Why millennial newlyweds prefer delayed getaways to traditional honeymoons

What's the rush?

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Once upon a time, the honeymoon was the ultimate romantic getaway for newlyweds, with couples jetting off almost immediately after their wedding reception in a vintage convertible complete with confetti, trailing cans and “just married” paraphernalia.

Today, this nostalgic ideal is little more than a montage straight out of a Richard Curtis film, with millennials strung out by their taxing jobs and gruelling schedules that barely leave them with enough time to buy avocados, let alone plan a honeymoon on top of a wedding.

Not even royals have time to set aside for an instantaneous trip, as it was revealed last week that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle would be returning to work just one week after their nuptials.

Instead, the royal couple-to-be will enjoy a postponed honeymoon similar to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, who set off to the Seychelles a few months after their wedding.

According to wedding experts, the rise of delayed honeymoons has as much to do with working around intense schedules as it does with the weather.

Robin Weil, founder of Weddingplanner.co.uk has noticed the trend evolving in recent years.

“It's hard to make the timings of the wedding and the honeymoon fit around the couple's jobs,” he told The Independent.

“Usually both individuals have to take a bit of time off before or after the actual wedding to sort all the arrangements.

“It means that this doesn't usually fit with both individual's work lives and it usually suits the couple to separate the wedding and the honeymoon by several months.

"Plus, with the vast majority of weddings still taking place in the summer - and most honeymoons involving beaches and warm weather for at least part of the honeymoon - it also makes more sense for the couple to wait until the winter and escape for some winter sun."

Delaying one's honeymoon could also simply be a case of wanting to decompress at home after post-wedding exhaustion, says Hamish Shephard, founder of wedding planning app Bridebook.

“The size of weddings has exploded over a generation. What was once a few sandwiches after the church is now increasingly a multi-day spectacular," he told The Independent.

"This means that couples, more than ever, want to rest after their wedding day, not race up Mt Kinabalu."

Hence why the "mini-moon" has become a popular trend, where couples enjoy short breaks away in local destinations immediately after their weddings prior to gallivanting off on major trips later on.

In addition, having a honeymoon planned slightly later than the wedding gives couples the opportunity to look forward to something, elevating the anticipation of the trip.

Shephard adds that conventional honeymoon ideals are steeped in archaic wedding night traditions, whereby some couples would wait until then to finally be alone together or, in some cases, lose their virginities to one another.

Given that the average couple now lives together for nearly four years before tying the knot, this is seldom the case today, he explained.

This subsequently assuages some of the pressure to jet off somewhere exotic and romantic immediately after saying “I do”.

So, why not bask in the humble joys of newlywed life at home and postpone your honeymoon by a few months?

If the royals are doing it...