Category — Reviews

mary-lynn on flickr

Planning your honeymoon can be so much fun!  More fun than planning the wedding, sometimes…or so I hear.

Your honeymoon is the light at the end of the (somewhat stressful) tunnel of planning your wedding.

But how do you know where to do?  Which are the best honeymoon destinations?  Where should you stay?  What should you do?

Can you really trust your travel agent?

Enter these new free websites for planning the best honeymoon.

Tripsay - A free social travel network.  You tell Tripsay where you’ve been and what you like, then it automatically recommends destinations for you to check out.  You can link up with other travelers like you and read their real, unbiased reviews.  And it’s free!

Trip Advisor - Browse reviews and recommendations from travelers across the world.  Learn the most popular destinations and top island travels spots.  Trip ideas as well as restaurant and hotel reviews.

Fly - A totally simple search engine that makes it easy to compare flights from multiple sources.

When planning your honeymoon, remember this advice I keep harping on:

Consider the source. Ask yourself, “What’s in it for THEM?”

I can tell you which honeymoon destinations are paying the biggest commissions to travel agents…without talking to a single one…just by asking my couples where they plan to go.

One year it was Riviera Maya Mexico.  Then it was St. Lucia.

All these couples were headed for the same honeymoon.  Was it because they had the same taste in vacations?  Because they were irresistibly drawn to the same locations by some magical force?

NO.  Those travel agents were steering them in the direction they wanted them to go.

Use your head.  Do your research.  Plan the honeymoon of your dreams.

What’s your dream honeymoon?  Leave me a comment.

My Bride Magazine

This is the ultimate in over-the-top, narcissistic wedding expenses.  Yes, I’m being judgmental here.  But please.

My Bride Magazine invites you to create an entire 25-37 page magazine devoted to…YOU.  Your engagement, your love story, your wedding vendors.  You provide the text and the photos…and Voila!  You get your photograph plastered on every page, for a cost starting at $350 per 25 magazines.  And don’t forget the upgrades for hard cover magazines or to add an online version…

When I saw this “magazine” it reminded me of those kiosks in the mall where they put your photograph on mugs, t-shirts, etc.  Do you know the ones I mean?

Say you decide to get a picture of yourself to print on a mug as a gift for Mother’s Day.  The sleezy con man at the kiosk takes your picture for the mug…but he also prints another one on a huge button.

“You like buy button, too?  Only $5.  You don’t want, I throw it out.”

Now that button probably cost him 5 cents.  But he knows the secret…few people can resist buying something with their photograph on it.  It’s the same principle they use when amusement parks try to sell you a photograph of you screaming on the roller coaster.

It’s the same thing with My Bride Magazine.  As soon as a bride imagines her triumphant wedding picture or engagement shot on the cover…she’s a goner.

Don’t be fooled by My Bride Magazine’s promises that you will “get discounts on hiring your wedding vendors by offering them advertising in your magazine.”  How much of a discount do you think a vendor is willing to give you for a magazine that will only be seen by 25 people?  Or 150 people if you decide to pay the $2100 one for each guest?  Even if they DO give you a discount, it’s certainly not going to save you any money.

You’re better off setting up a Knot bio, a free wedding website at eWedding.com, or MyWedding.com…or even upgrading to one of their paid services.  You can post pictures as much as you want, tell your story, and send links to family and friends.

Hey, if you have your heart set on being the star of your own magazine…don’t let me stop you.  But don’t expect it to help you save money on wedding.  It won’t.

For a practical, useful method that really works to get discounts from your wedding vendors, download my free special report at SimplyYourSpecialDay.com.

What do you think about My Bride Magazine?  Leave me a comment.