Although the week leading up to the wedding is going to be filled with lots of fun and activity, try to reserve a special outing or two (or three or four) for just yourselves so that you will have some memories that belong only to the two of you. Obviously, you'll have plenty of alone time during that second week, but even couples who love to do nothing but snuggle need to leave the room and do something at some point. If you've saved a few fun activities for after the ceremony, you know that your second week will be as interesting as the first.

Know the Area

Planning. Organization. As you've already learned, those are the keywords of planning any wedding, and especially the destination wedding. If you don't know anything about the area you're in, then you don't know what kinds of possibilities are available for your honeymoon!

If you book a trip through a resort, you'll be given plenty of information about activities at the site and in the surrounding area. But what if you've chosen a site that's less popular? Do your research! Get on the Internet and look into local sights, sounds, and scenes. Focus on what appeals to you most, but don't overlook a potentially interesting outing just because it doesn't sound like your cup of tea. If every Web site you visit says that you just have to climb to the top of Mount Julius, find out why — even if you normally roll your eyes at the thought of a long trek up a mountain. Maybe there's an ancient ritual performed up there and you'd kick yourself later for missing out on this bit of culture.

Two Can Play That Game!

If you spent the week before the wedding playing volleyball on the beach with your guests, maybe you'd like to spend the week after the wedding in a kayak built for two. Or on a moped zooming down the local roads. Your honeymoon is a time for the two of you to reconnect after the hectic months and weeks that led up to the wedding, so make sure you're putting yourselves in the right setting to do so: Two lounges by the side of the pool might work well for handholding and frequent murmurs of “I love you”; hanging out in a nightclub might not — although maybe the opposite is true for the two of you. Activities that encourage that feeling of intimacy are unique to every couple. If sitting by the pool is going to bore the two of you to tears, don't do it. Do what feels most natural, and your honeymoon will be a blast!

Play Fair

Make sure that the activities you're planning for your honeymoon week appeal to both of you. This is where you're going to learn the fine art of give and take. You can't plan a week of shopping and expect your sports-loving, boutique-hating new husband to keep his mouth shut for too long. Sure, he's a great guy and he wants you to be happy — but this is his honeymoon too.

Ideally, you should try to find a location that has plenty to offer both of you, no matter how diverse your tastes are. To that end, if a quiet honeymoon filled with relaxation sounds like a week of pure boredom to you, don't book a honeymoon on a remote island where there's little to do except soak in the isolation. If your husband-to-be hates crowds, don't drag him to New York City. If neither of you enjoy extensive amounts of traveling, don't book a whirlwind tour of Europe for your honeymoon.

The world is a great big place, so if you're having a hard time coming up with ideas for enjoyable honeymoon locations, talk to a travel agent or get on the Internet and do some research. Although this book has advised against booking your honeymoon with a travel Web site, there's nothing wrong with clicking around on one of these sites to get some ideas about places you might be interested in visiting.

Knowledge Is Power

Saving money is great, and looking for bargains is smart — as long as you're not setting yourself up for trouble. Wondering why you're getting such a great deal on a car rental near a big city? Maybe it's because you don't need one. If you're headed to a city that offers excellent public transportation, renting a car is not only unnecessary, it's also going to end up costing you an arm and a leg to park it in a safe location.

You can save a lot of money by booking off-season travel. Just make sure you know what you're in for once you arrive. Not every area has the threat of major natural disaster looming over its head during the off-peak tourist season, but some do, so check this out for yourself very carefully. Heading down to Cancun in August may seem like a great idea until you turn on the news in late July and watch as a hurricane barrels toward the hotel where you've booked your honeymoon suite.