Honeymoontastic

Avoid the honeymooners

Flamingo — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 10:27:50 GMT

There is a great article on the UK Sunday Times website subtitled:
The one thing you don’t want on a honeymoon is other honeymooners. So, skip the stilted villa and make a romantic escape of your own

But what caught my eye was the great quote:

"Wedding chat. You either love it, or you’re a man. Which is why, if ever you want to see the very acme of badly concealed despair, you should look at the face of a brand-new groom as the breakfast-buffet small talk reveals an awful truth – that he’s just forked out a king’s ransom to spend his honeymoon surrounded by honeymooners. "

“Oh, my dear Lord,” the blank eyes and wobbling grin seem to cry out. “I’ve just survived 12 weeks of pretending to care about table decorations and canapé trays; now I have to spend the next fortnight reliving every detail with a charming couple from Tunbridge Wells. Come sunset, I’m over the fence.”

Now that's a well observed statement ;-)

Necker island - free to millionaires

Flamingo — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 16:18:55 GMT

OK - yes I am jealous and no this isn't going to be very balanced ;-)

How come Wayne Rooney and Coleen McLoughlin (or Filthy Rich and Catflap as they shall now be known) have been offered big Dick Branson's Necker island for free on their honeymoon? If anyone could afford the £23k a night price it would be them yet they are being offered the 74 acre island for free......grumble.....grumble.

Moonpig cards

Flamingo — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 08:24:55 GMT

Moonpig cards have really tapped into the celebrity wedding market. Fancy having your friends face appear in a special edition of celebrity "OI" magazine? Then get them a card from Moonpig.

With plenty of options to upload photos and change headlines, these cards are a great way to send personlised best wishes to the bride and groom.

Another day another list

Flamingo — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 10:59:16 GMT

Another top 10 honeymoon cities list but this one is actually quite good as it tells you where to get the most romantic bang for your buck (if you'll excuse the expression!)

10 Biggest Prewedding Mistakes

Flamingo — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 06:59:11 GMT

According to theknot.com even the smartest, most on-top-of-things couple can make mistakes during wedding planning. Here are the 10 things you should keep an eye on before saying I do.

Fantasy brides

Flamingo — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 07:05:33 GMT

It looks like a Moonie mass marriage ceremony but actually it's the annual Wedding Dress Ball, at which 150 women get to relive their big day in their big dress – only this time with the addition of tattoos, Magic Knickers and flip-flops.

This article in the UK Telegraph explains how new "fantasy bride" events are helping to raise money for charity.

2 words you don't want to hear together

Flamingo — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 13:24:08 GMT

She's a bride and she's an attorney and the honeymoon must be over. Elena Glatt, a Manhattan lawyer, is suing Posy Florists on East 72nd Street in New York for $400,000 for substituting pastel pink and green hydrangeas for the rust and green ones she'd requested for her 22 wedding reception centerpieces.

Is this a bit over the top? Glatt told the New York Times that they had reluctantly paid for the flowers in advance, with a cashier's check for $27,435.14. She accused the florist of a "bait and switch" scheme, and asked for more than $400,000 in restitution and damages for, among other things, "unjust enrichment" by the florist.

The paper notes that not only was the color wrong, Ms. Glatt said in the lawsuit, filed on Friday in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, but the hydrangeas were wilted and brown, and arranged in dusty vases without enough water.

The florist, Stamos Arakas, owns Posy Floral Design. He said that before filing the lawsuit, Ms. Glatt sent him a series of e-mail messages demanding a $4,000 refund. He said he and his wife ignored the e-mail messages because "we thought they were so insulting they didn't dignify a response" and because it "felt like extortion."

Free wedding planning

Flamingo — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 13:10:03 GMT

Would you like to have your wedding planned for free?

Couples in the UK with a budget of over £5000 who have not booked any of their wedding yet now qualify for completely free Professional Wedding Planning from one of the most innovative Wedding Planning organisations in the country.

Based in Wales with associates throughout the UK, MyWeddingPlanners.co.uk have strived for the last few years to bring the best value in Wedding Planning to their customers

Airbus honeymoon suites

Flamingo — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 12:24:36 GMT

Singapore Airlines have purchased 19 new A380 "Super Jumbos" with honeymoon suites included!

Twelve private “suites” created by the French yacht designer Jean-Jacques Coste grace the front half of the plane’s lower deck. Designed to maximize privacy, these partitioned nooks are each fitted with fully adjustable leather seats and a separate bed that folds out with a full-sized mattress, draped in crisp cream-colored linens designed by Givenchy.

To see more photos have a look here!

Catching up with technology

Flamingo — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 11:15:25 GMT

Slowly but surely we're catching up with the rest of the blog world as we now have our own RSS feed!

It's taken a little longer than expected to put in place (as you'll notice we don't use a common blog package like blogger) but it's here now.

Honeymooning with kids

Flamingo — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 07:40:53 GMT

Many more people are getting married later in life or getting married for the second time which ultimately leads to children being part of the wedding plans...but what about the honeymoon?

This article over at iVillage gives you some ideas on how to mix children and honeymoons.

Wanted - one romantic country wedding

Flamingo — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 11:52:16 GMT

Cities simply don't inspire the imagination or set off beautiful wedding attire in the way that the countryside can. According to this article in the Telegraph (UK) if the church ain't 300 years old, it ain't gonna do.

Hey it's Friday!

Flamingo — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 08:09:41 GMT

Hey, it's Friday so let's waste a little time and laugh at other people's expense!

Shy couple married by Branson!

Flamingo — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 08:55:43 GMT

It strikes me that if you are a shy and retiring couple, the last thing you want is Sir Richard of Branson marrying you on one of his planes at 30 thousand feet! However that's what happened to Coco & Papdogonas on a flight as part of a PR stunt to launch a new Virgin America route to Las Vegas.

The wedding couple at first was apprehensive about the idea of a public relations send-off but warmed to the idea.

"Neither of us are public type of people," said Coco Jones, 39, who lives in San Francisco with her 40-year-old husband, Papadogonas. "We talked about it, and it was just such a turnkey for us."

Virgin America launch party

Confetti card discussion

Flamingo — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 11:26:35 GMT

In principle the Confetti card sounds fantastic, your friends and family conttribute towards a fund that is put onto a debit card that you can use to buy wedding stuff or honeymoon items with.

However as with any groundbreaking idea you have to have the ability to support it properly. As this forum post (on Confetti's own site) protests, things haven't been going to well in Confetti card world.

Honeymoons for dummies

Flamingo — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 09:30:06 GMT

OK so we all know that it's the groom's job to organise the honeymoon so how apt is this book title?

Thanks to Amazon you now have something to guide "hubby to be" in the right direction when it comes to planning YOUR perfect honeymoon.

What's your wedding dance 2 B ?

Flamingo — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 09:21:05 GMT

What is your first dance going to be at your wedding?

If youtube is anything to go by, it would appear that you can't just have a basic soppy slow dance. Oh no, all first dances now have to be "themed" but when you see how many Thriller choreographed first dances there are you can see that you'll have to do something pretty special to top it.

Honeymoons for the disabled

Flamingo — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 10:27:19 GMT

We often talk about honeymoons on luxury islands and exotic beaches but what options are there if you are disabled?

This article on the London Times website highlights where you can go and who to talk to if you need a disabled friendly honeymoon.

A mini honeymoon

Flamingo — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 08:57:56 GMT

I'm a big fan of Ben Stiller - Dodgeball, Zoolander etc etc but now he's taken on the honeymoon with a remake of the 70's classic "the heartbreak kid". In it he finds that his new wife is not as errr sophisticated as he thought and things start to go from bad to worse......i'm not a film critic so let's leave it there BUT Mini, who provided the car for the film are offering you a chance to take a road trip in the footsteps of the film's characters.

Do it yourself honeymoons

Flamingo — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 07:59:56 GMT

I've got a number of friends in the travel industry, all of whom repeat the mantra "only use bonded tour operators". Ths is fair enough if you are booking everything through one company so that the whole of your honeymoon is covered.

However the rise of Online Travel Agents has lead to more people mixing and matching their itinerary leading to some doubt over which bits of your honeymoon are actually covered. If you are travelling across the States for your honeymoon and book each hotel individually over the internet and one goes bust, are you covered? I doubt it!

This leads me to the idea that for quick get aways, Expedia etc are fantastic for planning, booking and saving wad loads of cash. But for that one off special honeymoon,get in touch with an expert and let them help you plan and buy your honeymoon. It will probably cost more in the short term but in the long run you'll get a much more memorable experience.