It was hard work, but you planned the perfect honeymoon. It's two in the morning, you're getting married at noon, and you can't find the plane tickets. Or your passport. Your new wife's first order of business is going to be to sell you on the black market. Not really — because you won't put yourself in this position (will you?).

Guard Your Paperwork

In order to avoid standing in line at the airport until your first anniversary, you will most likely receive your boarding passes prior to your day of travel. Do not throw them on the coffee table with your sports magazines. Don't put them in the glove compartment along with every receipt and gum wrapper you've collected in the past eighteen months.

If you have a fire-safe box or a safe, put your tickets safely within their confines. If not, find a spot for them — a place that won't slip your mind. If your top dresser drawer is that spot, fine. If it's the filing cabinet in your home office, great.

When you are packing for your honeymoon, don't forget the tickets. This is your responsibility, and though it sounds obvious enough to you right now, you're going to be a busy bee in the days before your wedding. Because most men don't consider packing for a trip a priority, you may find yourself packing only a day or two (or, if you're like a lot of men, perhaps just hours) before your wedding. There's inherent danger in this plan, as your last-minute packing may become distracted by a call from the bride, or the tux shop, or your best man, resulting in you forgetting your swim trunks on your bed — along with your plane tickets.

Tickets shouldn't be packed in the bottom of your suitcase, of course, because you'll need them at the airport. They're better off in your carry-on bag, along with all of your other valuables and can't-live-without items.

Even if you are completely against the idea of carry-on luggage (you just despise those people who are always trying to squeeze their bags into overhead compartments), pack a carry-on bag anyway. If your luggage is temporarily waylaid (your suitcase goes to Munich while you're vacationing in Miami), you'll be very happy to have a pair of clean underwear and deodorant at your disposal (as well as prescription medicines, your glasses — and anything else you absolutely can't do without).

Hotel Reservations

If you're staying in a local hotel on your wedding night and/or on your honeymoon, confirm your reservations before you show up on their doorstep. When the reservations were made, you should have been given a confirmation number. If you lost it, you'll have to give your information all over again, but otherwise, don't panic.

When confirming your reservations, ask about:

The room size

The nightly rate

Smoking/nonsmoking rooms

Check-in time

If this information does not match up to your original criteria, ask to speak to the manager on duty. Don't shrug off a price increase; don't accept their word that the “new” check-in time is now five in the evening. If this is not what you were told when you reserved the room, straighten it out now.

Also, call to confirm your airline reservations at least twenty-four hours in advance. Since check-in times for domestic and international flights change with the security policies in airports, check the current recommendations on the day before your flight, as well. (The check-in times vary according to whether you're checking bags or not.) These tasks can be completed by calling your airline's automated check-in/ reservations telephone number. Quick, easy, all done.

Surprise!

A bride who loves surprises may just trust you to plan a surprise honeymoon. In this case, she'll be on a need-to-know agenda. Don't forget to tell her if she needs to update her passport, for example, as a stern, unyielding customs agent is not the surprise she'll be looking for on her honeymoon.

And don't pull the old Surprise Switcheroo on her unless you're one hundred percent sure that it will only add to her delight, keeping in mind that she's been dealing with all sorts of vendors and family members and she might be on edge. In other words, if she's going to need a swimsuit, don't tell her to pack her snow gear. You might find yourself zipped up and trapped in her parka while she combs the beaches by herself.

Got the Cash?

Even if the two of you have agreed to charge the bulk of your honeymoon expenses (so that you won't risk carrying — and losing — large amounts of cash), you should have some cold hard currency on your person for emergencies. You never know when a connecting flight will be canceled, for instance. You could find yourself in some strange hotel overnight, next door to the one restaurant in the area — which operates on a cash-only basis.

Cash also comes in handy for little things along the way, like the toothpaste and shampoo that neither of you remembered to pack.

And speaking of which … budgeting for the honeymoon often includes the cost of travel, food, souvenirs, sightseeing, and the like. If you're headed to a tourist hotspot, pack all of your necessities, like your toiletries and medicines, before you leave home. Sure, you may feel like your parents on a road trip, but your parents pack this way for a reason — it saves them a lot of dough.

When you're in an unfamiliar area and you're desperate for allergy medicine, you don't know which places are reasonably priced and which are known for outrageously gouging tourists. Even in the town you live in, you have your preferences based on price. Since you're not going to spend your honeymoon comparison shopping, you'll be forced to use the nearest stores — and the stores that are near vacation spots are there to make a buck off of you.

Obviously, buying one package of antihistamine isn't going to break your bank account — but buying all of your necessities in a tourist town will add up to more than you expect.