When to Honeymoon?

When we got engaged, the honeymoon destination was a no brainer for me - New Zealand.

At the time I didn't know a lot about the country, just that everyone that I talk to about it would say "It was amazing" or "I wish I could go there", and that the Lord of the Ring trilogy was filmed there (and as my Mr is a huge fan I figured this would be the lynch pin in convincing him to fly halfway around the world)..

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I also knew that it would be an expensive trip that we would probably find a hundred excuses as to why we should go if it were just a normal holiday trip, where as a honeymoon is different. People are gifting you money to put towards your future (I am signing up for a honey fund account).

But now that I'm taking the time to research this trip the price tag is a lot higher then I was truly prepared for. Some may suggest that we should just pick a different location, something more affordable but I don't want to go on just any trip, I want it to be a dream vacation. I still think that its doable but we now need to make some decisions based on the following information:

• Planning to leave between November and February is twice the cost of going in July or August as their seasons are the reverse of ours. We are talking thousands of dollars more

We agreed that we would rather travel in New Zealand's off season and save, as neither of us care for extreme heat and their winter temperatures sound more like our fall season here (Highs of 16C & Lows of 5C). It will still be beautiful.

• It costs 50,000 aeroplan points to fly us from our home to Vancouver BC (where we could get a direct flight to Auckland), as I just redeemed points for my bachelorette trip, I need to collect 40,000 points before I can purchase the tickets or end up spending $500+/ticket.

I normally collect 2000 points a month but if we went this summer I would need to collect double that, and although the additional wedding costs will help I don't know if this is realistic. We might end up paying for at least one of our domestic flights if they need to be purchased in the next 6 months.

• Leaving in August 2011 does not give us a lot of time to save since we will be paying for the wedding in June. Not to mention my Mr doesn't have the same flexibility on vacation time as I do so it will be harder for him to take off time the same summer as the wedding.

Looking at the facts, the smart and responsible thing to do would be to plan our honeymoon for the summer of 2012. Its just weird for me to postpone it for that long after it. I know other friends that had a mini honeymoon immediately after the wedding, like getting away to a cottage for a few days, and then leave on their international honeymoon one to two years later but I don't want a "mini' honeymoon prior. I think that would BE the honeymoon then and the other trip would just be a trip.

But if I skip the mini and still wait a year to go on the honeymoon is it still a honeymoon? Will it feel special or just a trip?