Honeymoon After Your Florida Keys Wedding: Three Ways to Do It

Fly out the next morning, stay on in the Keys, or take the real trip months later. What each costs you in practice, and why the decision goes late.

By Michael Willis · Last reviewed 2026-09-10.

The last thing planned, and often the most expensive

The honeymoon gets decided in the weeks when wedding planning is at its loudest, which is exactly when nobody has the patience to compare flights.

That is the whole problem. Not the money. The timing.

Three shapes, and they are all fine

Fly out the next morning. The classic. You leave from the weekend directly, which means the momentum carries, and it also means you are getting on a plane the morning after your own wedding. From Key West that is a small airport with a thin schedule; from the mainland it is a three to four hour drive first. Plan the flight for the afternoon, not the morning.

Stay on in the Keys. The most underrated option, and the cheapest to organize, because you are already here and so is your luggage. Move hotels the day after the wedding: somewhere quieter, somewhere with nobody you know in the lobby. The change of property does more than the change of island.

The mini moon now, the real trip later. A few nights close by straight after the wedding, then the proper trip months later when the calendar is kinder and, often, when the flights are cheaper. Couples who do this almost always say it was the right call. It is also the option most likely to quietly never happen, which is why it works better when the later trip is booked before the wedding rather than after.

Staying on in the Keys, specifically

Staying on means buying at the same rates your guests just paid: $345 a night on average across the 2025 fiscal year. The difference is that you are no longer booking for fifty people, which opens properties that were never realistic for a block.

Weather is worth planning against rather than hoping through. NOAA National Weather Service normals for Key West, 1991 to 2020: September averages 7.24 inches of rain, the wettest month, at an average high of 89.0F. January averages 1.83 inches at 75.8F. A September wedding followed by a week in the Keys is a different holiday from a February one.

If you are moving islands rather than leaving: Key Largo for the reef, with John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park covering about 70 nautical square miles as America's first undersea park. Islamorada for the boats. Key West if you want somewhere that does not need you to plan anything.

Sources: Tourism Economics and Smith Travel Research via Visit Florida Keys and Key West; NOAA NWS Key West Monthly Normals 1991 to 2020; Florida State Parks.

Why plan it with us rather than alone

Not because we will beat a price. We will not always, and we will tell you when a booking carries no added benefit at all.

The honeymoon conversation can start with wedding-planning context you have already shared, including dates, budget and travel style. This introduction to travel planning gives you a useful starting point without requiring a blank page or a fresh questionnaire.

Many hotels extend added value to advisor booked stays, such as room upgrades where available, breakfast, or a property credit. Availability varies by property and by date and we do not promise it.

Beyond the honeymoon itself, the same advisor handles anniversary travel once we know what you liked the first time, group trips for families traveling together, and pre and post wedding extensions for guests who want to make a holiday of it.

When to start

Earlier than you think, and earlier than you want to.

Not because prices rise on a schedule anyone can prove, but because the honeymoon is the one decision that gets made under time pressure by default. Waiting deliberately is fine. Waiting by accident is how you end up with whatever was left.

Travel is arranged by an independent travel advisor affiliated with Fora Travel. Fora Travel is registered as a Florida Seller of Travel, registration number ST43973. If coordination carries a fee, it is stated before work begins. The advisor may earn commission from travel suppliers.

Visit Florida Keys and Key West publishes the Tourism Economics and Smith Travel Research rates used for the honeymoon comparison. Weather from NOAA National Weather Service Key West, Monthly Normals 1991 to 2020. Park detail from Florida State Parks. Published averages, not quotes.