Maundays Bay, Anguilla — where I send people whose brief is we want to be left alone.
For the newly engaged
You just said yes.
Congratulations — genuinely. Somewhere in the next few weeks, between the venue and the guest list, the honeymoon is going to come up. Here is the short version of what I'd tell you if we were sitting down together.
Start earlier than you think
The rooms worth having — the ones with the view you actually pictured — go ten to fourteen months out. If you're marrying next summer, the honeymoon conversation is now, not after the invitations go out.
This is the part couples are most surprised by, and it's the one that costs the most to get wrong. Booking early costs you nothing extra. Booking late costs you the thing you wanted, and no amount of budget buys back a room that's already gone. If you want the longer version, I wrote one: the honeymoon timeline, month by month.
I'm not a booking service
I'm a collaborator with a point of view. I'll ask what you're actually after — not the destination, the feeling — and then I'll tell you honestly when the plan you've sketched won't get you there. Three countries in nine days rarely does. Neither does the resort everyone tags, if what you actually want is to be left alone.
What you get back is a trip with a shape. Room to breathe between the things worth doing. The right places in the right order at a pace that doesn't need recovering from. And a person on the other end of the phone if something moves while you're gone — which, on a long enough trip, it does.
The honeymoon is the first trip you take as a married couple. It's worth more than the leftover energy at the end of the wedding.
What it costs, plainly
My planning fee runs $250 to $500 depending on how complex the trip is, and I quote it before you commit to anything. No surprises, no percentage of your budget.
Beyond that, I'm paid by the hotels and cruise lines I book — which is also how I get you things you can't request on your own: upgrades where they exist, breakfast, resort credits, a late checkout that actually happens. That's not a favor I'm doing you; it's how the trade works, and I'd rather you understood it than wondered. Here's the whole picture, including the parts that are less flattering.
And if it isn't a honeymoon
Plenty of what I plan has nothing to do with a wedding. If you're carrying a milestone birthday, an anniversary with a number on it, or a group of people who all want different things, that's the same work in a different shape — groups & celebrations, wild places & luxury lodges, and rivers & small ships are where the rest of it lives.
If you'd rather hear it from people who aren't me, the reviews are here.
Twenty minutes, no charge.
Bring the date if you have one, and whatever you've already argued about. I'll tell you what's realistic, what it costs, and whether I'm the right person for it — before anyone commits to anything.
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