Around the World in a Day

Honeymoon Shopping, Made Easy!

By Sara Cardace

Last night I took a break from all the wedding-planning mania to attend a honeymoon event thrown by the online wedding-planning consultancy BFF Bridal. This may seem like blatant co-branding given that BFF Bridal is run by my fellow WEtv bloggers Tara Mandy and Meredith Levy, but the truth is that I've actually known Tara for close to a decade. We worked at New York Magazine together for years, and I've been going to her events ever since I got engaged. I can't say enough good things...

I left work around 6:30 and headed to Jumeirah Essex House on Central Park South, where the event was being held in one of the hotel's old-world salons. The room was a frenzy of activity--girls were lining up to have their hair curled and coiffed by stylists from Paul Labrecque, models walked around in fanciful gowns, representatives from Fresh gave beauty tips and demo'ed new products, all while a DJ spun girly music--think Erasure and Madonna--in the background. There were also tables and tables of products: glittery clutches, sweet bridal jewelry, lingerie, you name it. Also: tons of hors d'oeuvres and festive green cocktails of some sort (I didn't partake).

While I actually did briefly consider trying out a sample up-do, I was really there to try to get some ideas for my honeymoon so I decided to focus on that--which really wasn't a problem as there were at a dozen travel representatives ready and willing to chat. John and I have two weeks off for our honeymoon (this is particularly exciting as I haven't taken a non-working vacation in years!) but we haven't quite figured out what we're going to do with them yet. Our two favorite ideas so far are a) to rent a villa in Tuscany and spend our days drinking, eating, and exploring all the little towns nearby or b) to just find the most luxurious, all-inconclusive resort we can afford and just lie on the beach all day drinking pina coladas. We would love to find some way to do both, but the two ideas are so different that we're having trouble coming up with a plan. I figured talking to a bunch of travel pros from all over the world was a good place to start.

I skipped the Nantucket and Connecticut tables since I knew they weren't on the menu, and focused on gathering information on Barbados, Costa Rica, Canouan, the Bahamas, and the like. The ones that appealed to me most were the Tides resorts in Mexico, where they offer airy, super-luxe villas right on the beach with all kinds of amenities like personal plunge pools and private patios with hammocks. Amazing! Of course, they don't come cheap--I think the lowest-end rooms they have run about $600 a night. Yikes. But I'm told they are offering free airfare and other deals for people who book this month, so one never knows...

Just as I was starting to get overloaded with all the overwhelmed (not to mention the promotional materials) I ran into Tara, who pointed me in the direction of the smaller salon at the back of the room, which I hadn't realized was dedicated to non-Caribbean locales. She told me to check out the table for L'Andana Tenuta La Badiola, a resort-ish hotel owned by legendary chef Alain Ducasse (!) that's right near the beach in one of the most beautiful areas of Tuscany. After five minute of talking to the reps I was sold. Well, sold in the sense that I am now absolutely dying to go there for a vacation, but I'm not signing up just yet since it costs a bit more than I'd like (thought not as crazy expensive as you'd expect!) and I will have little use for a beach in Tuscany in early May. It's now at the top of my list for future vacations though...

The whole thing was pretty exciting and to be honest, this event was the first purely fun wedding-related thing I've done in months. It was a great way to escape all the stress and nitpicking that's been bumming me out as of late. Oh, and did I mention the great gift bag? I came home with Cosabella undies, anti-frizz cream, a gift certificate and products from Completely Bare, and more. The best! Highly recommend...