i've never been able to see myself on a cruise either, but i love to travel so i suppose i'd be willing to try.....if the price was right.

one site i've had incredible luck with is skyauction.com. last year i got 4 days/5 nights at a 4-star hotel in london with business class(!) roundtrip airfare for $1200-- taxes included! it's totally worth a look.

Margit, you can get that Old World flavor in Old San Juan -- without doing any kind of currency exchange. After our wedding in Vieques, P.R., we flew back to San Juan and hung out in the old city for a few days to recharge. Walking through the old cobbled streets will make you feel like you're in Europe. Tons of history, great selex of restaurants and mojitos galore! Let me know if you want more info.

Budapest was my favorite city in Europe. So beautiful and so much history though it may not be the most romantic city. Another place my husband and I looked at was Quebec. It has a old European city feel including french speaking natives. Its great for winter sports but also beautiful during the summer and fall months. If it was not for a broken leg a few months before the wedding we would have gone skiing in Quebec. The exchange rate is alson in your favor (though barely : ()

My fiance and I are going to Orlando for our honeymoon (we're from Canada, so the dollar exchange is awesome right now). A friend's parents have a time share there and they set us up with a bonus week, so we paid about 25% of what anyone else would have.

There are really lovely destinations in Europe that cost less than Switzerland or Spain. For example, the Croatian or Slovenian seaside where friends of mine go each year. Slovenia's capital city, Ljubljana, is similar in character to Vienna. That said, even here in Switzerland you can find lovely village bed and breakfasts for between 40 and 70 Swiss Francs per night (around the same in US Dollars). Public transport here is cheap and much more efficient than in other countries around Europe, too. That makes it easier to spend daytimes in big cities while sleeping in more remote locations.

Nowadays many European hostels offer conditions similar to mid-range hotels, so they may be worth looking into as well.

I hate to admit this, but we hit up our parents for their travel rewards program points. They know we're on a budget, and my dad had a crazy amount of American Airlines miles. I am externally grateful, because we'd never be able to go to Hawaii otherwise. So the idea is to check with relatives or friends that you know travel a lot, and see if they have unused miles, points or upgrades they might be willing to either give you (some programs let people donate to others) or they can place orders for you. American Airlines miles can be converted through certificates to get hotels and rental cars on their Vacations website as well.

We decided we rather have a superb honeymoon than an uber-expensive wedding and chintzy honeymoon. So we saved a ton of money right there, and used it to take a two week honeymoon to Japan. The exchange rate is decent, and we had a ton of Starwood points that we used to get a $300/room for just $45 a night. The Starwood Membership also came in handy as we were upgraded to an absolutely lavish room on the SPG floor. The wedding day was so relaxed because we kept it low key and the honeymoon was a blast because we didn't have to spend the whole time worried about staying on budget.

My fiance and I have both always wanted to go to Alaska, so now is the time! I would love to return to Europe, but I just can't justify spending so much more money than when I was there last - the exchange rate will come back around and we can do a Europe trip some year when we're not ALSO planning a wedding!

LIke Amanda, we received "family support" for our honeymoon. Mom donated her frequent flyer miles (she does a lot of business travel) and my Uncle gave us his time share (he wasn't using it that year) and paid the transfer fees (about $275) as his wedding gift to us. We wound up having an awesome 8-day honeymoon at an all-inclusive resort in Cancun -- and only paid for the taxis and meal package (all totaled, spent less than $900 out of pocket)! The hotel even threw in 2 free excursions since it was our honeymoon (snorkeling and Tulum ruins). It sure beat the Poconos honeymoon that our budget was pushing us towards!

I would suggest honeymooners on a budget talk to family members /friends who have timeshare and cannot use them regularly -- this makes a great wedding gift and return on their investment!

We're leaning (heavily) towards Alaska, but Ireland and Japan are not out of the running. Alaska's currently in the lead because we are both dying to see the Northern Lights and do some glacier hiking, but I've exacted a promise out of my fiance that my wedding gift from him is the warmest parka EVER if we do an Alaskan honeymoon.

Thank you for mentioning the benefits of a honeymoon registry and describing the attributes behind this increasingly mainstream registry option for engaged couples.

It is great to see how popular the honeymoon registry is becoming. When Traveler's Joy first started accepting Members over four years ago, we realized there was a large number of engaged couples that were not satisfied with the diversity of the traditional wedding registry market. Since then, the honeymoon registry has become a mainstream option for brides and grooms and the industry has experienced significant growth.

We are proud to have helped thousands of couples travel to destinations they may never have considered - a great feeling for everyone at Traveler's Joy.

I encourage you to contact us with any questions about our service. Most importantly, enjoy your honeymoon!

Best Regards,

Brandon Warner
President & Co-founder
Traveler's Joy Honeymoon Registry
www.travelersjoy.com