamblers. But how about going to a casino and not gambling? Then you have the pleasure of a nice room, good restaurants, shows by well-known entertainers, and facilities that usually include swimming pools and spas. If you're disciplined enough to do this — or are able to set aside a small budget for gambling losses — a casino stay can help you spend less money on your honeymoon. But if you don't trust yourselves to hold onto your cash or one of you has an addictive personality, don't go.

9. Win a Free Honeymoon
Speaking of trying your luck, why not enter vacation travel contests to try to win a free honeymoon? I link to ones sponsored by legitimate companies, so the worst that could happen is that you give up some personal information when you fill out an entry and get some spam. And the best that could happen is that you win an all-expenses-paid trip to someplace truly great — the ultimate way to save money on a honeymoon!