Honeymoon... known destination or someplace new?

I'd ask your FH what he thinks. Personally, I want our honeymoon to be a place we experience together for the first time so we can explore and discover it together. I feel like this will make the trip even more special. I'd also vote for a longer trip if you can since it will give you more time to unwind and relax (though obviously, you will still want to go some place luxurious so you will need to find a way to balance that).

Exploring someplace new together is amazing. But it can also be a lot of fun to go someplace that one of you hasn't seen before. For our honeymoon, we plan to go to Disney World. My fiance absolutely loves it there and I've never been. We're both huge Disney nerds so it seemed like the perfect place. He knows his favorite things to do there and I love letting him be my tour guide. It's so sweet to see him get excited about things he knows and remembers.

I feel like a honeymoon is a new beginning, and exploring a new place with FH would be better than going somewhere you've already been. You can always go back to the resort for another vacation in the future, but pick somewhere that would be exciting for both of you for your honeymoon!

We did a mini moon within two hours of our home (a place we had visited a before) and our honeymoon later in Disney later. The mini moon was nice because we could relax and if I didn’t see everything I didn’t feel horrible. When we went to Disney (we actually squeezed in Universal and also St Augustine as well) we were busy the entire night and day. It wasn’t quite as honeymoonish as our mini moon. I’m a huge fan of doing a mini moon after the wedding and a honeymoon a little later.

@Happy Hedgie...I want our honeymoon to be a place we experience together for the first time so we can explore and discover it together.

This is kind of what I was thinking... but the "control freak" in me would be devastated to go somewhere new and have it be a "flop."

I think there's a happy medium between exploring a new place and having your FH be way out of his comfort zone. What if you picked a new resort in a place you've been? That way you two can explore some new things around the resort together, but you have some knowledge of the area if you need to pull an idea out of your pocket in an instant. Also, it may be your FH's first time seeing the ocean, but have you travelled with him before? What's his travelling style? Use that to help dictate where you go and how much you do.

For example, FH and I like using travel to explore new places together, we like being outside of our comfort zone and we understand it won't always be rainbows and sunshine. We like getting off of the beaten path and outside of resorts and very touristy areas. We like a little bit of a challenge and a successful trip for us isn't defined by having everything go 100% smoothly. What do you and your FH likes? If your FH likes a place where the majority of people speak English, he can easily find food he knows and likes, etc etc. Then a resort is probably a good bet. If you and he like exploring a bit, there are many resorts in areas near lots of things you can explore.

I also think you need to redefine what a 'successful' trip looks like to you. There are so many variables you can't control when you travel. You can't control the weather, if someone gets ill (diarrhea, etc), how others around you will behave. What you can control is researching ahead to find out if there are things in the area you know you and your FH will like and booking ahead when possible. Some of my best trip memories come out of situations where we had to rethink our plan and fly by the seat of our pants.

FH and I have travelled a bit together already and we live in Florida so we wanted something off the beaten path. For our January wedding, we originally wanted to head to Montana or Wyoming for a snowy escape but FH has never played in the snow (Florida boy) so instead we are headed to Hawaii for a week! The weather will be perfect and it's someplace neither of us have been! We have our whole lives to take a vacation so we will head to the snow eventually!

We're going somewhere I've never been but FH has. It's okay though because we're determined to do stuff he hasn't done. It's your honeymoon! You'll have fun no matter what

I'm sorry to hear about your mom.

If it were me, I'd rather go someplace new. Either way, it'll be new for your FH, so for you, I'd go somewhere you haven't already been.

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Thank you!

One good thing is even if we go back to the area I was with mom, there's tons of stuff to do and explore that mom and I weren't able to do... we had a very mellow, relaxed trip... I am hoping FH and I will have a good mix of chill time and adventure time.

My FH and I are going to a location I have been to before but we are staying on a different side of the island and doing many things neither of us have done before. Kind of a happy medium.

Depends on you! I am more relaxed in familiar locations, so we're going to a family vacation home that we go to frequently.

Originally we were planning to go somewhere new together (Fiji & New Zealand). However, when it came time to book our honeymoon, I was tired of planning stuff. Also, I was super stressed by wedding planning, and the thought of planning a trip to somewhere outside the US that neither of us had been to was making me even more stressed out.

We compromised by visiting one place H had been to (London) and one place I had been to (Edinburgh). It was the perfect honeymoon for us. We are hoping to do the New Zealand/Fiji trip next year.

I think it it depends on what you are comfortable with. Exploring somewhere new together would be a lovely start to a marriage. Showing your FH around a location new to him also would be a wonderful honeymoon.