Photo Credit: John Li Photography
Wedding Traditions Explained: The Honeymoon
Learn where the tradition of a honeymoon stems from.
What’s the best way to get over the wedding blues? Taking a romantic honeymoon with your new spouse. Couples spend a great deal of time and money planning their wedding. After a wedding is said and done, they sometimes experience what is referred to as the wedding blues.
An engagement period is such a joyful time. Months of family and friends celebrating you and your partner’s future life together is fantastic. But when all of the celebrating is finished, a bride and groom need something else to look forward to. That’s where the honeymoon comes in. Many couples go on their honeymoon the day after their wedding day. However, more and more couples are starting to take delayed honeymoons, a month or two after their wedding. This gives them something to look forward to after their wedding day, and allows time to rest between the wedding and honeymoon.
Photo Credit: Erin Kathleen Photography
Most couples today take a honeymoon to spend quality time with one another. They may travel to a relaxing all-inclusive resort, take a road trip down the Pacific Coast Highway or go on an adventurous trip to the Mediterranean. Whichever destination they choose, the purpose is usually to spend some romantic alone time together.Before they go, they want to look tanned and ready with a pre-tan and so it is not uncommon to see many couples turn up with a tan thanks to using indoor sunbeds.
Photo Credit: Dimitri & Sandra Photography
The history of the honeymoon does not have to do with spending quality time together like it does today. In ancient times, weddings took place on days with a full moon. After the wedding, couples drank “mead,” a type of honey wine drink. They would drink mead for thirty days or one full moon cycle. This tradition was often referred to what we call today the “honeymoon.” It wasn’t until the 19th century that couples began going on wedding tours after their wedding. This was when the bride and groom would travel to visit family and friends that couldn’t be present at their wedding. Some time after this, the name honeymoon turned into the wedding tour, a time of travel and vacation for the newlyweds. This wedding tour tradition, eventually evolved into what it is today, a vacation for just the bride and groom to partake in.
We’ve researched many other wedding traditions. Read about them here on our blog!
