{Hometown Honeymoon}: Michigan

Our Hometown Honeymoon feature has spread to Pearls Events! Check out a Michigan honeymoon here.

{Hometown Honeymoom}: Chicago

Thank you to Ami from Elizabeth Anne Designs for stopping by Lucky Me! Here is a wonderful Hometown Honeymoon in the Windy City!

Honeymoon in Chicago I'm loving this idea of the Hometown Honeymoon series, especially because I live in one of the greatest (and most convenient) cities in the world! Regardless of where you live, Chicago makes a great destination and has something for every palette.

Restaurants: As you may have heard, Chicago is a big food town. Pizza, Steak, Asian, Tapas, Greek, you name it, we love it. So obviously you'll want to make use of those dollars you are saving by staying in town to hit some of the best restaurants in the country.

Uber-expensive:

• Charlie Trotter's – I have two words to give you and they should sum it up. 1) Amazing. 2) Expensive. But if you really want a treat, and a degustation menu is your cup of tea, then it's a must-eat.


• Japonais – Rub elbows with the US Weekly crowd at this Asian-fusion hotspot. Yummy pork buns, fantastic Kobe beef, but a fat price tag comes along with it.

Expensive:

• Any of the great steakhouses but I recommend Keefer's. In my opinion it's the best steak in the city. And the service is phenomenal.


• Rosebud – there are several outposts of Rosebud in the city but my favorite is on Rush and Superior. Classic Italian restaurant ambiance, a great wine list, and an amazing array of pastas.

Yay for Reasonable Prices!:·

• Piece – I know, it's Chicago, and you expected deep-dish. And certainly you will visit Pizzeria Uno, Pizzeria Due, Gino's, or Lou Malnati's while you are in town. But at Piece, you'll find the best thin-crust pizza I have ever tasted. And in-house brewed beer. And tons of TVs for those sports fans out there.


• Breakfast at one of our FAB places: Orange (don't forget to try the frushi), Bongo Room (YUM to the chocolate tower french toast), The Original Pancake House, Tempo... I could go on and on, but any of these places are fabulous.

Attractions: Some of my favorite attractions in Chicago are either free or discounted to local area residents, so your hometown honeymoon is a great time to check them out!

• Art Institute: free on Thursday and Friday evenings for all visitors. Some of my favorite paintings in the world are here, in unquestionably one of the most wonderful museums you'll find anywhere.


• Lincoln Park Zoo: free for one and all, every day. The polar bears, sea lions, and seals just make me smile. And, the park is a perfect place to hang out, grab some sun, throw a Frisbee, take the pup, etc. You can even hit the North Ave. beach while you are out!


• Shedd Aquarium: discounted for Chicago residents. Grab a seat at the dolphin show or just do what I do and stand at the otter tank and stare for hours. Those otters are so darn cute!

Sports: One of the reasons I love living in Chicago so much is that I'm a huge baseball (Atlanta Braves) fan. Having both the National and American League here means that we get twice the baseball and each team coming through at least once a year! And not only that but the Milwaukee Brewers are an easy day trip away. There's also 'Da Bears, 'Da Bulls and 'Da Blackhawks if you're not into the peanuts and cracker jacks. Make it a point during your hometown honeymoon to take in a game.

Shopping: Oh, shopping. What can I say? We have Michigan Avenue, one of the finest shopping streets in the world, as well as many fantastic boutiques, where you can definitely spend your savings from your hometown honeymoon! Some of my favorite shopping areas could be in your neighborhood!

• Southport: Local boutiques abound, including pricey (Jake, Krista K) and not-so-pricey (Anthropologie, Mint Julep).


• Bucktown & Wicker Park: Things to please everyone in this stretch of Chicago, from a Nanette Lepore to an American Apparel. Shop local chain Akira and P.45 for unique and hip labels.


• Wells Street: Old Town centering around North Avenue and Wells is one of my favorite shopping areas! Handle With Care is a huge boutique with lots of choice, the great stationery store Greer is in this stretch, and I love One Yellow Shoe and Josephine for shoe shopping!

The Theatre: Last but not least, your hometown honeymoon MUST include a trip to see the latest production in town, most recently Wicked and Jersey Boys have been the popular tickets but there are always old standbys such as The Blue Man Group. Since your hometown honeymoon is all about saving the green, check out the Hot Tix booth for last-minute tickets before you pay full price!

There you have it, your hometown Chicago honeymoon – enjoy!{image via Google image search}

{Hometown Honeymoon}: Costa Rica

My friend and bride-to-be, Tami and I shared a hometown for several years during college. After a few years of teaching, Tami decided to go to work in a different capacity - in the Peace Corp. She was lucky enough to call Costa Rica home for 2 years. Tami has put together a few tips for anyone interested in visiting this beautiful country - especially if you are fortunate enough to be located nearby and make this your "Hometown Honeymoon"

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Costa Rica is the most visited nation in all of Central America. Who can resist the West Virginia-sized country with so much to offer? There's white water rafting on world renowned rivers, fascinating eco-tours, erupting volcanoes, crater volcanoes, white sand beaches, black sand beaches, incredible diving, cloud forests, and the list goes on. Any travel book can guide you to these wonderful places.

I love Costa Rica because I spent a little over two years there as a Peace Corps Volunteer and I got to see a side of the country that most tourists miss entirely. If you plan on going to Costa Rica for your honeymoon or just for a vacation, please do me a favor and step outside of that five star resort or condo you've rented and open your eyes to the Costa Rica that I know and love. If you can, try to spend a night or two with a host family. Eat what they eat and travel the way they travel. Even though the country is small, each province has different food, weather, terrain, etc. to offer. If you'd like to give something back to the country, call the Peace Corps office and hook up with a volunteer in the area where you'll be staying so you can join in on a current project.

One of my favorite excursions (and one I highly recommend) as a Volunteer was traveling down to the Zona Sur with nine teenagers I'd been working with in my site. They'd never been away from home before. We spent the first night sleeping on the beach under the stars and the next morning we met up with our guides. We drove to the base of a mountain and then hiked about an hour up to an incredible cave hidden behind a majestic waterfall. We spent the next two days rappelling down the front of the waterfall, hiking, and living in the enormous cave. It was truly spectacular. When I was there, it was just a small family-run business, but now they are a non-profit tour company. You can find them at Tree of Life Tours. Costa Rica is a great place to honeymoon whether you want to exercise your love for adventure and nature or you just want to spend lazy days at a nice hotel to recoup from your exhausting wedding. Either way, you won't regret choosing Costa Rica for your Hometown Honeymoon.

Thank you Tami! Have a great weekend everyone!

{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!

New Feature - Hometown Honeymoons

As prices on gas, food, and everyday items increase daily, we have to become more and more resourceful. I would like to introduce a new segment on Lucky Me - Hometown Honeymoons. I have asked my friends and family around the country (and international travelers) for their tips and recommendations right from their hometown. I am very excited to start with Northern Florida, thanks to MasterPiece Weddings! So, if you live in Florida, and would like to have a enjoyable honeymoon without the huge price tag, stayed tuned for our first Hometown Honeymoon post tomorrow.