The Essential Guide to Gay and Lesbian Weddings (112 page)

Do you want lots of activities, or do you want to lie on a beach and read?

Do you have any weather requirements?

Have you ever traveled together before? Were there any glaring issues?

Do you want to be alone (alone together, that is) or do you want to be with a group?

And some are specific to you as a same-sex couple:

If you travel with a group, do you want it to be exclusively gay and/or lesbian?

How out are you when you travel?

Do you want to tell everyone you meet that you're newlyweds?

If you've got $29,999 to spare, you can book the “Elizabeth Taylor” wedding package from the Ingleside Inn in Palm Springs, California. This includes poolside villas, ice sculptures, a sit-down dinner for up to two-hundred, and three nights in the honeymoon suite.

If you do any traveling at all, you know that it can present a number of challenges to the gay couple. Let's say you go on a cruise. If you go on a “regular” cruise, you'll find yourself in one of two positions: either you'll be in the closet or you'll have to be prepared to spend time and energy explaining yourselves.

You might want to consider a gay or lesbian cruise, cattle drive, Amazon adventure, tour to China, sail up the Nile, or any number of incredible trips arranged by exclusively LGBT travel companies. There are gay Club Med weeks and lesbian cruises to Lesbos, Mardi Gras packages (for New Orleans or Sydney—take your pick), and African photo safaris. (Refer to the resources in the back for some starting points.) The advantage of an all-gay tour is, of course, that you are comfortable doing things that straight people take for granted in a romantic setting—like holding hands and dancing with your new spouse.

Or pick a city such as Provincetown or Key West where you know there's a large gay contingent. There are numerous gay-owned and gay-operated resorts, hotels, and bed-and-breakfasts to choose from.

In 2011, gays and lesbians spent $70 billion on leisure travel in the U.S., and with the legalization of same-sex marriage, the expectations are even higher for the coming years. In an effort to grab more of the gay wedding dollar, five-star hotels and ritzy resorts around the world now offer gay honeymoon package deals. But even if you're not a high roller in the travel department, you can find many incentives for gay newlyweds, ranging from lower room rates to free upgrades.

The favorite honeymoon spots for nongay couples are, according to
Modern Bride
magazine: Aruba, Bermuda, Florida, Hawaii, Italy, Jamaica, and Las Vegas. (What happened to Niagara Falls and the Poconos?!) Gay newlyweds overwhelmingly prefer destinations that are gay-friendly and that also fulfill those traditional honeymoon requirements: romantic beaches, luxurious amenities, and exotic locales. Following are the current most popular spots:

NORTH AMERICA

1.
Los Angeles, California

2.
San Francisco, California

3.
Miami, Florida

4.
New Orleans, Louisiana

5.
Las Vegas, Nevada

6.
Provincetown, Massachusetts

7.
New York City, New York

8.
Catskills, New York

9.
Toronto, Canada

SOUTH AND CENTRAL AMERICA

1.
Buenos Aires, Argentina

2.
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

3.
Mexico City, Mexico

EUROPE

1.
London, England

2.
Tel Aviv, Israel

3.
Barcelona, Spain

ELSEWHERE

1.
Sydney, Australia

2.
Cape Town, South Africa