~* Ash *~
Wedding Porn (definition courtesy of Meg/Mrs. Dahlia): Magazines, books, and websites devoted to planning weddings. Typically have elaborate photo galleries. Promotes sense of entitlement and creates need for previously unknown commodities, such as chair diapers. Often promoted by the Wedding Industrial Complex -- businesses, such as florists, dress designers, and banquet halls involved in various aspects of weddings that will often charge more because it is for a wedding.
I haven't done one of these posts in awhile because all of the wedding porn that I've been getting has been pretty typical: bridal magazines, "free" giveaways, countless catalogs of invitations, wedding party gifts, ceremony/reception decorations, etc.
However, I recently got an advertisement in the mail that didn't go immediately to the recycling bin: a brochure from Sandals. Hmmmm....
Now, I'm a huge fan of the all-inclusive vacation experience and had heard about Sandals resorts before. Beach, pools, entertainment, relaxation, great food, and no worries about pulling out our wallets the entire time.
Lu and I had an amazing vacation when we visited the Valentin Imperial Maya in Playa del Carmen, Mexico for his birthday last year.
Lu and me enjoying our complementary beachside couples' massage in the Riviera Maya.
We were "lucky" enough to plan our vacation during the swine flu scare, so we paid about a third of the usual rate for the five-star, all-inclusive resort. We loved every minute of our time there -- even the night that it rained, and we can't wait to go back to another resort.
....We're just not sure if we want it to be our honeymoon.
Since Lu and I are getting married during the fall, we decided that we're going
to spend our first few days of newlywed bliss exploring the wonders of nature -- and each other -- at a cozy bed and breakfast, probably in Deep Creek Lake, MD or somewhere along Skyline Drive in Virginia. We'll get to relax, Lu
will be able to take some gorgeous pictures, and we can just have some quiet romance before getting back to the PhD grind.
As nice as that will be, we also want to take a more traditional honeymoon when we have time to escape from the world for a week. (Yep, we're getting married during Fall Break and honeymooning during Spring Break. Don't laugh. It's actually pretty common among graduate students.... Okay, you can laugh.)
Back to my original point, Sandals is beautiful and we know that we'd thoroughly enjoy ourselves, but we can go to a beach anytime. Besides, do we really want the cookie-cutter honeymoon experience? Well, maybe.
As exciting as it would be to cruise the Mediterranean, trek through Morocco, or have an eco-friendly honeymoon at a coffee plantation in Costa Rica, we have to weigh the pros and cons and consult our bank accounts.
On the other hand, these next few years will be the only time in our lives where we'll be in our mid-twenties with no children to worry about. Can you really put unfettered fun into a budget??
