Best Part of Your Wedding: How to Have a Great Honeymoon in Bermuda

Everyone wants to have a perfect wedding, which is one reason the wedding industry is now over a billion dollar a year industry. But by the time you walk down the aisle, you will likely be exhausted and emotionally drained. Having the perfect honeymoon can be just as important - and often much more attainable - than having the perfect wedding. If you leave immediately after your wedding day then your honeymoon will be the first days you spend together as a married couple, and unlike the wedding where there is so much to accomplish in just a few hours, and so much pressure to have everything right, a honeymoon should relax and rejuvenate you - so that you are rested and happy when you get home and face paying wedding bills and writing thank you cards.

I honeymooned in Bermuda in June and it was the best vacation of my life. My husband and I did extensive research before our honeymoon - first having general conversations to decide on where to go and once we picked Bermuda, we planned how to make the most of our trip there. Here are some general honeymooning tips that I am so glad I adhered to, followed by some specific Bermuda recommendations.

1) Resist the urge to plan the trip of a lifetime. We love the great cities in Europe and plan to go there for an anniversary trip someday, but if you've ever been Paris or London you know that it means a ton of sightseeing and walking. I've never been so tired as I was after my wedding - Europe would have been wasted on me, as I would have spent the first three days sleeping late and then taking naps.

2) Consider someplace closer to home. Hawaii was at the top of our honeymoon list for awhile - I know that it is a romantic and gorgeous destination and I've always wanted to go - but I am so glad we didn't. We got married on the east coast, which would have meant a 14-hour plane ride and a new time zone. I would have been miserable getting there. It took us two hours to fly to Bermuda from Boston. By lunchtime the day after my wedding I was on the beach - which is infinitely better than on a plane, or in an airport waiting for a connection, or stuck somewhere because a flight is cancelled - you get the picture.

3) Consider the time of year when you will get married. Research things like hurricane season, average temperatures, and special events locally. If your getting married in August, you'll want to avoid honeymooning in Palm Springs, where it is 115 degrees everyday, or parts of the Caribbean in the fall when it is hurricane season. Likewise, if you two share a special interest you may want to factor that into your plans - if you are foodies for example, there are major food and wine festivals throughout the country at different times during the year.

Bermuda has many wonderful qualities to recommend it. It is British, so has all sorts of quaint English touches that set it apart from typical island getaways (high tea, pubs, cute accents and men wearing Bermuda shorts and knee highs). And unlike many islands where the resort is gorgeous but the surrounding areas can be run-down or dangerous, you can enjoy the entire island of Bermuda. The unique pink sand beaches, fantastic snorkeling, and great food, shopping and scenery made for a luxurious and memorable honeymoon. What I would specifically recommend:

1) Find a hotel that is right on the ocean and better yet, has its own private beach. There are many wonderful hotels to choose from, and because the island is so long and skinny, the beach is never far away. But there is something special about walking right from your room down to the water, without having to take a shuttle or cross the street. Top picks: Cambridge Beaches and The Reefs.

2) Rent a scooter - but try before you buy. One of our favorite memories of Bermuda is the scooter that we rented for the week and used to tool around the island. We each tried them out on the road near the rental place and I was so shaky that we decided to just get one and ride together. It was perfect for us, but be cautious about using it at night (better to just take cabs) and remember that the Brits drive on the "other" side of the road. Bottom line - if you feel nervous or uncomfortable when you are on a test drive, skip it and take a cab or the bus.

3) Go for the all-inclusive. I'm usually not a fan of the all-inclusive deals, but in Bermuda, most hotels operate this way so that prices include breakfast, afternoon tea and gourmet dinner. The dine-around program allows you to have dinner at partner resorts (within the same class) or to exchange dinner for lunch. The trick here is to book all of your dinner reservations no later than the day you arrive. Dine around is based on an even exchange between resorts, so if there aren't any spaces, you're out of luck. At The Reefs, where we stayed, we also had the option of having breakfast in our room, which was a nice treat some mornings.

4) Take advantage of vacation packages offered through the hotel. For about the same price that we would have paid for 6 nights of our room, we booked the romance package and The Reefs through in a bunch of extras: transportation to and from the airport, dinner on the beach one night, a half-day boat rental with a picnic lunch, and a gift basket when we arrived.

Enjoy and happy honeymooning!