The Alternative Honeymoon: Why We Changed the Plan of Our Dreams

We attended the wedding of our dear friends during our honeymoon.

People still don’t believe me when I tell them that. I think it may have something to do with the fact that that wasn’t the trip we had originally planned. When my now-husband and I first thought of the kind of honeymoon we would want to take, our minds turned naturally to the outdoors. We love hiking, canoeing, and enjoying nature. So we planned an uber-romatic trip to Wyoming, staying in secluded trailhead lodges and mountain cabins.

It still sounds as amazing as it did at the time. But then we opened the mail one day to find a Save-the-Date for our friends’ wedding, happening during the week we had blocked out for our honeymoon. And in Nova Scotia, Canada to boot. What should we do? Take the more traditional, us-centered trip we had planned, or build our trip around another couple’s life event?

Don’t get deterred by others’ expectations of what a honeymoon is or should be.

The more we talked about it, the more my husband kept mentioning a phrase that seemed to make sense: we as a couple were probably always going to visit Yellowstone. Like I said, we love the outdoors. We have always dreamed of hiking the Wyoming trails. The trip we had originally planned was and would always be on our travel radar.

But Nova Scotia? Here was an utterly unconsidered opportunity before us. The tiny seaside town where our friends wed was never going to be a travel goal. We had never even heard of the place! If it weren’t for the wedding, I doubt we would have ever gone at all. But in front of us was a golden opportunity to experience something new together.

Nova Scotia exceeded our biggest and best hopes. It had gorgeous scenery and exceptionally friendly people. And attending our friends’ wedding so soon after our own brought back all the thrilling memories of our day. It was an incredible experience.

No matter the location, you will be reveling in your partner. You’ll be celebrating “us”–maybe just elsewhere than you’d thought.

The advice that I am trying to give here is not to get deterred by others’ expectations of what a honeymoon is or should be. I encourage you and your significant other to make yourselves happy, because no matter where you go or what you do, you’ll spend the time wrapped up in the joy of being together–which is pretty much the only function of the honeymoon anyway. No matter the location, you will be reveling in your partner. You’ll be celebrating “us”–maybe just elsewhere than you’d thought.

And just to quell any doubts, did our honeymoon lose significance by being shared with a group of friends? Absolutely not! Our friends were just as excited to celebrate our honeymoon as they were to toast the wedding we were gathered for. It was a great experience.