Right now I’m looking out of the window and the snow is coming down like crazy! So I’m taking my mind to a warmer place and thinking about our upcoming honeymoon plans.

Our wedding planning has been relatively stress-free thus far, so it only seems right that I felt the need to drum up a little drama to keep things interesting. Initially, we were working with a travel agent on honeymoon locations and after providing her our criteria and a list of possible locations, we zeroed in on Jamaica. The thought of jerk chicken and daiquiris still makes my mouth water as I think about it.

The hotel our agent picked was beautiful! Though it was noted on TripAdvisor’s Best All-Inclusive Resorts of 2014 List, I felt uneasy about our choice. I polled friends on their favorite beach destinations and again started to circle the wagon on options. Lots of places were thrown into the ring: Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Aruba… basically anywhere you could think of outside of the US with a beach. I got  feedback from my fiance, family  and friends on the destinations and heard several times that pretty much all All-Inclusive resorts are the same.

I was consulting with Shalisha, a classmate from SMU, about locations and she reminded me that it really doesn’t matter where we go as long as we’re together, it will be a great trip. That definitely put things into perspective, but I was still determined to plan the honeymoon of our dreams!

After looping back with James to reassess our must-haves, I began searching and eliminating some locations. Our must-haves included:

• Affordable
• Beautiful beach on the property
• Contemporary styled hotel (I think I’m the only one who cared about this point)
• Good food
• Access to activities
• Short travel time to get there
• Entertaining but not too much of a party atmosphere
• All-inclusive

I really wanted all-inclusive to be a key factor because after all of our wedding planning, the last thing I want to think about is how much our meals costs when we should be maxin’ and relaxin’. I lucked up one day and found the perfect place for us and I’ve been so excited about it ever since. I think that when you let your heart lead, things always fall into place. I’ll let you all know about our destination when we come back, hopefully with a gushing review!

– L