Micro-wedding + dream honeymoon over “normal” wedding

[groyard]

Just wanting to get some ideas really.

Recently became engaged. For various reasons fiancé and I don’t want a huge wedding. Fiancé grew up with a dad who had a gambling addiction so has a lot of trauma around money and hates to spend - he could never drop £30k on one day. Just not justifiable to him.

We will do a registry office followed by a posh meal (Michelin star?) for around 15 people.

I never got to travel at all due to caring responsibilities. If you were going to have a very extravagant honeymoon (6 weeks) where would you go? Would £20k for luxury-ish hotels even be enough for 6 weeks?

All I know is I want to hit Japan and the Maldives.

If you were doing similar what would be your once in a lifetime itinerary?

You could spend 6 weeks in Japan but you'd need more money!

I'd do Japan south korea vietnam and the phillipines. There are some STUNNING places in the phillipines but they are a bugger to get to. Think multiple flights to ever smaller airports then boats. But some of the most stunning scenery you'll see on this earth. Definitely worth going if you're out for a longer trip and already that side of the world.

firstly you do not want to go to maldives or anywhere coastal in the tropics in the summer as its the rain storm season. maldives is best between Oct - April I would say. even may might be ok. July and August is the worst

i would say 20k minimum for 1 week in maldives if you want a niceish resort and want to fly premium (strongly reccommend this as its a looong flight). the really nice resorts start at 3k/night + hefty tourism tax so even more expensive. but even the 1k/night lower end resorts end up costing around 12/14 k by the time you have paid for everything and done the diving etc. it's certainly worth the price and the watersports side especially diving is amazing so I strongly reccommend.

Japan also expensive although no where near maldives and apparently very hot in summer. would again say best time to visit is spring due to the cherry trees blossoming etc.

if you want to do full 6 weeks, I would say 30k if you do 1 week maldives and rest in cheaper destinations eg. South East Asia - you could do 5 weeks in thailand/vietnam/malaysia/Indonesia for 10k in luxury. probably not including flights though. lots to see in this region - rainforest, coastline, diving, culture and history. the people and food are wonderful. again would not do this in summer due to weather. much better to visit in spring.

I happened to learn about these figures recently, hope you'll find them useful!

My brother has been looking at London hotels to host a wedding dinner for immediate family (around 20 people) and quotes are upwards of £200 per head.

A 5 star hotel in Maldives start at £400 per night and I've seen several upwards of £1000. These are not including food and activities.

A luxury hotel in Tokyo costs upwards of £800 a night and those are the standard double rooms. If you temper your expectations though you can get very clean and comfortable but basic rooms for less than £200 per night... so yes if you don't mind going for a more budget honeymoon you can spend 3 to 4 weeks in Japan quite comfortably.

Congratulations!

It absolutely makes a difference as to whether the restaurant holds one to three stars or if it doesn’t but is in the Michelin guide. (Still amazing food and some of these restaurants are arguably just as good but more up and coming). You very well may get a lovely restaurant in that budget for food per head. Although there’s drinks on top of that (and service) so unless you can negotiate on a drinks/wine option, the drinks can easily cost more than the food.

May I tentatively suggest (I know some will react negatively) some back to back, country intensive cruises? We have done a few (not back to back though) with this company including South Africa, South America and NZ/Australia and had a fantastic time. Will be going with them again. They are small/mid size ships between 500/700 passengers.

https://www.azamara.com/gb/home/why-azamara

Vietnam, Thailand for sure. Your money will stretch and they're stunning places with good tourist infrastructure.