The wedding is over and it’s finally time for your intimate getaway, a chance for you and your partner to spend some quality time together before heading back to reality. So where do you go? Well unless you’re Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner, you may need to budget and plan for your great escape. Honeymoons can be expensive, so to help you along, we’ve gathered a few spots for a budget-friendly honeymoon:
Proudly South African
With so much beauty around the corner, you may want to opt for a local honeymoon. Do you know your own town, city or province?
1. The Garden Route
With 300km worth of beauty, the options are endless. Make a road trip of it. Check in to a local lodge or hotel and become a tourist in your own town. Make sure you don’t miss out on whale watching in Hermanus and the nature reserves along the Garden Route. Enjoy the beautiful white sand beaches of Plettenberg Bay. Get your surf on in J Bay, or pop in to the Addo Elephant Park.
2. Cape Town
It is regarded as one of the most beautiful cities in the world. With so much to see and do, you and your partner will have plenty to keep you busy and connecting in a special way. Be sure to checkout Table Mountain, Bo Kaap, Boulders Beach, Cape of Good Hope, and Chapman’s Peak Drive.
3. Hazyview, Mpumalanga
There are tons of adventurous things to do, such as horse riding, abseiling, river rafting and visiting the area’s incredible elephant sanctuary. You can even hop in a hot air balloon for a tour with a whole different view!
Venturing out of the South
1. Mauritius
Sit back and relax while enjoying the picturesque beaches. The beautiful island is known for boasting great hiking trails, exquisite waterfalls, and lovely fresh seafood.
2. Kenya
Get the best of both worlds in this beautiful country. Enjoy the great safaris and stunning beaches.
3. Zanzibar
Soak up the sun on their gorgeous beaches and have a dive while you’re there! Be sure to check out Jozani Chwaka Bay National Park too.
Up up and away
1. Bali
This magnificent Indonesian island offers many affordable packages which can include your accommodation and activities. Take a look at the exquisite temples and breathtaking beaches.
2. Brazil
Take advantage of Brazil’s visa-free entry for South Africans! This magnificent and culturally-rich country offers much to see. From stunning beaches to the famous picture-perfect moment at Christ the Redeemer. Enjoy the beautiful mountains and snap a pic at the Escadaria Selaron.
3. Sri Lanka
While flights to Sri Lanka may be a bit steep, the country itself is inexpensive. Accommodation is affordable and there’s a lot to see, from ancient city ruins and temples to epic national parks.
Picture: Unsplash
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Along with the excitement of a wedding comes all the events and parties that lead up to the big day. One of the most popular pre-wedding celebrations is the bridal shower. Or is it the kitchen tea? They are similar, but there are a few differences.
Kitchen teas are more common in Australia, South Africa and New Zealand, whereas the US, UK, Belgium, Netherlands and a few other countries in Europe tend to host bridal showers.
The kitchen tea is a time to celebrate the bride-to-be, and guests bring items that can be added to the newlyweds’ kitchen as gifts. It is typically hosted at the bride’s or her mother’s house. Female friends and family are invited – kitchen teas are typically attended only by the women in the bride’s life. It is usually quite a relaxed environment and can involve fun games.
The bridal shower is a party hosted for the bachelorette. Her guests ‘shower’ her with gifts of any kind, that can be for her personal use or for her and her future spouse’s home. Brides-to-be may create a gift registry for their guests to help with ideas. The bridal shower provides the perfect opportunity for both sides of the family to mingle!
There’s no need to keep things too traditional, though. You can mix it up a bit by having a theme. You can even customise the party according to what the bachelorette likes. For example, a bride-to-be who enjoys the outdoors might appreciate a hike or scenic route, or a bachelorette with a creative streak may love a cake-decorating party.
Remember to save all the ‘naughty’ things for the bachelorette party, though!
Picture: Pexels
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Whether you are paying for the wedding yourselves or your parents are contributing, you will need to calculate how much money you have to spend. Once you have this figure, immediately set aside 5-10% of that for contingency.
Establishing and sticking to your budget is the best gift you can give yourself as a couple. In order to do this, you have to ensure that all your planning is documented. But before you start crunching numbers, think about the overall feeling you want your wedding to have as this will affect how you spend within your budget.
Do your research on vendors and get estimates on how much each thing will cost. This will include everything from venue to flowers to the dress and so on. Then get quotes from vendors and write it all down next to estimated costs.
Now that you know what kind of wedding you would like to have and how much money you have to spend, put together a rough guest list. The number of guests determines your venue, food and alcohol.
These are generally the largest expenses and a wise rule to follow is to allocate 40% of your budget to these three things.
It is time to discuss your non-negotiables with your partner (try to keep it down to three). These are things that you have always dreamed of having at your wedding and are willing to spend the money needed in order to achieve them. Research vendors and get quotes so that you can allocate it to the budget and then see how much is left to spend on the rest of the wedding. If you are already over budget based on your list, or close to the end of your budget, have a look at your priorities again and see what you can reduce.
Now that you’ve got all your quotes and guest list numbers, you can create the spreadsheet. You can get a template online or create your own but try to keep it as simple as possible. Put your overall sum in the top corner somewhere and then create these tabs: estimated, modified and actual.
Your estimated tab will be amounts that you have found based on research.
Modified will have real quotes from vendors.
Actual will be the final amount that you end up paying.
Time for a reality check – does your budget allow you to achieve what you want? If not, you may have to adjust your budget if that is an option or adjust your expectations.
Steps to take in order to ensure you stick to your budget:
- Figure out how much you have to spend.
- Research vendors and get quotes before settling on your budget.
- Write a list including all researched costs and quotes from vendors.
- Write down your proposed guest list
- Create the spreadsheet and input all the relevant information.
Image: Unsplash
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There are all kinds of unique wedding traditions across the world, some of them rather strange. We compiled a list of the eight oddest we have come across.
Banging on the wedding night in France
This may not be the kind of banging you would expect on the wedding night. Family and friends gather outside the house of newlyweds to bang on pots and pans. The couple then also serves their guests drinks and snacks. This age-old French tradition is known as Charivari.
Fat arms in Mauritania
In Mauritania, brides work towards becoming chubbier in preparation for their weddings, as it is believed to be a good luck charm in their tradition.
The groom is beat with fish in Korea
South Koreans believe that in order to make the groom ready for the first night of the marriage, his feet should be beaten by dead fish and bamboo sticks.
Scotland’s “Blackening Ritual”
This age-old tradition involves family and friends showering the couple with all sorts of disgusting things and then tie them to a tree. This is done to help the bride and groom prepare them for anything life throws their way.
Crying for a month before the wedding
Chinese brides have to cry every day for an hour for the entire month leading up to their wedding. For the Tujia people in China, crying ushers in a good wedding or life event.
Stealing brides
In some small villages in Germany, grooms aren’t guaranteed that their brides will make it to the altar on time, or at all. Kidnapping the bride is an old custom, beloved by pranksters, and carried out by friends of the betrothed-to-be. The locals might provide clues for the groom as to where his bride is, provided they are invited to the wedding. If they do not receive an invite, however, custom demands that the brideless groom pick up the bar tab – for the entire pub.
Carrying coins in shoes
In Sweden, brides are decked out from head to toe in tradition. They often wear crowns made of myrtle flowers, which symbolise virginity, marital fidelity, and good luck on their heads. In their shoes, they tuck one coin each – a silver coin in the left shoe from their father, and gold one in the right from their mom. The coins symbolise hope for the couple’s marital prosperity.
Pin the cash on the bride
Weddings in Cuba are nonreligious civil ceremonies. Even so, they are often extravagant affairs, earmarked by interesting customs such as the “money dance”.
Meant to help fill the newlywed’s coffers, this tradition is also tons of fun for guests. After the formal ceremony’s pomp and circumstance is over, male wedding guests who wish to dance with the bride must first pin money to her dress.
Picture: Pixabay