A few months before the military wedding, reality set in. We wouldn’t get to take a long honeymoon right after our January wedding like most “regular” couples I knew (I didn’t know any military couples at the time). Our plan was a quick weekend getaway and then back to San Diego to pack up and move all the way to Rhode Island. Hubby had been assigned a year of grad school and had to report for the winter term. I wasn’t sure how to feel.
I was so excited to marry the love of my life and start our life across the country. I was a little bit bummed that we weren’t getting a “real” honeymoon. How would that affect the start of our married life? Would it hurt us by not getting much time away from it all, just the two of us? We planned to take a honeymoon 6 months later when he had a break from school, but delaying made me nervous. I had heard that sometimes people “plan” to have a honeymoon and never take one.
What military spouses tell about honeymoons
6 years later, I’ve been reflecting on my wedding and honeymoon. I recently polled my milspouse blogger friends and asked them if and when they had a honeymoon, and how they felt about it. Check out what these ladies have to say:
- We got married after a month of being engaged. We also moved my stuff from South Carolina to California. Rather than have a honeymoon, we decided to take advantage of being in California and make many small trips to different parts of the state. We didn’t have an official “honeymoon” but if someone asks, I’m likely to tell them that our honeymoon was two years of traveling up and down the west coast. We also stopped at the Grand Canyon during the many trips back and forth for the move and wedding. It was before we were married but I joked about it being our “honeymoon.”
- We had a 4-day honeymoon which was pretty traditional. Our wedding came a month after husband came home. I will always be so happy that we were able to take the time for a honeymoon and to just be together after such an immensely stressful and emotional year. It was the perfect start to being a married couple for us.
- We had a brief one night “honeymoon” in Mystic, CT thanks to a snowstorm that closed the highway. We were on our way to Quantico so I could be enrolled in DEERS. Post deployment (2.5 years after getting married), we had a real honeymoon in Jamaica. Both are memorable, and I’m glad it worked out this way.
- We were pretty traditional. He took 2 weeks of leave to get married, so we left for our Honeymoon on the night of our wedding, stayed at a local hotel, then drove up the East Coast to spend 5 days in Maine. It was a wonderful vacation, the first we ever took with just the 2 of us. It was a wonderful way to start married life together! When we drove back, we went straight to our new off-base apartment and started making it home together.
- We did not have a honeymoon, he left for basic about one month later (which was also when our son was born) but for our one year anniversary we had a mini-honeymoon.
- We had a 2 night “honeymoon” at a local hotel. Part of that also included getting me registered in DEERS. Then my husband left to go back to his duty station for a few months before taking more leave to help me (and our stuff) get moved down there. We planned on doing a real one layer but its been years and we still haven’t gotten around to it.
- My husband have been married for a year and half now. Next year we are going our honeymoon to Thailand. I’m glad we waited because now we have something really special.
- I planned my wedding in 3 WEEKS for when my husband would be home for Thanksgiving. He hadn’t been home in 6 months so we had to spend the holiday with family. We didn’t take a honeymoon until the following summer when we went on a cruise to the Bahamas! I found my wedding to be so stressful that I don’t think would have been able to enjoy it as much as I did 6 months after the fact. Our honeymoon was not about the wedding or even “marriage,” it was simply about being together. I enjoyed not being worried about thank you cards and returning messages.
A better honeymoon than I ever dreamed
Before getting married, we had dated long-distance and only lived in the same city for a few short months. We never lived together until we got married, so the first six months of married life felt like a crash course in communication, compromise and figuring out life together. Looking back, had we gone on our honeymoon right away, we might not have gotten as much enjoyment out of it. As it turned out husband and I had an amazing honeymoon.
We booked our trip for 6 months after the wedding and took a cruise around Italy, which was a dream!
At the six month mark, we had worked through some of those “newlywed” issues. Even thought I was afraid to put off our honeymoon, it worked out perfectly for us. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to get a “mini” honeymoon, and an extended one later!