When Kalyn and Collin Pounders finally went on their honeymoon to Greece in July after delaying it for more than a year because of the pandemic, they were ready to splurge. The couple, who live in Atlanta and married in June 2020, extended their trip so that they were able to visit Mykonos and Santorini islands, got a nicer room at the hotel they had booked and even went on a private cruise.
At first, Ms. Pounders, 25, wasn’t planning on taking the advice of her friends, who told her that this was a once-in-a-lifetime trip and that she shouldn’t hold back on luxuries. But that’s exactly how she and Mr. Pounders, 27, ended up approaching the vacation after the months of waiting and pandemic hardship. “We’re really glad we took that advice,” said Ms. Pounders, who works as a clinical pharmacist. Her husband is an investment analyst. “We’ve waited for this, we worked really hard in between,” she said, “and when the time finally came, we were like ‘Why not? We deserve it.’”
After the pandemic forced a halt for many honeymoons, this summer has shown indications that they’re back — and bigger and splashier than ever before. The Travel Siblings, a New York-based travel consultancy that focuses on romantic trips, saw its honeymoon bookings, as of July, quadruple since last year. More than 70 percent of couples who married last year went on or are planning to go on a post-wedding getaway, a figure that is up almost 20 percent from 2020 and back to prepandemic levels, according to a recent report from WeddingWire.
The Pounders are far from alone in forgetting frugality on their postponed honeymoon. “We absolutely can say that honeymoons are back with both a passion and a vengeance,” said Harlan deBell, an owner of the Travel Siblings. Kara Bebell, also an owner, added: “Since many couples have had to postpone their wedding dates several times, they are splurging more on hotel upgrades and private romantic experiences.” Before the pandemic, the company’s clients typically spent around $16,000 on a honeymoon trip. Now they are seeing that couples who had to postpone their original honeymoons are spending more than $20,000.
