Couples Are Not Taking Honeymoons Anymore, Here’s Why
More couples are ditching traditional honeymoons, like laying out on a beach, in favor of more meaningful experiences, like eco-tourism, that have positive and lasting impacts on the world.
If you’re a fan of television dramas, especially those from the 1980s, you may be familiar with the Waltons. The family of seven children, a mom, and a dad, as well as the father’s parents, live in one home in rural Appalachia during the Great Depression. In one episode, the parents discuss not ever having taken a honeymoon after their wedding despite being married for 19 years. Although the country was going through a depression and most US families had to scrimp and save every penny to survive, the idea of honeymoons and traveling at least once in their lifetimes was important to them.
Spoiler alert, Ma and Pa Walton finally went on a very brief one-day honeymoon to Virginia Beach before returning to their children. The message? You don’t need a honeymoon when you have all the love in the world. In addition, honeymoons are frivolous and unnecessary. True? Perhaps.
According to Travel & Leisure, more wedded couples are forgoing their honeymoons, but not exactly altogether. Many couples want tailored experiences that are meaningful to them. No longer content to lie on a beach sipping Mai Tais together, couples want to do something that has meaning in their life. Other couples choose to take in local eco-tourism and help with the local environment.
Couples have found ways to save money and cut some corners in order to afford such trips and honeymoons. For one, because of the advent of the internet and everyone having online access, couples can forgo traditional invitations and save the dates. They can simply create a website through a company like Zola that can give all the details including the couple’s story.
Couples may also choose to not have a traditional wedding registry where they ask attendees for toasters and place settings. There are now online registries that allow friends and families to give money straight to the couple for a honeymoon experience they have determined before the wedding. The honeymoons are listed on a website and folks can play a part in which trip the couple should take.
Although expensive honeymoons are trending downward, honeymoons that have an educational purpose are trending upward. Couples want an experience where they can improve their lives or the lives of others. This aligns with the digital nomad trend where couples and families forgo a traditional home and choose to live out of an RV and work remotely from wherever they travel to.
The children are homeschooled while one of the parents works with the help of an internet signal. These families believe that learning about life by living life is the way to go. They don’t necessarily want their children to attend a traditional school, but like this recent trend in honeymoons, they believe their children can learn by experiencing life.
Although some people are choosing non-traditional ways of living their lives, honeymoons will probably not go extinct. There will always be folks who just want to get away to someplace like Virginia Beach before they settle down to have 7 children (or none).
