The calendar
Plan it before the wedding eats every spare hour
There are roughly six weeks before a wedding in which nobody has capacity for anything else. A honeymoon plan that ignores them gets booked in a panic, from whatever is left — which is why this calendar is front-loaded and the last six weeks contain nothing but confirmations.
- Start at
- 12 months, if gorillas are in the plan
- Otherwise
- 9 months for peak season
- Genuinely fixed deadlines
- Two
- Weeks before the wedding to leave empty
- Six
The idea
The dead zone is a planning input, not an excuse
Mark it before anything else: the six weeks before the wedding are unavailable. Not busy — unavailable.
Whatever is not decided by then gets decided badly or not at all. The honeymoons we see booked inside that window are reliably the most compromised, not because anyone chose wrongly but because availability did the choosing.
Everything in this calendar is arranged so that nothing needing a decision falls inside it.
- Decisions: 12 to 6 months out
- Documents and bookings: 6 to 2 months out
- The last six weeks: confirmations only
- The week before: nothing that could go wrong
The windows
What happens when
Front-loaded on purpose. Nothing after month two requires a decision.
| Window | What happens | Decisions? |
|---|---|---|
| 12 – 9 months | Month, nights, total. Send a brief. Book gorilla permits. | All of them |
| 9 – 6 months | Revisions, then a deposit to hold the camps | Some |
| 6 – 4 months | International flights, in the right name. Passport checks. | One that matters |
| 4 – 2 months | Insurance, then the travel clinic with your route | Few |
| The last month | Re-check entry rules. Tell the bank. Get cash. | None |
| The week before | Photograph documents. Confirm the first transfer. | None |
Four pages
The calendar, and what it is built on
The calendar
Twelve months to the gate, window by window, with what to do in each and why it sits there.
The full calendar
Real deadlines
Two are genuinely immovable, two are effectively so, and the rest are convention. Knowing which is which is most of the value.
Which are real
The dead zone
Six weeks before the wedding with no capacity in them. Plan around it rather than through it.
Why six weeks
Booking late
Inside three months, inside six weeks, inside a fortnight — what is still possible at each, honestly.
What is still open
When to pay
Deposits, balances, what holds space and what does not — and the one payment worth making earliest.
Payment timing
The paperwork
Passport names, visas, insurance and health, on their own site — because that half deserves more than a row in a table.
Newlywed SafarisFree download
The Honeymoon Calendar
Twelve months to the gate, window by window, with the two genuinely fixed deadlines marked and the six weeks that should stay empty.
- Why this is front-loaded
- The dead zone: six weeks nobody plans in
- 12 to 9 months: the decisions that unlock everything
- 9 to 6 months: holding space
- 6 to 4 months: flights and documents
- 4 to 2 months: insurance and health
- The last month
- The week before
- Which deadlines are real
- If you are already late
No cost, no obligation. We ask for an email so we can send it and, if you want it, follow up once.
Before you ask
Questions about timing
How far ahead should we really start?
Twelve months if gorillas are in the plan, because permits are capped daily and allocated centrally. Nine months for July to October or Christmas. Six months otherwise.
Those are not sales numbers — they are when the small camps that make a honeymoon stop having space.
Is it too late if we are three months out?
No, and we plan trips at that notice regularly. What changes is that availability starts doing the choosing rather than you.
Send the enquiry today rather than after one more discussion. The first reply will tell you honestly what is open, which beats another week of reading.
What is the one thing to do first?
If gorillas are in the plan: secure permits, before lodges and before flights. A permit cannot move to suit a flight; a flight can nearly always move to suit a permit.
Otherwise: send a brief. It costs nothing, it takes twenty minutes, and it is the step people delay for no reason at all.
When do we actually have to pay?
A deposit holds space, typically when you accept the itinerary, and the balance is usually due some weeks before travel. Nothing is owed to see a plan or to revise it.
Your quote states both dates before you commit to either.
Who actually arranges my safari?
This site is a planning guide. When you send an enquiry it goes to Nomad Africa, our partner travel agency in Kenya, who prepare your itinerary and quote and handle the booking, the payments and you on the ground.
You deal with one team from the first email to the airport transfer home.
Start planning
Tell us the wedding date and we will place you on the calendar
The reply will say what is comfortably open on your timeline, what is tight, and what has already gone — before you spend any more time reading.
That is a more useful first answer than an itinerary, and you get both.
- An honest read on what your timeline still allows
- Permits flagged first if your route needs them
- A route built around your month, not a standard circuit
- No deposit to see a plan, and no obligation at any point
Who answers
Nomad Africa, our partner travel agency in Nairobi, builds and prices every itinerary we send. You deal with one team, on the ground, for the whole trip.
Founded in 2017 as East Africa’s only dedicated travel magazine, Nomad still publishes — so the people planning your trip are the ones who write about these places for a living.
Get your tailored itinerary and quote
Our Africa specialist replies within 24 hours with a costed plan built around your dates.
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