No doubt about it, you'll have to shop around to find the resort or hotel package that offers you everything you want and need, comes with a sterling reputation and great ratings in the travel industry, and is offered at a fabulous price. Your travel agent can help you out narrowing the field and pointing out the best deals for your time of travel, but you can help your own mission by knowing where to look for the best-priced rooms and amenities.

Although you're free to conduct search through the Internet, you might be surprised to find out that you can often discover the best deals by calling the hotels directly. And by directly, I mean going a step beyond talking to a receptionist at the hotel's 800-number reservations center. Very often these clearinghouse operators are not in the loop about the newest deals and bargains at, say, the Westin in Providence, Rhode Island. Your best source, then, is to talk to the reservations specialist at the hotel itself. So ask to be connected to that own desk. Is this more time-consuming? Yes. Is it a bit of an expense to dial that 401 area code to reach the hotel? Yes. But the effort and expense can net you a much better discount when you're dealing directly with the resort. Plus you'll be able to talk to a live representative at the hotel to ask many other questions, such as which rooms have the best view (that 800-number operator wouldn't know), if the convention center is in walking distance (nope, no information at the 800-number), and if it's easy to get a taxi in that city, which would keep you from having to rent a car. Perks abound everywhere for the investment of your time.

Now let's talk about Internet research that can lead you right to a timesaving lineup of deals and packages that meet your requests. I've listed in the Resources some of the top hotel reservation networks, so find your list of must-visit Web sites there. Many of these sites offer excellent tools for efficiency, asking you to list your requirements very specifically so the program can deliver only the options that fit your profile. And here is where shopping for your honeymoon resort is going to differ from any other time you've ever made travel arrangements over the Internet. Many sites offer special categories of room and resort options that include packages for honeymooners. You didn't think about clicking on that icon when you were planning your business trip to Rome last year, but a wise move now. Go to the honeymoon sections of these sites, or click on the honeymoon categories of their regular click-and-choose section. See what they have to offer by way of freebies and discounts for honeymoon travelers. Some sites put their best deals in. the honeymoon section, knowing that at least 2 million American brides and grooms are shopping specifically for honeymoon deals at any point in the year. just good marketing for them to put those deals where you, the bride and groom, will find them quite easily.

This is not to say that a honeymoon package is always better than a regular travel package at any resort. Indeed, it may be quite the opposite. Of course, resorts want to attract the marrying kind to their establishments, but as with anything else you'll come across during your wedding planning, some professionals will choose to offer true discounts, and others will jack up the prices of anything with the words bridal, or in your case, honeymoon attached. Just a condition of the entire wedding industry-slap on a wedding label, and you can charge more for the exact same item or package. Wedding industry experts are quite savvy about the huge bridal consumer market out there, and they are aware that some brides and grooms are able to throw caution to the wind and spend an obscene amount of money on their weddings and honeymoon trips. These carte blanche couples aren't out there looking for the best deal like you are. They hold a blank check, they're not constrained by budget, and they're ready and willing to spend twice what their honeymoon is worth without batting a high-society eye.

The entire wedding and honeymoon industry also knows that many couples just want to get their plans over with. They're stressed and harried. Everyone's on their back about the wedding plans, and they're insanely busy at work. Booking the honeymoon seems like an easy thing to accomplish-just check the honeymoon packages at some major resorts, pick the best-sounding one, and book it.

These two examples are of course a look at extreme ends of the spectrum. You probably would never rush through your honeymoon plans just to get it done, and you probably have to look at your budget more carefully than the anything-goes couple. I include them here to give you an idea ofwhy you might not find the best deals attached to a "honeymoon special" label. Resort coordinators know that some people will pay anything for their honeymoon, some people's parents will splurge for their kids' honeymoon, and some people just don't take the time to research well. So they feel they can increase the costs of some of their honeymoon packages and get away with it.

Although that's the exception more than the rule, heard enough regret stories from recently married couples to warn you about bad deals listed as honeymoon packages.

So what does this mean to your planning: It means that you shouldn't limit yourself just to honeymoon packages and plans. Very often you can construct an equally fabulous honeymoon by booking a standard room or suite in a resort as regular guests, not specifically as honeymooners. Yes, I know I told you to tell everyone at the hotel, on the island, and in the country that you're on your honeymoon. Great deals can be had with that classification once you're there with those shiny new rings on your fingers. But for the sake of planning with a budget in mind, sometimes it's best to step outside the classification of honeymooner, particularly when you're building your honeymoon piece by piece at the beginning. Just check out regular honeymoon and see what the numbers say for you. Is it twice the work: unfortunately so. But just as with your wedding, devoting extra time to research before booking can you a fortune.

Get more information from our Honeymoon Planning Kit which includes 12 Honeymoon Planning Checklists and our 31 Chapter Honeymoon Planning Guide. Click here to visit our download page.