Anniversary plans?

[Maggimus]

Okay, I know many of us havent thought very far past the wedding (especially those who havent gotten married yet). I, for one, cant get out of wedding mode, and my wedding has been a couple months ago.

DH and I keep ourselves giddy by planning our next vacation as soon as one ends. We are now thinking about vacation plans for this year, and an anniversary trip.

Those of you who are already married, or who havent gotten married yet but have already considered this...

Where do you plan on spending your first anniversary?

DH wants to possibly go somewhere tropical. Im not sure.
Any ideas of cool places to look into?

Thanks-
Maggie

 

[RBennett]

My DW and I spent our 1st anniversary at home with a nice date. For our 2nd anniversary, she FORGOT!!! But as far as ideas on where to go, the best cold spot I have found is a ski resort in Colorado called Copper Mountain. Even if you don't like/want to ski, they have tubes you can ride down and snowmobiles, etc. I LOVED it!! For tropical though, you might consider the DCL or Key West or any other number of beaches. I don't know how far you're wanting to travel or how extravagant you're wanting to go, but that's my 2 cents, for whatever that's worth.

 

[Maggimus]

Thanks for the imput. I forgot to mention that he doesnt want to go back to Disney this year (we've been the last 2 years in a row)...

We have a very flexible budget and normally go all out for vacations.

I went to Key West while in HS and loved it. We considered that. Im open for just about anywhere...

 

[TinkBride]

We are going to Disney for our anniversary as well and staying at Wilderness Lodge (your tip Maggs! )

Funny thing: We have three disney trips planned between our wedding and January 09!

I told DF, while I love Disney, I want to go other places before we have kids. So, we are also planning trips to Alaska ( a cruise, we love cold weather), Vegas, and Gatlinburg (but you may not enjoy that, since it is down the road from you! )

Basically the next four years we are vacationing about 12 times!

How about Hawaii?

 

[JandJ]

Living near Disney (I know we're lucky ) we go there a lot and we went the weekend before our anniversary. For our actual anniversary, on the date we both took the day off, went pumpkin picking and shopping for Halloween costumes! Then we went out to a nice dinner and ate the top of our cake and I put my weddng gown on (sappy, I know, but I loved my gown!). Then, a couple weeks later we went on a cruise for 7 nights to celebrate our 1st anniversary. It was the best vacation of my life! We loved it! We went to Grand Cayman, Jamaica, and Mexico. The ship was fabulous, the destinations gorgeous, and the whole thing was completely romantic

 

[NEVERENOUGHWDW]

For our first year we went on a Holland America cruise, 2nd year Sanibel & WDW this year looks like Ireland......

 

[Maggimus]

We are going to Disney for our anniversary as well and staying at Wilderness Lodge (your tip Maggs! )

Funny thing: We have three disney trips planned between our wedding and January 09!

I told DF, while I love Disney, I want to go other places before we have kids. So, we are also planning trips to Alaska ( a cruise, we love cold weather), Vegas, and Gatlinburg (but you may not enjoy that, since it is down the road from you! )

Basically the next four years we are vacationing about 12 times!

How about Hawaii?

TinkBride you wont be disappointed with the WL... I promise ! If you are, call me and DH and I will fly down and stay in your room!

Lots of Disney trips for you, huh?

Thats DH's thing.. he wants to go to disney but he also wants to venture our right now since we dont have kids (although we do have baby fever). We will be going to Disney for years on end, especially when our kids begin aging..

Gatlinburg isnt exactly a vacation for us- as you said we call it home.

But when you do come to town-- please let me know!

 

[Maggimus]

Living near Disney (I know we're lucky ) we go there a lot and we went the weekend before our anniversary. For our actual anniversary, on the date we both took the day off, went pumpkin picking and shopping for Halloween costumes! Then we went out to a nice dinner and ate the top of our cake and I put my weddng gown on (sappy, I know, but I loved my gown!). Then, a couple weeks later we went on a cruise for 7 nights to celebrate our 1st anniversary. It was the best vacation of my life! We loved it! We went to Grand Cayman, Jamaica, and Mexico. The ship was fabulous, the destinations gorgeous, and the whole thing was completely romantic

I think your ideas are so cute. I like the trying on the dress- I hope I can still fit into mine (actually I hope mine falls off of me!!).

What type of cruise did you go on? DH would love to take a cruise... but we dont gamble and/or drink.

 

[dannirose]

Ok Maggie - I have 2 suggestions for you - one is DCL - I have taken a few cruises and my favorites are the DCL (and that isn't just because it's Disney). There are lots of activities and it's so relaxing at the same time. Btw, the other line I have sailed is Royal Caribbean which is nice but I had a customer service problem so I don't wholeheartedly endorse them.

My other suggestion is Grand Cayman - we went there this summer and had the best time. We stayed at an all inclusive resort located north of the beach so we weren't in the thick of all the crowds but could get around when we wanted to. We also got my e-ring there so I really have fond memories of Cayman.

 

[Gradar1]

My DF and I recently got back from a vacation with his parents in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico--it's on the West Coast--kinda near Cabo San Lucas. We had a great time--his parents rented a house for a week, and we had a great time--horseback riding on the beach, jet skiing, etc. Cruises are awesome too--My family and I went on a cruise a few years ago to the Caymans and Cozumel and loved it--very relaxing!

 

[Maggimus]

Danni- Do you have any photos of the grand caymons that you can share with me? I would love to hear about where you stayed. We go to Cozumel a lot and stay at an all-inclusive resort and love it. I think the grand caymons is a great idea.

DH doesnt mind going on the DCL... he thinks it would be fun. I realize they have adults only things to do as well- which is nice. LIke i said DH and I dont drink or gamble-- so regular cruising doesnt appeal to us (other than the actual getting to the destination part).

 

[hmgolden]

Our first anniversary, we had just bought our condo and were feeling the money pinch, so we spent it at home. Our second anniversary, we went to Aruba and had a blast! It was perfect for us - gave me plenty of time to sit on the beach, and driving around and off roading in the jeep we rented appealed to DH's adventerous side. I would highly reccomend Aruba for a vacation. We are just starting to talk about our 3rd anniversary, but I think we'll be staying home again as we are planning a trip to Italy for later this year.

 

[Maggimus]

Our first anniversary, we had just bought our condo and were feeling the money pinch, so we spent it at home. Our second anniversary, we went to Aruba and had a blast! It was perfect for us - gave me plenty of time to sit on the beach, and driving around and off roading in the jeep we rented appealed to DH's adventerous side. I would highly reccomend Aruba for a vacation. We are just starting to talk about our 3rd anniversary, but I think we'll be staying home again as we are planning a trip to Italy for later this year.

Aruba!! Where did you stay in aruba? Id love to check it out.

I would hope that my family wouldnt freak out and think I would become the next Natalie Holloway... that case has really ruined Aruba's reputation.

 

[hmgolden]

We stayed at the Aruba Resort and Spa: http://www.arubaresortspa.com

I can't wait to go back. We loved Aruba.

Funny you mention Natalie Halloway - DH's mom brought her up when we told her our plans to go to Aruba! While we were on the Island, we were never anywhere that we didn't feel safe.

PM me and I'll send you a link to some of the photos we took while we were there.

 

[ForKeeps]

Okay, I know many of us havent thought very far past the wedding (especially those who havent gotten married yet). I, for one, cant get out of wedding mode, and my wedding has been a couple months ago.

DH and I keep ourselves giddy by planning our next vacation as soon as one ends. We are now thinking about vacation plans for this year, and an anniversary trip.

Those of you who are already married, or who havent gotten married yet but have already considered this...

Where do you plan on spending your first anniversary?

DH wants to possibly go somewhere tropical. Im not sure.
Any ideas of cool places to look into?

Thanks-
Maggie

You know what? We're totally in sync! I was just thinking about posting this very topic! Our discussion a few nights made me wonder what people were doing for their first anniversary.

I have some kind of romantic notion that we'll go back and eat at Citricos and get the GF Bakery to re-make the top layer of my wedding cake (more on that in the TR)...but it's going to be tough for me to get away next year.

So I think if we go away, away it'll have to be very last minute. As a backup plan I think we would make reservations at this local resort that I teach aerobics at. It has a great restaurant and luxuary accomodations and a fantastic spa. At least it would feel like a mini vacation without leaving the area.

It's so crazy, we were already talking about our "anniversary trip" before we got home from our honeymoon trip

 

[dannirose]

Danni- Do you have any photos of the grand caymons that you can share with me? I would love to hear about where you stayed. We go to Cozumel a lot and stay at an all-inclusive resort and love it. I think the grand caymons is a great idea.

DH doesnt mind going on the DCL... he thinks it would be fun. I realize they have adults only things to do as well- which is nice. LIke i said DH and I dont drink or gamble-- so regular cruising doesnt appeal to us (other than the actual getting to the destination part).

I do have photos just not on this computer (I'm at work - you can see I am getting much accomplished lol) so I will pull them up when I get home later. I can give you the links to a couple of different sites we looked at when we first booked the trip:
www.caymanislands.ky and www.caymanresortsonline.com - on the resort one we stayed at Spanish Bay Reef. The sister resort, Beach Club Colony is located right in the middle of 7 mile beach and tended to be very crowded (also struck us as a little bit shabby) - but we loved Spanish Bay. We are thinking of heading there after the wedding/Disneymoon to relax instead of going to St Lucia (another place you might want to look into - we were looking at the Sandals resorts there).

 

[dannirose]

It's so crazy, we were already talking about our "anniversary trip" before we got home from our honeymoon trip

Don't worry - we're talking about our 1st anniversary trip and we haven't had the wedding or honeymoon yet!

 

[Maggimus]

I am loving all of this info and all of these sites.... im saving them all so that DH can look over them too.

Our neighbors went to Sandals for their honeymoon last in 05 and just raved about it. I dont know if staying at a resort like that is for us. I think I would be interested in hearing more about it.

 

[JandJ]

I think your ideas are so cute. I like the trying on the dress- I hope I can still fit into mine (actually I hope mine falls off of me!!).

What type of cruise did you go on? DH would love to take a cruise... but we dont gamble and/or drink.

It was a fun first anniversary . . .
We went on Holland America Line out of Tampa, FL and we chose it basically because of what you said, we are not gamblers and rarely drink. Our honeymoon cruise was Royal Caribbean and it was very nice, but there were a lot of 'party people' on board and that's just not our thing. The average age on HAL is like 60 or 65 years old - no joke - so we got the late dinner seating, and when we were done at dinner it was about 10:15 pm and the decks were empty! We could stroll all along the decks, go anywhere on the ship, and you'd only see crew members and maybe a few other passengers. DH got to where after dinner we'd go to the buffet at 11:30 and eat again Surprisingly I didn't gain any weight and he only gained 2 pounds! I credit the fact that we took the stairs every day and avoided the elevators. (RC had better food overall, and a better midnight buffet, but this was still delicious - 5 course dinners every night!). They had an extensive library on board and we enjoyed checking out books and going on deck to read. You can also check out DVDs and watch them in your room, or bring your own, there's a TV and DVD player in each cabin. Two pools - one was more adult and quiet, the other had live muic and a bar. We saw a movie too, they have a theatre and show first run movies and give you popcorn The shows in the evenings were both good and bad - some were funny and some didn't mean to be but still made us laugh! It was an elegant ship and honestly just the most romantic vacation ever!! If you decide on a cruise go to Cruise Value Center dot com - they have the best prices by far

I'm sure whatever you decide to do for your first anniversary it will be special because you will be together

 

[JJClemson]

Ok, so I still have 5 months til my wedding, but I am already planning our first anniversary. If we have ample funds (that's a big IF b/c DF is in med school), I'd like to surprise DF w/ a cruise to Alaska. I have never been to Alaska and he loves Alaska, and he has never been on a cruise and I love cruises... so it'd be a nice compromise. However, if we can't afford that, I think we'll just spend the weekend at the Biltmore in Asheville, NC. We love it there too, but have never stayed over night.

Sounds like you have got a lot of wonderful suggestions from everyone else! I know you'll have so much fun planning