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AIBU?

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Original poster

To think minimoons are ridiculous!?

100 replies

GoldenNuggets08 · 21/05/2025 13:57

Can someone explain why the term "minimoon" was invented? Did the tourism/ travel industry come up with it to get even more money from people?

I had a conversation recently with people about where to go on honeymoon, and a significant proportion of the group were going on "minimoon" shortly after the wedding to places like Italy, Malta, Portugal, Greece, Croatia..... and then 6-12 months after the wedding were doing a bigger trip like safari in South Africa or Mexico... surely the "minimoon" is the honeymoon and the other trip is just a holiday??? It's a bit "you went to Tenerife, I went to Elevenerife"...

OP posts:
IDontLikePinaColadas · 21/05/2025 14:01

I know my friends who have done it because they can’t get the time off work to take say a week off prior to the wedding and then another 2+ weeks off after for the “trip of a lifetime”, but they want a few days to decompress and enjoy the start of their married life together.

Kalara · 21/05/2025 14:02

cash flow.

beAsensible1 · 21/05/2025 14:02

i think they want a short break after the wedding but want to either spread the cost of the bigger honeymoon as weddings tends to wipe people out.

or needing build up some AL as they've taken off a bunch of days in the lead up to the wedding.

i'd need to decompress after a wedding before bundling off for a 10-14hr trip for 2+ weeks

a quick trip to europe is just a carryon and a few clothes lounging about with good food and going for a walk or two. south africa and mexico is planning and "doing things"

Commonsenseisnotsocommon · 21/05/2025 14:02

You do you, sunshine, but some of us weren't able to take a stretch of time off to get away on the big dream honeymoon. Why does it bother you so much?

IFellInto · 21/05/2025 14:02

It’s all marketing and a way of getting people to part with cash.

I feel disproportionately irate about the term about babymoon. Why did that become a thing? People now feel the need to do this, but why can’t they just say ‘we’re having a holiday before the baby arrives’?

beAsensible1 · 21/05/2025 14:03

IFellInto · 21/05/2025 14:02

It’s all marketing and a way of getting people to part with cash.

I feel disproportionately irate about the term about babymoon. Why did that become a thing? People now feel the need to do this, but why can’t they just say ‘we’re having a holiday before the baby arrives’?

they've made a sentence a word. its efficient

TENSsion · 21/05/2025 14:03

They’re all just holidays.

Helpmeplease2025 · 21/05/2025 14:03

If people want to do it, it’s fine by me. No skin off my nose. Can’t see why it would bother you what anyone else does unless you’re jealous.

sundaybloodysunday12 · 21/05/2025 14:04

Yes, it’s a load of shit.

As you say, holiday after wedding = honeymoon

holdiay after that = holiday.

SchnizelVonKrumm · 21/05/2025 14:05

Yanbu. I know done people who did a short "minimoon" and by the time they went on what they were calling their "honeymoon" they'd been married about 3 years! So, just a very nice holiday then...

I've also seen the term "maximoon" being used 🤮

Readytohealnow · 21/05/2025 14:07

GoldenNuggets08 · 21/05/2025 13:57

Can someone explain why the term "minimoon" was invented? Did the tourism/ travel industry come up with it to get even more money from people?

I had a conversation recently with people about where to go on honeymoon, and a significant proportion of the group were going on "minimoon" shortly after the wedding to places like Italy, Malta, Portugal, Greece, Croatia..... and then 6-12 months after the wedding were doing a bigger trip like safari in South Africa or Mexico... surely the "minimoon" is the honeymoon and the other trip is just a holiday??? It's a bit "you went to Tenerife, I went to Elevenerife"...

My DH is a teacher so we couldn’t go on honeymoon straight after our wedding. But we did have a long weekend away over the bank holiday and we will have a proper honeymoon in his holiday period.

LazyEyes · 21/05/2025 14:07

It's just a bit of marketing speak that's gone viral and suddenly the kind of people who attend wedding fairs and get their knowledge of the world from social media think it's a semi-compulsory 'tradition', like spending three months salary on an engagement ring.

Also, it's shorter than saying, We're just going to France for a weekend immediately after the wedding because we're skint, but are planning to go to climb mountains in Bhutan/snorkel off the Maldives/trek overland from Morocco to Mali next year.'

See also 'babymoon' for 'going on holiday before the baby arrives.'

SchnizelVonKrumm · 21/05/2025 14:08

IFellInto · 21/05/2025 14:02

It’s all marketing and a way of getting people to part with cash.

I feel disproportionately irate about the term about babymoon. Why did that become a thing? People now feel the need to do this, but why can’t they just say ‘we’re having a holiday before the baby arrives’?

Also marketing - creating the idea that you simply must book an expensive holiday before the baby arrives.

Original poster
GoldenNuggets08 · 21/05/2025 14:10

Commonsenseisnotsocommon · 21/05/2025 14:02

You do you, sunshine, but some of us weren't able to take a stretch of time off to get away on the big dream honeymoon. Why does it bother you so much?

My dream honeymoon is 4 days in Europe which is exactly what I'm doing. I don't mind people doing the trips, that's not what I'm getting at, I'm just wondering why these ridiculous labels. Why not just call the 4 days in Europe your honeymoon, and the big trip months after the wedding a holiday or say you are going travelling?

OP posts:
littlemissprosseco · 21/05/2025 14:11

@GoldenNuggets08
yep!

Dontlletmedownbruce · 21/05/2025 14:11

What do you call a few days in your own country after the wedding? Minimoon staycation? I agree it's silly, just a BS way of letting you know that they can afford a much more expensive holiday at a later date.

Snailiewhalie · 21/05/2025 14:12

My honeymoon was the 4 days in Cornwall immediately after the wedding. I wouldn't have called the holiday we went on the next year, our honeymoon.

Lmnop22 · 21/05/2025 14:12

Honeymoon makes no more or less sense, it’s just more widely used. They’re all just holidays at the end of the day!

It’s definitely not a term I hear often enough to bother me either, it’s a word which confers to the listener an understanding that they’re taking a short break after the wedding but saving up money/AL for a longer more special and “traditional” honeymoon later. Minimoon is way fewer words to convey that meaning so isn’t its use a good thing?

JustAnInchident · 21/05/2025 14:13

Isn’t a honeymoon just a holiday too, really? I guess I had a ‘minimoon’ and a honeymoon. We went away for a few nights in the uk directly after our wedding as any more time off wasn’t doable in the middle of summer then did 8 weeks on the other side of the world as our ‘proper’ honeymoon, 5 months later. I hardly think it matters enough for someone else to get worked up about? It’s just what we wanted to do and what worked best for us at the time!
Mind you, we also had a holiday before our first child arrived because we knew life was about to be turned on its head and wanted to enjoy one last ‘just us’ holiday… guess I’m a sucker for a ‘marketing ploy’…

ItGhoul · 21/05/2025 14:15

I know lots of people who have done this and I don't think the 'honeymoon' is just like a normal holiday, really. The people I know who have done the minimoon thing have usually done it because they couldn't get enough time off immediately after the wedding for a bigger trip, or the trip they wanted for their honeymoon wouldn't have worked or wasn't affordable at the same time of year as their wedding. So they wanted a relaxed short break after their wedding but then had a bigger, trip of a lifetime kind of thing as their 'honeymoon'. In all cases, the 'honeymoon' was definitely a lot more special than their usual holiday would ever be.

I certainly don't think it's a show-offy thing. Does it really matter what people call it? Is there a reason it's bothering you?

Snailiewhalie · 21/05/2025 14:18

"for a longer more special and “traditional” honeymoon later."

The "traditional" honeymoon is a few days/ week away in the UK.

Davros · 21/05/2025 14:19

Aw, I thought this would be about those Mochi balls

SchnizelVonKrumm · 21/05/2025 14:20

Snailiewhalie · 21/05/2025 14:18

"for a longer more special and “traditional” honeymoon later."

The "traditional" honeymoon is a few days/ week away in the UK.

And people on honeymoon had also not "traditionally" been living/holidaying together for several years beforehand anyway!...

BobbyBiscuits · 21/05/2025 14:21

It grates on me, the actual 'word'. Why not just say we are going away for a few days, we're going on a short holiday/trip?
'minimoon' sounds like something to do with chocolates or sweets or very small children's cartoons? It's just cringe sounding!

WaltzingWaters · 21/05/2025 14:23

Your experience of friends minimoons and honeymoons is quite different to mine, so in your case when they’ve already had a proper overseas big trip I see where you’re coming from!
But my friends who have had a mini moon have just had a few days somewhere fairly local immediately/shortly after the wedding and gone abroad a few months later. Mostly this is due to AL restrictions, or funding. Sometimes with friends with children they’ve had the mini moon child-free and then taken a family trip abroad. These instances make more sense in my view.