So we’ve all seen the romantic comedies where the couple has a wonderful wedding, only to be swept off their feet and taken away to a secret island covered in palm trees, with a sky painted in reds, pinks and purples, while sipping mojitos, listening to the ocean play. – That’s what we all want, to share such a scene, with the person we love. But it takes a lot to get there; it’s not as simple as just jumping on a plane.

Here’s what needs to be done first.

The money

Let’s just be real for a second… Honeymoons aren’t cheap. So you’re going to need to save up for quite a while if you plan on going all out. A lot of people save up for years for their wedding day, but then forget about how much a honeymoon costs too, so you need to write out a budget for both of them so that you have a realistic idea of how much money you’re going to need. It’s great if you have parents, grandparents, or any other family members that are willing to help pay, but not everyone has that option. In that case, your best bet is to take out a loan (assuming you haven’t got any savings). If you’re looking to take out unsecured personal loans, bad credit scores will make this a little harder because banks won’t be as willing to lend you money, but this applies to most loans. The benefit of taking out an unsecured personal loan, is that the interest rates are a lot lower than usual, which means you don’t have to pay back more than what you should.

The booking

Of course, this is the exciting part, but it’s also extremely stressful too. You’ve got so many competing websites throwing out all sorts of numbers at you for the location, the flight, the transport, the hotel, etc. It’s not an easy click and buy, so you both need to sit down as a couple and really evaluate everything and figure out what it is you want. There are tons of amazing deals out there; you just need to look in the right places. Having said that, there are also a lot of traps that will try and take advantage of your circumstances. So always read in between the lines, and if you’re not sure – call up and ask them to confirm the information that you’re looking at is what you think it is. Sometimes, paying a few extra bucks is worth the peace of mind.

These are just the basics, but you can see that it pays off to do things in advance and properly prepare, so that when the day comes, it’s a smooth, easy ride all the way. At the end of it all though, as long as you’re both together, and happy, it shouldn’t matter where you go, or how much money you spend, because you already have the greatest gift of all…