The Story of Us: Planning our honeymoon – Concordia, Missouri Photographer

Selecting a honeymoon location is not an easy task. The world is unbelievably large with so many places to see. When we started looking for a place to go after our wedding, I had so many ideas and a list of places I want to go someday that was incredibly long. Justin has always had one place in mind, but he was open to suggestions for our destination.

Looking for a destination

When we started looking for a place to go, we tried to keep affordability in mind. I was set on Europe, but the trips I kept seeing were all part of tour groups. And while the groups are fine, it just didn’t allow much time for just the two of us to celebrate our nuptials.

The tours we looked at were for Italy or Paris, Rome and London, but we just didn’t know if that was feasible. We looked at all inclusive resorts like Sandals, and a trip to Greece that would be about the same. We landed on a Sandals resort with a golf course (Justin loves to golf) and decided that would be that. It was all inclusive and we wouldn’t have to worry about food or drink costs.

The question that changed everything

We were out to dinner with my parents, some family members and a bunch of friends for my Mom and our friend Wes’ birthday to a family favorite restaurant, Jazz in Kansas City, Mo. People had been asking about the wedding and how planning was going, when one person asked, “Where are you going on your honeymoon?”

I responded with “Where do I think we will go or where would we love to go? I think we’ll end up at Sandals or an all-inclusive resort, but I would love to go to Greece or Italy.. Somewhere in Europe.” My Dad was sitting next to me and said that we should pick somewhere we really wanted to go, that this was a once in a lifetime kind of trip, and that we should not pick a destination on price alone.

Our dream honeymoon

When Justin and I had been together for around a year, we were just having one of those long conversations with random questions. When I asked where was one place he always wanted to go, he said Rome. There was no hesitation. Rome and other parts of Italy were definitely high on my list, but I want to go everywhere and see everything. When it came time to choose a destination,  Italy just seemed like the best idea. It was on my list, and the one place he said he wanted to visit.

So with our dream destination in mind, we set about trying to book our trip to Italy with some help from my parents.

The tour site we had been perusing was having a sale and it made the trip only a bit more expensive than an all-inclusive resort. When we were discussing it with my Dad, he suggested we use R&R Travel in Higginsville instead of the tour site. And I am so glad we did. We were able to add two more days to the trip, have time for just ourselves and plan the different excursions we wanted to go on. It was a much more customized itinerary for the same price and the tour site.

If you’d like to share your engagement story with me, or to book your engagement session or wedding, you can contact me at kelsey(at)kelseyalumbaugh(dot)com. Follow @kelseyalumbaugh on Instagram to see the more photos and like me on Facebook to see more of my work.

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