Engaged couples are taking ‘earlymoon’ trips to escape wedding planning woes

More engaged couples are taking ‘earlymoons’ before the big day, representing a shift in how people approach wedding planning

Couples are increasingly taking ‘earlymoons’ to enjoy quality time together (Getty Images)

Engaged couples are taking “earlymoon” trips to escape wedding planning stress.

Weddings can be a time-consuming and costly affair to plan, causing strain during a time that should ideally see engaged couples bask in their premarital bliss. As engagement periods grow longer, more couples are taking “earlymoons” to decompress from the stress and spend quality time with each other.

Earlymoons riff off the honeymoon concept, except this romantic getaway takes place long before the nuptials and is more frequent among couples with longer engagements.

Travel experts note that what once was considered a simple trip or vacation is now associated with the trend, thanks to many couples posting about their earlymoons on social media. In an interview with the New York Times, Nicole Janoff - a senior manager of leisure travel at New York travel agency Magma Global - credited a 10 percent increase in travel inquiries to prospective earlymooners.

“Before this year, we would have simply called an earlymoon a vacation or getaway,” Janoff noted. “The earlymoon trend represents a shift in how couples approach their wedding prep and prioritize their time together before the big day.”

When asked by Vogue about the rise in popularity of earlymoons, Tom Marchant – founder of luxury travel brand Black Tomato – explained that these pre-nuptial trips have the added benefit of taking place during calmer times. For many engaged couples, earlymoons are an opportunity to take a breather from the wedding planning process and serve as a reminder to enjoy the engagement period.

“Traveling right after a wedding can be frantic with all of the buzz and emotions running on high, so a pre-honeymoon can sort of strip away the noise from that and allow more meaningful time with each other, which is ultimately what it is all about,” he said.

There’s also the added issue of timing, in which the ideal honeymoon trip may not align with the timing of the couple’s wedding. As a result, couple may decide to forego a honeymoon after the wedding and opt for an earlymoon instead. Deciding to travel before a wedding can also provide opportunities for more ambitious, far-flung locales as potential trip destinations.

“There’s less pressure to pick a location post-wedding that feels like it has to be driven by the seasonality of the destination,” Marchant added. “It’s often more layered and complex, from a planning point of view.”

According to The Knot, the earlymoon trend gained traction in 2017 after Pippa Middleton and her then-fiancé snuck off to St. Barts before their lavish wedding ceremony. Since then, couples have increasingly taken trips to spend quality time together pre-wedding, deciding to buck tradition and spend their engagement the way they wish.