Being trapped at home is one thing, but being trapped at home when you have planned, booked, put down deposits and downright fantasised about an adventure of a lifetime is a whole other pain. And WE FEEL YOU! While we’re obviously big fans of the whole wedding-planning and wedding-having part, we’re pretty sure approximately no one dislikes a honeymoon. It’s the chance for you and your brand new spouse to take on the world, travel somewhere new, explore a new place and your new marriage. It’s the celebration after the celebration and it’s super special because it’s just you and your favourite person on the planet.
Enter: Coronavirus and the f*ckery that comes with it.
Funnily enough, not a lot of romantic jet-setting is taking place right about now, and that means almost every single honeymoon booked for 2020 has been cancelled or postponed indefinitely. But much like we encourage you to celebrate your would-be wedding date, we are actively on board the ‘let’s pretend we’re on our honeymoon’ train too. So here are our top tips on how to celebrate your HOMEYmoon…
STEP ONE // Set a date
You probably won’t want to pretend you’re on holiday for the actual length of time you were going, so reduce your honeymoon to a HOMEYmoon lasting one full day and night. Find a date that works for you both – which if you’re like the rest of the world who has approximately zero plans, you can definitely line this up for next weekend!
STEP TWO // Pick a location
Now we don’t mean choosing from your kitchen or your spare room, but instead decide on an International location that you can mimic from home. For example’s sake we’re going to go with Tuscany in Italy as this is an immensely popular option for honeymooners.
Image by @storytellersfotografie
Image by @fabiolalandaa
STEP THREE // Commit to the theme
Once you’ve picked your spot it’s time to lean in to the festivities. This means packing an overnight bag and getting prepped as if you were actually leaving for your holiday. Shave your legs, wash your hair, treat yourself to a new book or magazine for the flight. Basically do all the fun bits without the boring bits (read: travel insurance and airport shuttles).
STEP FOUR // Divide up the activities
There will be four major milestones to cover here and you need to allocate them to either yourself or your partner. These include:
1 // Prepping the hotel room
2 // Booking the restaurant for dinner
3 // Planning the day activity
…as a break down of what we ~really~ mean by this, here’s our Tuscan HOMEYmoon plan.
1 // Prepping the hotel room
If you have visual of the hotel you were actually going to be staying in then try to replicate it. We’ve yanked this gorgeous rustic Tuscan hotel from Google to mimic.
To spruce up your own bedroom to look like this all you need is few key details: New linen sheets, a rustic rug, some wafty linen fabric, candles and a dried up tree plant. All of these can be sourced online, from your local supermarket, gumtree and a local park (the twigs, not the sheets). Deck out the items in your bedroom, and of course tidy up your laundry/floordrobe in order to make it feel like a brand new space.
2 // Booking the restaurant
…and by this we mean finding a similar cuisine on uber eats and ordering that sucker in. For our Tuscan adventure we’d be looking at some fancy-pants Italian restaurants who know how to dish up a top notch pasta and at picking up least three delicious Italian wines from the bottle shop. To set up the restaurant at home, pop a tablecloth over your dining table/desk/outdoor table if you’re setting up on the balcony or in the garden. Lay out the cutlery, plates and wine glasses – because this is your honeymoon, you’re not going to eat out of the take-away containers. Hunt for some mood-setting Italian tunes on Spotify and play them through a speaker in the ‘restaurant’. If you have hideously bright ceiling lights in your kitchen/dining room then bring all your lamps and candles into the ‘restaurant’ and light them for some serious ambience. If you want to go ~all in~ on this part, set a dress code for the ‘restaurant’ so yourself and your partner can get fancy for dinner.
3 // Planning a day activity
While honeymoons are often about relaxing, eating, exploring and (let’s be honest) sex. It’s good to have some activities outside of that, so plan an ‘adventure’ for your HOMEYmoon. An example for a Tuscan activity may be taking a wine tour – which you can totally set up in different rooms of your house – or if you’re looking for a budget low-effort version then you can pick out an Italian-themed movie and cuddle up on the couch with your spouse. It’s all about getting in the HOMEYmoon headspace, so making tweaks to your ordinary routine and surroundings will make everything feel a tad more special.
While we know that this is definitely not a replacement for a four week tour around Europe or a relaxing getaway to a beach retreat, we really hope you and your significant other mark the occasion of your would-be honeymoon with an hilarious special HOMEYmoon.
