When wedding planning started to make me crazy, I would daydream about our honeymoon. There were so many places we could go! If you’re spending time fantasizing about the perfect honeymoon, then you won’t want to miss the new honeymoon planning tools over at Here Comes the Guide.

(St. Regis Princeville Resort, Kauai / Smoke Tree Ranch, Palm Springs)

Each hotel has been hand-picked, and with well-organized information and beautiful photo galleries, Here Comes the Guide makes it easy to search and compare your options. Want a full spa on-site? Or maybe you’re looking for pet friendly locations. You can even search by what view you want from your room! Here Comes the Guide will help you narrow it down to the perfect place.

(Lucia Lodge, Big Sur / Sycamore Mineral Springs Resort, San Luis Obispo)

Some of the places on my wish list? St. Regis Princeville in Kauai (of course – that’s where I honeymooned!), The Ahwahnee in Yosemite, and Hotel del Coronado in San Diego.

(Hotel del Coronado, San Diego / Casa del Mar, Santa Monica)

Where are you going for your honeymoon? Need more inspiration? Check out Here Comes the Guide’s staff favorites right here. So many amazing California and Hawaii locations to choose from!

Post sponsored by Here Comes the Guide.

This article was originally posted onSnippet & Ink.

Back in the day—I mean way back in the day, well before I met Mr. E—I always dreamed of a honeymoon in Hawaii. I have never been and thought it would be a great way to splurge and enjoy the most tropical state.

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Once Mr. E and I got engaged, we talked about the honeymoon, and he was game for anywhere I wanted to go. We didn’t do the normal, groom-plans-the-honeymoon thing because, let’s face it, I’m a planner. I have planned every vacation that we have gone on together, and Mr. E loves not having that responsibility. (This was actually something that was brought up in our premarital counseling and was the reason Mr. E took on the responsibility of planning a trip for us.) So after we made that decision, I started to actually look into the price of a Hawaiian honeymoon; I thought that we could get more bang for our buck with an all-inclusive deal.

I was drawn to the honeymoon all-inclusive go-to, Sandals resorts. I did some research (a.k.a. lots of reading on the honeymoon boards and the Sandals website) and decided that St. Lucia was it. You get three resorts for the price of one, or as they like to put it, “stay at one, play at three.” Of course I wasn’t really looking at the prices (my bad), but I figured that we could work it into the wedding budget. The room that we want (becuase it has room service included) is on the pricey side, but they do always seem to be having a 60 or 65% off sale. Too bad the cost of flying to St. Lucia was also on the pricey side.

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We were pretty set on Sandals without really thinking about the cost until I started looking into videographers. Wouldn’t it be my luck that the videographers I loved the most were the most expensive? Why can’t it ever be the other way around?

To try and work the budget to our advantage (i.e., squeeze in a videographer without having to lose something else or take on a second job), we really looked at the cost of Sandals and decided we could go somewhere else with just as much sun and fun but a smaller price tag.

I had heard a lot about Excellence Playa Mujeres in Mexico on the Knot’s honeymoon boards, as well as Mrs. Penguin’s two-part review on Weddingbee. I liked it so much I already had it bookmarked as a place for an anniversary trip.

From Texas, the flights to Mexico are shorter and cheaper than it would be to fly all the way to St. Lucia. I read more about the restaurant options and the suite options and thought “Wouldn’t this make a great honeymoon?” The flights would be cheaper, and we could afford an extra night or two for the cost we were looking at with Sandals. Since it is our honeymoon, we decided to splurge and get the two-story rooftop-terrace suite, where we would have our own pool to enjoy away from the crowds (even if it might be too cold to really swim in).

All photos from here

Doesn’t it look amazing?!? We worked with a travel agent to get the best deal possible (she will continue to look for a price drop between when we booked and 45 days before our travel dates) as well as any perks they may be able to offer. There is still the possibility of heading to Sandals someday as an anniversary trip.

Did you go through several decisions before picking your honeymoon destination?

This article was originally posted onWeddingbee.

Minds out of the gutter people. I’m talking honeymoons here. No actual mooning.

Mr. A and I had one place, and one place only, on our minds when we started our search. Greece.

Why? I kid you not, I have loved the island of Santorini since 7th grade (just ask my Mom). I had to do a project for school, as part of our “school Olympics” in which my group represented the nation of Greece. Instantaneously I was over the moon for that island, and well, the entire country. There is seriously something so magical about those white buildings and blue roofs. No?

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So, what was the problem? Greece is not cheap, in case you’re wondering. While Mr. A’s parents so graciously offered to pay, we couldn’t ask them to pay for a trip to Greece.

We did a bit of brainstorming and came up with three potential options.

Our criteria was: Somewhere neither of us have been; Somewhere warm; Somewhere outside of the hurricane area (see: Wedding in September).

1. Bora Bora: So this one could end up being expensive, too, but some friends of ours got great deals – so we thought we’d let the travel agent do some searching.

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2. St. Lucia: We’ve both never been and have heard wonderful things.

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3. Turks & Caicos: Same here – neither of us have been and thought it’d be a good spot to vacation

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We left the hard work up to a travel agent. I first contacted my parents’ travel agent, hoping to have some luck. We did mention Greece as an option as well, but knew it would probably be out of our budget. And, we sort of left the door open to other similar vacation spots based on her recommendations. So what did we end up choosing? You’ll just have to wait and see.

What were your honeymoon requirements? Lots of action? Relaxing on the beach? Staying in the States?

This article was originally posted onWeddingbee.