{Hometown Honeymoons}: Northern Florida

Welcome Melissa of MasterPiece Weddings!

First, thank you Lucky Designs for asking me to help with your new and soon to be famous series on Honeymooning at Home! I am a huge Lucky Design fan, in fact, I am the President of the Lucky Designs Fan Club, so if you are interested in joining, please see me after the post. But in all seriousness, I appreciate Erin and everyone at Lucky's talents – especially with the semi-sluggish economy right now, we all holding back just a little and with gas at $4.30 a gallon for the cheap stuff, one way to cut back for your wedding is to stay close for your honeymoon.

Florida has some amazing beaches from the Keys to Pensacola and lots of places in-between! Honeymooning in North Florida can be a fantastic thing! Even though we are 9+ hours to The Keys, and 3 hours to Disney- but believe it or not, there is much more to Florida than just Mickey and Kino’s! No really there is! If you are getting married in North Florida or close by, and are trying to be budget conscience about your honeymoon, there are so many amazing places right in your own backyard to visit.

My first suggestion is Amelia Island, the Ritz Carlton there will treat you like Royalty, and the Amelia Island Plantation is just a glorious reprieve from real life! Both are right on the water, and have their own Private Beaches! You can have a Bungalow by the Sea or a Resort experience, your choice! There are also a wide array of Bed and Breakfasts that will knock your socks off! The shopping is fantastic, there are acres of sight-seeing, parasailing, boating, charter fishing, the food divine, really it’s just the perfect place – why travel to across the pond, the perfection on the water is right there?

If you wanted white sandy beaches and perfectly blue water, but didn’t want to pay the airfare to Hawaii, maybe check out Rosemary Beach on the Panhandle! It’s beautiful and picturesque, amazingly perfect, so perfect that’s where they filmed several movies. The tranquility you feel just by looking at the pictures is like heaven, and the cost won’t break the bank starting at $135/per night! Wild Rosemary grows everywhere, the people are too good to be true, the accommodations are perfect and will suit anyone’s needs. The food, the shopping, the beaches, the food… the beaches… enough to take your breath away. Also check out, Watercolor Resort, if you’d like a pampered honeymoon!

You might also want to visit our Country’s oldest city – St. Augustine, or if you are more of a City Slicker, check out Clearwater Beach (near Tampa) but you must try a Rita’s Custard if you are there, ask for the Gelati, it will knock you over, it’s so good!! There are tons of non-beachy places to honeymoon as well, but usually that’s what you want, a nice relaxing-to-get-over-the-stress-of-wedding-planning-vacation.

More to come on my previous hometown, Tampa/St. Petersburg area. Do you have a hometown that you would like to see on Lucky Me? Please feel free to email us with suggestions!