As you are budgeting out all your wedding expenses, you might be curious who pays for the honeymoon. The answer isn’t exactly as straightforward as you might think. Modern etiquette around weddings has shifted greatly in the past decade with changing gender norms, less rigid wedding rules, and more couples waiting until their 30s or later to tie the knot.

While the honeymoon is still oftentimes a gift from the couple’s parents, today it has become quite common for couples to cover a portion of their honeymoon costs. Registry funds have also become an incredibly popular way for friends and family to help pay for the post-nuptial trip in lieu of a more traditional wedding gift like kitchen supplies or linens.

With the average honeymoon cost coming in around $5,300 in 2024, it’s important to understand who exactly will foot the bill for this major vacation before choosing which destination to jet off to. Ahead, we breakdown how traditions have shifted today and different ways your first trip as newlyweds can be paid for.

The Couple’s Parents

In the days where the wedding was exclusively paid for by the bride’s parents, the groom and his family would do their part by paying for the honeymoon. As this standard has changed for the majority of couples tying the knot today, so has the expectation of who pays for the honeymoon.

It’s now much more common for parents on both sides of the aisle to split the costs of the honeymoon as a gift to their children. The division doesn’t necessarily have to be 50/50, but many parents may cover specific portions of the trip, like flights, hotels, or other expenses like food or activities. Before beginning any sort of honeymoon planning, you should have an open conversation with your parents to understand your budget and expectations of what they will be open to paying for.

Another Benefactor

It isn’t always the case that a couple’s parents will help fund their honeymoon. The honeymoon could also end up being a gift from another generous member of the family, like a grandparent or aunt. On some occasions, a group of the couple’s close friends or a mentor may even choose to cover the costs of this post-nuptial trip. No matter who pays, a couple should give a special acknowledgement to this benefactor, whether it be thanking them in a newlywed speech or a thoughtful hand-written note.

Many couples intend to leave for their trip right after the celebration and will need to plan out their vacation months in advance. If you plan on giving a couple a honeymoon as their wedding gift, it’s a good idea to let them know shortly after they get engaged so they can begin crafting their itineraries and properly budget out their schedules for any international travel or time taken off of work.

The Couple

As more couples are paying for their own weddings, it makes sense that they are also taking on the cost of their honeymoon vacation. To-be-weds may supplement the trip to pay for food or activities on top of what their families have covered, cover an additional minimoon right after the celebration, or pay for the whole thing themselves. If you are paying for your own honeymoon and wedding, it’s important to make sure to factor the trip into your overall wedding budget so you can properly prepare your finances. One pro tip to help with costs? Many couples have adopted the practice of opening new credit cards and putting down big wedding expenses like their venue deposit in order to get points that can cover flights or hotels for their honeymoon.

Wedding Guests

Wedding guests looking for the perfect gift for a couple can now easily help them pay for their dream vacation thanks to honeymoon registries. This common addition to wedding websites in recent years allows wedding guests to become the main contributors to the honeymoon budget for many to-be-weds and cover a portion or all costs of this major trip. While the practice of creating a honeymoon fund has risen in the last decade, it isn’t necessary anything brand new. Giving cash or checks to the couple as a gift has long been a common practice to celebrate newlyweds. The rise of wedding registry websites has just helped streamline this process—especially as checks have become less commonly used. Registry services like Zola or Joy allow couples to create a large gift fund for their honeymoons that allows guests contribute whatever amount they would like to the overall cost of the trip. Some couples even put down more specific items for the trip that guests can help pay for—like hotels, flights, or even activities like cooking classes or boat rides—so their guests can feel as if their gift is even more personalized to their honeymoon experience.