Honeymoon Recap
Jean Ahn
Following the wedding festivities, our honeymoon by far was the most relaxing aspect of the wedding whirlwind. We went back and forth about taking our honeymoon a few months after the wedding but ultimately we were able to leave the day after the honeymoon. Looking back I am so glad we were able to leave right after the wedding, after being so exhausted from the weekend, looking ahead to a relaxing 2 week vacation was the best feeling!
One of the big mishaps that happened on this trip was not knowing that we had to fill out an entry form online in order to enter the Dominican Republic. Our flight was a red eye the day after the wedding and we were beyond exhausted following the wedding and our post wedding brunch. We left a little too late for the airport and did not make it on to our original flight and had to rebook on a flight the next day. Despite us missing our original flight we got to spend another day in Seattle and catch up on sleep. In hind sight we should have booked our flight to leave the Monday after our wedding because of how exhausted we were.
We stayed at the Hyatt Zilara Cap Cana in the Dominican Republic, one of the great things we loved about this resort was that it was adults only on one side and the other side of the resort (Ziva) was family friendly but we could still venture to the other side to the restaurants, pools and waterparks. This all inclusive resort was by far one of the best we have experienced, the service was on point, the food was amazing and the beach was very clean and just steps from the resort.
We enjoyed many trips to the spa and booked hydrotherapy sessions which includes a Himalayan salt room, sauna, cold plunge and semi warm pool. We booked a couple’s massages one of the first days we had arrived and it was exactly what we needed after all the wedding planning stress. 😅
The most ‘adventurous’ part of our honeymoon was a snorkeling excursion and visited Isla de Catalina for the day which consisted of turquoise Caribbean waters and a very peaceful atmosphere. This was an all day event and looking back we would have preferred a half day excursion to have been able to enjoy more time at our resort! We did see some colorful fish and coral reef while we were snorkeling! For our last night we booked a private beach side dinner. It was a memorable way to end the first half of our vacation and we often reminisce on this experience!
Last minute we decided to extend our honeymoon. Our flight back to the U.S. had a layover in Miami so we decided to stay for a few days. We stayed at the Mondrian at South Beach and we loved our stay at this hotel. It was near Ocean Drive and lots of fun restaurants and bars. We enjoyed lots of Cubano sandwiches and visited the spa which had a Himalayan salt sauna and booked a couples massage at their spa.
On the weekend their pool transformed into a pool party with a DJ blasting music packed with people. Miami is such a fun and vibrant city with stunning views, I highly recommend a visit and a stay at the Mondrian in South Beach!
For my outfits I packed mostly dresses, swimsuits and brought a couple hats which looking back wasn’t needed because many of the days were quite windy. More on the outfits I packed on this post.
For a honeymoon I highly recommend booking an all inclusive tropical vacay, which requires minimal planning. After so much wedding planning, the last thing I wanted to do was plan yet another thing, i.e. figure out various travel and hotels. No one or anything prepares you for the exhaustion that comes with the wedding weekend and R & R is very much needed right after all the festivities. We are so glad that we picked the Dominican Republic and are already planning a trip back to the Hyatt Zilara!