What honeymoon means to us

“Our honeymoon lasted two weeks. We had ours immediately after our wedding because we needed to rest from the wedding preparation fatigue and needed quality time together,” Fenikas says adding that a honeymoon is an opportunity to reconnect and strengthen the bond.

Fenikas explains that a honeymoon helps create lifelong memories that set the pace for the marriage. To him, on a honeymoon, the couple can escape the chaos and exhaustion of wedding planning and recharge before reality.
Sharon, Fenikas’ wife advises couples to have their honeymoon immediately after the wedding.

“Honeymoon helps ease the transition to married life, it builds and strengthens the communication and conflict resolution skills between couples,” she explains.
She adds that it sets a tone for the marriage.
“It establishes a strong foundation for a happy healthy marriage and creates a bond before starting to stay together,” she adds.

Mark Ernest and Daniella Gulume

The Gulumes chose to have their honeymoon at a future date than the wedding.
“We had our introduction and our wedding within one week. We had been preparing for these functions for a long time and we wanted to relax our minds before leaving for our honeymoon,” Daniella says.
The couple wanted to get on track financially so as not to get constrained during their honeymoon.
“We had ourselves six to eight weeks before having our honeymoon, we did not want our honeymoon to be in Uganda so we had to get our finances on track,” she explains.
“Before we went for our honeymoon we had a mini honeymoon and went to a hotel around,” Mark says.
Mark encourages couples to have a later honeymoon because it gives the couple time to plan and have the best honeymoon rather than rush through the ceremonies.
“It is better to go for the honeymoon when you have planned well,” he advises adding that couples work within their budgets and manage expectations.

Denis and Rose Katongole

The Katongoles' honeymoon was for five days. The couple are teachers and they were needed at work to attend to their students, especially the candidates.
“We could only afford a maximum of a week away, but the experience was memorable and we maximised every minute and hour of each day to create memories that last forever,” Denis says.
The couple had their honeymoon immediately after the wedding because we wanted to enjoy special moments together before they started staying together in their home.
“We were fatigued, physically and mentally from the months, weeks and days before the wedding. So, we needed the time to rest,” Rose says.

Denis recommends having the honeymoon after the wedding.
“It’s a perspective we held traditionally that honeymoon is meant to be done immediately after the wedding so that a couple can reflect on the journey to the wedding, “he explains.
Rose says having candid discussions on essential matters in marriage such as when to have children can be done in the honeymoon.

Harold and Doreen Agambwe

“Our honeymoon was one beautiful week at Ssese Island. Both of us are employed, so we had taken some days off work before the wedding day to finish up with the preparations and after the function, we had only a week to report back to our duty stations,” Doreen says.
She reveals that they would have wished to have at least a month.
When asked why they had their honeymoon earlier, Harold says after the wedding he did not want to see anything usual except for Doreen.
“I did not want to see home, work or even Kampala streets. I did not want to see any of my friends or someone I knew, the mood was to be in a far, very quiet place and reason out this whole journey that started a new chapter,” he adds.
“We also had not been on a long holiday together before so the timing was ideal,” he explains.
Harold says he would encourage a couple to have their honeymoon immediately.
“There is a lot to ponder about the good moments at the party, the unexpected visitors and the service providers who were disappointed and the tearful speeches from parents,” he notes.