Front-loaded, deliberately

12 – 9 months

The decisions that unlock everything

Agree the month, which the wedding has mostly decided for you. Agree the number of nights and whether it is firm. Agree a total rather than a nightly rate — separately first, then compare, because the gap between two people’s numbers is the commonest unspoken tension in honeymoon planning.

Then send a brief. This is the step people delay for no reason: it costs nothing, the first reply comes back in a day, and it narrows the whole problem.

Book gorilla permits now if Rwanda or Uganda is in the plan. Capped daily, allocated centrally, and gone months ahead in season. This is the only genuinely immovable thing in this window and it is the reason the window starts at twelve months rather than nine.

9 – 6 months

Holding space

Two or three revisions of the itinerary — this is where the trip actually gets designed, not where you correct mistakes — and then a deposit to hold the camps.

For July to October or the Christmas fortnight this is not early. The eight-tent, owner-run camps that make a honeymoon have eight tents, and they go first.

6 – 4 months

Flights and documents

Book international flights in the name on the passport you will travel on. If either of you is changing name, this is the decision point: before the trip or after it.

Check passport validity — usually six months beyond your return date — and blank pages, two to four of them, because a visa on arrival needs somewhere to go. Check both passports; it is remarkably easy to check one and forget the other.

4 – 2 months

Insurance, then health

Buy insurance when the deposit is paid rather than the week before you fly — cancellation cover only works if it predates the reason to cancel. Confirm it covers medical evacuation and the specific activities you have booked, because a great many policies exclude gorilla trekking, riding and walking safaris.

Travel clinic at six to eight weeks, with the actual route in hand rather than the country name. Malaria risk varies by altitude within a single country.

The last month

Confirmations only

Re-check entry requirements at source, because they change. Tell the bank you are travelling. Get small notes.

Nothing here requires a decision, which is the entire point of the shape of this calendar.

The week before

Nothing that could go wrong

Photograph every document and email it to both of you. Confirm the first transfer in writing, with a phone number for the driver. Check the light-aircraft luggage limit, usually 15kg in soft bags.

Tell the camps it is a honeymoon if we have not already — most do something, and none can do it at an hour’s notice.