Wanderlust Wednesday

Today I am linking up with Kerri, Kate, and Emily for Wanderlust Wednesday! I've decided to re-post one of my favorites: our honeymoon! This was almost 2 years ago and since I have recently started taking this blogging gig a little more seriously, I wanted to re-cap the best vacay of my life with all my new readers!

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My honeymoon was the best week of my life... hands down. After much researching and exploring, we chose the Iberostar Grand in Riviera Maya, Mexico. Here are my 5 tips for any engaged couple planning their honeymoon [or any couple planning ANY vacation, really!]:

[ONE]

Go somewhere that someone you know has been before. We knew we didn't want to go somewhere that everyone we knew had been, but we also wanted to know first-hand that where we were going was pretty, clean, etc. I posted a comment on Facebook asking for suggestions of resorts/places and got a million responses. It was super helpful and I researched a lot of the resorts before we made our decision. Pictures on the internet are always edited and don't always acurately portray the resort so knowing that someone has actually been to your honeymoon location and approved can ease your mind and make you confident in your decision. It was super important to us that the food was good, resort and rooms clean, staff nice and helpful, and beach gorgeous. A friend went to this same resort for her honeymoon and assured us that we would be impressed, and we were!

[TWO]

Go the week after your wedding! I know this can be super hard with schedules and the busyness of everyday life, but it is so important that you spend time with your now husband to unwind, spend good quality time, and set the foundation for the rest of your marriage. Even if it's just for 2 days, DO IT! Postponing a honeymoon was not an option for us, so we planned entirely around my school schedule to ensure that we could have a week honeymoon [which is why we had to get married 3 days after Christmas]. It was so much fun to re-live the weekend together and cherish a week of no school, work, emails, stress and just enjoy each other.

[THREE]

Pack an outfit in your carry on bags! Don't you agree that the absolute worst trip to lose your luggage on would be your honeymoon? Yep. That happened to us. Thankfully my brilliant husband suggested that we pack a bathing suit in our carry ons, just in case. Otherwise, we would have been stuck in our room the whole first day. Or he would have ;) Luckily [for me] they lost his luggage and not mine! We had to cancel our dinner reservations and order room service the first night because dress pants were required for men, and he had no clothes! We were super bummed but thankfully his bag came late that night. Moral of the story: be prepared with carry-ons.

[FOUR]

Put your phone down. Luckily we couldn't use our phones in Mexico so I wasn't tempted, but I encourage you to cut it off, put it in your bag, and DON'T look at it until you get home. This is the one week that you can feel guilt-free for not responding to emails, family, friends, etc. I am so guilty of using my phone too much in everyday life, but I am thankful I didn't have it on our honeymoon. Our conversations were uninterrupted, engaging, and it was super nice to have dinner every night without a single text or phone call!

[FIVE]

Don't make plans ahead of time. If you are like us, you will just want to relax. We considered going on an excursion but decided we were happy just sitting on the beach. We were so glad that we didn't book the excursion ahead of time or we would have had to go. Just get there and see how you feel! It is ok to do nothing!

My husband's goal of the trip was to get on this huge wooden horse. So after one a few too many drinks, I made sure no one was coming and he gracefully hopped on. Mature honeymooners.