Funding Dream Honeymoons with Sara Margulis of Honeyfund

In this episode of Beyond Vows & Veils, Brittany sits down with Sara Margulis, founder of Honeyfund, to explore how a personal need turned into the leading honeymoon registry platform. Sara shares her journey—from launching Honeyfund to securing a deal on Shark Tank—and how the platform has evolved to help couples fund their dream honeymoon without fees. They discuss the importance of prioritizing honeymoon experiences, budgeting tips, and how wedding websites can simplify planning. Plus, Sara shares insights on gifting etiquette, travel rewards, and extending the honeymoon concept beyond the wedding day. Whether you're newly engaged or deep into planning, this conversation is packed with valuable advice on making the most of your wedding and honeymoon journey!

For more wedding planning inspiration, follow along at:

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ABOUT EVENTRICS WEDDINGS

Eventrics Weddings is an award-winning team of experienced wedding planning and management experts, specializing in large-scale Indian Weddings & Fusion Weddings in Miami, Orlando, Palm Beach, and destinations worldwide.

Thirteen years ago, we were asked to steady a multi-day celebration for five hundred guests. While the venue and vendors were chosen, the families needed a presence on site - someone to ensure calm, clarity, and care. We were welcomed into homes, met with aunties and uncles, listened to many voices, and watched two families become one. It felt less like a service and more like being entrusted with a legacy. Word traveled from that weekend, and the work found its home.

We’ve remained committed to the same idea ever since. Weddings of cultural depth deserve planning that feels human - quiet, precise, and deeply respectful - so newly forged families can be fully present, together.

Transcript

Brittany (00:01.698)
All right, okay, I think we're all good. So Sarah, thank you again for joining me. I really appreciate you coming on to chat with us about Honeyfund. We're really excited to dive into it.

Sara Margulis (00:14.254)
Thank you for having me, Brittany. I'm really excited to be here.

Brittany (00:17.102)
For sure. So I always like to start with obviously your journey. So can you tell me a little bit of background about yourself? Like how Honeyfund sort of came to be, what inspired you to create this amazing honeymoon registry app or, you know, just tell me a little bit about it.

Sara Margulis (00:34.094)
Yeah, sure. mean, Honeyfund started really out of my own necessity. It was 2005, I was planning my own wedding and I didn't need any more stuff and I...

you know, didn't live in my forever home. So it was like no point in, you know, registering for all the traditional housewares. And we really wanted to go on a pretty elaborate honeymoon. We wanted to go to Fiji for two weeks. And after paying for our own wedding, there wasn't a lot of money left over for the honeymoon. So I started researching

you know, this idea of honeymoon registries. And there were a few options out there, but they were a little bit outdated and they were really expensive. They were charging like 9 % in fees, which I just thought was insane. That was like another night on our honeymoon we would have given up on fees if we'd used one of those. So my then fiance put together a...

Brittany (01:25.358)
right.

Sara Margulis (01:34.968)
makeshift sort of wish list of things we were gonna do on our honeymoon and our friends and family went crazy for it and gave us more than $5,000 and we went on our dream trip to Fiji and then really when we got back they were raving about the concept like, man, know, other couples could really use this.

you guys should create a site around this concept. So almost a year later, Honeyfund was born in March of 2006, and we'll be celebrating 19 years next month. you. Thank you.

Brittany (02:08.514)
which is wild. That's so crazy. Congratulations. That's a no small feat. That's no small feat. You know, I will say

piggybacking off what you just shared about honeymoons in general. I'll be honest with you, I run into the same thing with my couples. It's kind of like the honeymoon is, it's a thought, but it's sort of an afterthought because you're planning this, you know, we obviously specialize more in cultural events and they're hosting like these large scale multi-day events. And so they're just trying to wrap their head around getting through that to a certain extent. And then a lot of them are either in their residency or, really thick into their careers. So then again, there's only so much time you can take

off. And so I get that the honeymoon sometimes takes the backseat, but in your experience, you know, being in this specific niche market for so long, what would you say, how important is it for couples to prioritize going on a honeymoon, just to kind of like seal the whole wedding planning experience? And what's your take on that?

Sara Margulis (03:09.434)
I really, really firmly believe that couples should start their marriage off with a honeymoon. And not just because that's my business, but because our research shows that couples who take a honeymoon are more likely to be happily married more than a decade later than couples who didn't take a honeymoon. And that stat still gives me goosebumps every time I say it, because we knew that we were

making Dream Honeymoons happen and at Honeyfund that we were here with a purpose. But when we learned that information, it was like a light bulb. Like, my God, we're not only here for

this important moment in your wedding journey, but we're also here for the happily ever after, you know, and that really like meant so much to me because I actually went through a divorce from HoneyFund co-founder and I would never wish that on anyone. I, you know, definitely want to dedicate all that I can towards helping couples have a successful marriage. So, you know, there's all kinds of reasons why travel and honeymoons specifically are good for marriage. I think one is just like,

Brittany (03:47.084)
Yeah.

Brittany (03:57.837)
Yeah.

Sara Margulis (04:12.93)
Okay, you've just been through something really intense and really stressful, but also really joyous. And there's like a processing time. You need to take a beat to unwind after the wedding, to revel in all the memories you made and talk about what didn't work and talk about your next financial goal and kind of like breathe it all out, and start your marriage off, like really looking towards the future.

Brittany (04:33.602)
Mm-hmm.

Brittany (04:37.793)
Yeah.

Sara Margulis (04:37.848)
I mean, also when you travel, have time to bond together away from the stress and pressure of everyday life. And that's why our couples report wanting to continue travel throughout their marriage is about, you know, quality time together.

Brittany (04:51.297)
Yeah.

Definitely couldn't agree more. I think very well said, because again, it's like otherwise you just kind of get back into your routine. it is a lot, because you're almost working kind of like a second job planning this event. And then all that time sort of gets freed up again. I'm with you. It's almost like you've given birth to this amazing event, but you didn't take the time to really nurture yourself to the next stage of where you're going to be in your relationship. So I think that's actually brilliant to say.

You know, one of the things, Sara, that I think that we just like can't avoid, we have to talk about at least is Shark Tank. I think obviously you probably get asked about this all the time. And I know that was a while ago that obviously, you you've landed that deal with Kevin O'Leary and that was really exciting. Just in general, how do you think that that whole situation impacted Honeyfund and obviously where you guys are now?

Sara Margulis (05:44.832)
Yeah, you know, it's funny, the Shark Tank opportunity came to us. We were We had already done about 200 million in gifting on the platform and I think this was like 2013. And somebody on the cast or crew of Shark Tank had heard about Honeyfund and recommended us to casting. And so they reached out to us and invited us to apply. We had to go through the whole application process and everything, but they did cast us and

You know, it was really a moment of like reinforcement that what we were doing was important and that the Honeyfund brand was loved.

We were, you know, we were of course so nervous about walking into the shark tank and remembering all of our numbers and, you know, performing well under the lights and the cameras and the pressure of the six sharks or five sharks sitting there staring at you, pummeling questions at you. But like right before we went in, we were in our trailer waiting to be called in to tape. And there was another company that was taping that day. It was a, I think two brothers.

And when we just started kind of started chatting with them and when we told them what we do, the guy was like, what? You're the founders of Honeyfund? Oh my God.

My sister is using that platform right now. We have to call her and tell her that we're here with you guys. Like you guys are so amazing. You're so famous. Like, you know, they were like, they just built us up as like we, I felt like somebody hired them to come and just like pump us up right before we walked into the shark tank. And then, it, while we were in the tank and we started talking about our 200 million and gifting, you know, the sharks really sat up and they were like, okay. This is like a legitimate business. So all of that, think really built a lot of confidence.

Brittany (07:23.384)
Yeah, yeah.

Sara Margulis (07:37.008)
in us that HoneyFund was a real thing and of course getting the deal from Kevin was a great gift to our brand and to us as entrepreneurs. Kevin's one of the more involved sharks I would say. He's really accessible. He's been part of our HoneyFund community now for 10 years and I could call or text him right now and he would pick up. He's really been such a great support.

Brittany (08:00.366)
Bye

Sara Margulis (08:06.908)
and a great person to know. He's opened doors for us and made sure that he continues to talk about Honeyfund in the Shark Tank and on TV appearances. He's invited me to TV appearances multiple times. So yeah, it's been life-changing, completely life-changing.

Brittany (08:26.304)
Yeah, that's amazing to have a partner like that, obviously, because I sort of felt the same way when we reached out to you actually to kind of be a part of this podcast, because I had had so many brides recently talking about Honeyfund and Honeyfund. I just think it's great. I think it's a great concept. Obviously, we're huge fans of it.

You know, one of the things I wanted to kind of pick your brain about as well just is, you know, the development of Honeyfund over the course of these 19 years, because initially it kind of did start right with the original just kind of, you know, fun shopping honeymoon experiences, like buy the massage for the couple or contribute to the accommodations. where is Honeyfund now? Like, how has it evolved, would you say, over the past 19 years? Just to kind of open the lens to couples who, especially for my clientele, I'll say,

know, cultural realm, you know, for people who are listening right now that, you know, gifting is such a tradition, right, in some of the cultures that I work with. And so how can couples embrace this, right, and kind of maybe supporting them to steer their guest in these directions?

Sara Margulis (09:34.266)
Yeah, I'm really glad you brought that up. know, Honeyfund is, you know,

essentially the gift of cash. And it always has been. One of the things that's been really important for us though, is that from a giver's perspective, they know they're contributing that money towards something like really fun, like an experience for the couple that they're going to love and cherish forever, a memory, right? And it really works well for couples who just don't need more stuff, right? But for us, what was always really important is to keep it free. And when we started the platform,

There was no such thing as crowdfunding. There was no GoFundMe. There was barely even social media or smartphones when we started Honeyfund. So much has changed. But one thing that has never changed is our commitment to a fee-free platform. for many years, we were kind of like the low-cost leader. Of course, there's credit card processing fees and things involved in moving money from one person to another. But...

Brittany (10:20.76)
Yeah.

Brittany (10:35.576)
Mm-hmm.

Sara Margulis (10:37.05)
About a year and a half ago, or two years ago, we cracked the code on completely fee-free gifting. So that's one thing that I feel like has really allowed us to continue to be not just a great idea for couples, but really work for them. We also have really started looking at how we can apply our 18 years of honeymoon data towards some honeymoon booking and planning tools. So creating a way for couples to come in and not just...

Brittany (11:02.136)
Mm-hmm.

Sara Margulis (11:06.734)
fund their honeymoon and kind of like imagine what they're doing and put it on a list, but actually find out what they're doing, create an itinerary and then have that become their registry and talk back and forth with their registry. So that's been really exciting to dream up and that's gonna be in development this year. And then.

Brittany (11:24.526)
Yeah, that's amazing actually.

Sara Margulis (11:26.54)
Yeah, thank you. And then along the lines of the Happily Ever After, we're starting to design for like second Honeyfund use case. So baby moons, anniversary trips, things that are into the marriage, really supporting that couple to continue to use the benefits of travel towards a strong marriage and to their forever together.

Brittany (11:47.702)
I really love that and as you're sharing it, one of the things that I know, even just personally being invited to events, I've been invited where the registry was kind of very, your standard run of the mill, kind of go to Crate and Barrel or whatever. And then I've also been invited where it's like Venmo the couple.

Sara Margulis (12:06.158)
Yes. Yes.

Brittany (12:07.264)
And I will say for anyone listening, Venmo-ing the couple kind of gives me the ick. It's just like, you know, I don't know if that's just me, but it's like if I'm gonna gift somebody something, like even if they essentially say, change their itinerary, let's say, like, instead of the massage, they decided to get dinner, whatever. But at the same time, like me as the gifter, I feel like there's a sense of, you know,

pride in the gift that I've given as opposed to just like, let me just Venmo them like it's a pizza delivery. You know what I mean? It's just, I feel like there's a very special transaction that your platform offers that I've not seen anywhere else that allows couples to have a little bit more control.

Sara Margulis (12:37.786)
Totally. Right.

Sara Margulis (12:50.402)
Yeah, and I mean, for me, it's all about the etiquette of, you know, wedding gifting and, you know, wedding etiquette is probably one of the sort of biggest strongholds in the world of etiquette that like still hangs on. Like we have ways that we do things and it really does come down to like social graces and like being

being gracious about accepting gifts from your friends and family. And yeah, they're gonna get you a gift either way. But I totally agree. putting your Venmo on your wedding website or whatever to me just does not feel.

Like it's supporting that special moment between a wedding guest and their couple when it comes to the gifting. So, so yeah, we've always really cared for that. And what we hear from our givers is like, my gosh, that was so much fun. I can't believe like I didn't have a HoneyFund when I got married. I wish I knew about it. You know, I would much rather buy, you know, an excursion or some kind of like part of the honeymoon that they'll remember forever than like, you know, some towels. So we know that givers absolutely love it.

Brittany (13:32.558)
Mm-hmm.

Brittany (13:43.95)
Hmm.

Brittany (13:52.887)
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, absolutely. know, curious on, just because I get couples that ask me this question, how is the platform set up in terms of how does the couple get the money or the items towards it? Is it just a direct deposit into their bank account or like how does that work?

Sara Margulis (14:12.346)
Yeah, so there's two ways to set it up. By default, you'll get a Honeyfund wallet. And when your friends and family contribute, the money will sit there for you. One reason that we did it that way instead of direct to bank is that a lot of times when that money goes direct to your bank account, it gets mixed up with the rest of your daily life and your wedding expenses and everything. And all of sudden, you're just like, wait, how much money do we have for our honeymoon?

Brittany (14:30.318)
you

Brittany (14:35.02)
Right, right, right. What was this contribution? Yeah, 100%.

Sara Margulis (14:38.274)
Yeah, exactly. like making sure that that money is there for you when you're ready for it and that it's going to be for your honeymoon is super important to us. And then from there, you can request it out to your Venmo or PayPal, or you can spend it on up to 200 gift card brands. So we have like all the major sort of travel brands in there, hotels.com, booking.com, Airbnb is a super popular one, know, airline, Southwest Airlines, cruise lines, you know, you if you

Brittany (14:43.555)
Mm-hmm.

Brittany (15:04.088)
Mm-hmm.

Sara Margulis (15:08.188)
want instant access to those funds, let's say you're going to go book your celebrity cruise or whatever, you can grab that gift card and just go ahead. If you're going to cash it out to PayPal, Venmo, it's going to take a few days just because there's a lot of fraud gates we have to get through to make sure that your money is secure and our platform isn't being abused.

Brittany (15:25.166)
Sure, of course.

Right.

Sara Margulis (15:30.306)
You know, it's totally all of that is completely fee free for the giver and for the couple, which that to us is like the most important thing. And people are very much willing to wait a few extra days for the convenience of the cash. But knowing that it's safe and that it was free.

Brittany (15:45.91)
Absolutely, I think that that's brilliant. Cause I was just about to ask like if it went directly into their bank account right away. Cause I was like, that would be, yeah, like so confusing with the other bills and things. Does Honeyfund have like partnerships with, I mean, you know, you just mentioned like cruises and airlines. Like what did those partnerships look like? Or is there any, anything that the couples could be utilizing in terms of that beyond just, you know, kind of the outline or itinerary and things to that end.

Sara Margulis (15:53.422)
Yeah.

Sara Margulis (16:11.194)
Yeah, so we already partner with dozens of wonderful travel brands. For example, Hilton is one of our major partners. And we do tons of content around the most honeymoon-worthy Hilton properties. So let's say that you're Hilton Honors member and you really want to make sure that you're loyal to that brand and getting all your points for your honeymoon. We're going to tell you which properties to go to, what the benefits are of each of those properties, and give you the best

that they have going at the time. And then of course we're also leveraging a lot of these partnerships to build that travel booking tool so that you can actually create your whole honeymoon itinerary, get it booked, and you know follow along as the different pieces of it are getting funded through your Honeyfund.

Brittany (16:59.118)
So is it kind of like that you have a little bit of a concierge going on with Honeyfund a little bit in terms of like planning and things to that end for the honeymoon?

Sara Margulis (17:06.285)
Yeah.

Sara Margulis (17:09.946)
That's what we're building is going to be much more of like a smart sort of imagine like a travel agent who's planned 1.4 million honeymoons. That's the power of the data that we have behind all of our past account holders. And so we can recommend like, you want to go to Italy. Have you considered these cities? Have you considered these tours and excursions in Rome or in?

because we know that past couples have gone there and enjoyed those places. So that's kind of what's coming, but what you can find now is exclusive deals through our partnerships, top honeymoon resorts around the world, blog content that deep dives into destinations. So yeah, there's a lot to discover in the way it works today.

Brittany (17:58.542)
I love that. think that's fabulous. Cause I'll tell you what, I can't tell you how many times that we've had the standard gift box out at the cocktail reception and I get asked by like the uncle or aunties and they'll be like, Hey, can you move the gift box inside the ballroom? We just want to make sure we keep our eyes on it. And like everyone's hawkeyeing the gift box throughout the course of the evening. It's like.

Sara Margulis (18:15.706)
So yeah, it's really important. And we hear this a lot from couples from cultures where cash is kind the priority gift. It can be a security issue and people are really nervous about it all night long. So a HoneyFund is perfect for those couples because you can still give just a general contribution on the page, but you can also kind of have it going towards fun things you're going to do on your honeymoon.

Brittany (18:42.41)
Yeah, because a lot of times when we're getting into like the wedding website development, we're sending those save the dates out, we're sending the invitation out. Usually on the wedding website, we'll have some sort of a link that goes to obviously their registry and then on that registry will if we don't have a registry, usually it's like that's monetary gifts is kind of what we consider. If like nothing's listed, if you want to bring something, bring it. But

When they put it on their wedding website, is there any advice you have? This might be silly, but I get this question a lot from my couples, so I know that they're gonna want me to ask you. How do they approach their parents' friends, who are maybe a little bit more old school when it comes to like, hey, we're not really doing the envelope thing? Like, is there a...

Sara Margulis (19:23.278)
Mmm.

Brittany (19:24.863)
Is there a more appropriate way to ask for them to use that platform as opposed to give cash? Like people naturally, I get it, some people will just kind of do that, but is there a way that you've seen to be successful to kind of support maybe a different generation or different crowd?

Sara Margulis (19:40.418)
I love that you asked this question. One thing that we see go wrong for couples is when like they have a wedding website where there's like built-in registry tools and everything drives the visitors to their page towards, you know, the store registries and the HoneyFund links get kind of buried. So we actually, our site also functions as a full service wedding webpage. So you can put everything about your wedding. You can post updates about, you know, can post accommodations.

Brittany (19:56.216)
Hmm.

Brittany (20:03.148)
Okay.

Sara Margulis (20:10.372)
and any other store registers you have. But because you're on a HoneyFund page, which is all geared towards the cash gifting, it just makes it more natural for the giver to just do that first. The other thing we would suggest is in your greeting, just saying like, hey, we're not gonna have a box because of security concerns. If you were planning to go with the cash gift, this is the page to do it on. And that just lets us know, like, you know.

Brittany (20:22.371)
Mm-hmm.

Sara Margulis (20:35.898)
what your plans are and in a really innocuous way. they just need to know what to do. Guests have two or three things that they care about. When is it? Where is it? What am I giving? That's pretty much it. So just make sure you're wearing exactly what's the dress code.

Brittany (20:39.586)
Mm-hmm.

Right, right.

Brittany (20:49.516)
Yeah, you're totally right. What am I wearing maybe? Like, what's the weather? Yeah.

Sara Margulis (20:58.426)
Maybe where am I supposed to stay? All of that stuff is right on your HoneyFund page. And it just makes it so much simpler. know, lot of the big multi-page wedding websites, they feel like fun to put together from the couple's point of view, from the guest's point of view. It's like, how many pages do have to dig through just to find out those three or four things that I actually need to know, right? Like, the rest I'm going to find out at the wedding. I'm going to find out about your bridesmaids and your groomsmen. I'm going to find out, you know, give me like those three or four print-in things. So that's why we designed

Brittany (21:01.996)
Okay.

Brittany (21:18.444)
Right, right, yeah.

Sara Margulis (21:28.4)
the page to be really like straightforward. mean, we have incredible, beautiful designs. have lots of multicultural themes on HoneyFund that you can choose from. So there's like, it can still be that special sort of page that you created that matches your wedding colors or whatever, but it's designed to make it really user friendly for guests and to drive the most, you know, the best possible outcome for you in terms of the gifts. We also just launched a guest management and RSVP tool. So you can actually

Brittany (21:42.915)
Mm-hmm.

Brittany (21:53.934)
Mm-hmm.

Sara Margulis (21:58.3)
upload your entire guest list, send the RSVP QR codes or links out to your guests and manage everything right there. And then when they're done giving, or sorry, when they're done RSVPing, they go right off to check out your page and give a gift. So it's just really easy and simple for them.

Brittany (22:13.45)
Mm-hmm. I actually love that because that was gonna be my next question, Sarah, because I could talk about wedding websites for a long time. Like my office knows I'm very particular about the wedding website. I'm like such a nerd with that, but for me it's like, especially for Indian weddings, because we're hosting,

Sara Margulis (22:21.259)
Me too.

Brittany (22:30.05)
three or four days of different functions. Some people are only invited to select events. So then you have to go and upload and then toggle to the private functions. And then on top of that, the RSVP platform, sending the e-blast, being able to, it's like a whole complex thing. So I would love to dig in with you, maybe even offline, just whenever. I'd love to understand fully about the wedding website capabilities, because I love the idea for couples to maybe just,

move that experience over because some of the platforms that we've been using, obviously, I'm The Knot or I've been using Appy Couple a lot because Appy Couple seems to have a lot of the functionalities that we go for with couples. But that's really, I actually had no idea that you had like a whole wedding website that they actually could just use to streamline the whole process.

Sara Margulis (23:20.378)
Yeah, I mean, we don't yet support the multi event feature, but it is something that couples have been asking for and that we have been starting to design for. know, AppyCouple's amazing. I've, you know, known those founders for years and years. The only thing is it's paid, right? Honey Fund is totally free.

Brittany (23:25.024)
Sure.

Brittany (23:37.442)
Right, right, okay, yeah, that totally makes sense, which is pretty amazing, the fact that you are. What made you decide to be fee free, aside from obviously your personal experience with like, you know, not wanting the credit? mean, was that a big decision for you or was it just like a no-brainer, we're not gonna ever charge a fee?

Sara Margulis (23:55.514)
Yeah, I think it really came from our own experience and like, especially coming to Honeymoon Registry is pretty early and finding these platforms that were just charging like ridiculous fees. And we were just like, we didn't want to charge our wedding guests to give us money and we didn't want to have to like eat some of that cost of processing. So that was really where it started. But then over time, it really became about like making it the best we can for our members and making sure

Brittany (24:07.906)
Mm-hmm.

Sara Margulis (24:25.538)
that they have all their needs met and that their friends and family all feel good because there's already sort of a question mark around giving cash right for a lot of different couples like the traditional sort of American wedding registry etiquette you know

used to say like, don't ask for cash. Now it's like, well, you can, but if only if it's like for your honeymoon or for something specific. And so, you know, we really wanted to like take away one more objection to just asking for what you want, which is like a honeymoon, you know? So, so yeah, it's, it's been one of those things where, you know, for me, it's been like a personal challenge to like get it right and figure it out and,

Brittany (24:48.556)
Mm-hmm.

Brittany (24:56.236)
Right, right, right.

Brittany (25:06.894)
Mm-hmm.

Sara Margulis (25:07.142)
this business without having to put that on our couples and their wedding guests.

Brittany (25:10.434)
Yeah. Yeah.

No, I think that makes complete sense. Yeah, I was just curious, no, I think it's a fabulous offering personally. I've had so many more of my couples doing it. I think that slowly but surely we're getting over kind of the cultural and traditional hump of saying, hey, this still definitely can be a traditional gift. It's just done in a little bit more of a modern way. And I think that it's just something that I've noticed more and more families are embracing. And just for couples who are listening, know, I feel like

family word of mouth is very supportive to you. Like cue in your parents, maybe your, you know, your sister, brother, I don't know, whoever's heavily involved so that when family members are asking them about your wedding, which naturally they're going to in the year that you're planning or whatever, they can also be educated enough to say, hey, they actually have this really cool thing that they're doing and you know, you can actually go on, they're planning their trip to Italy or whatever it is and that gets people even more excited about it because the more you can even educate the people that are helping.

you that will be talking to the people coming, I think that's also a big support in your direction.

Sara Margulis (26:18.252)
You're hired, Brittany.

Brittany (26:19.79)
It's like, get your Salesforce together, get that honeymoon paid for. Another random question I have for you before we kind of conclude here is, let's say a couple's worked with you for their honeymoon. Are they able to revisit coming back to Honeyfund for like maybe an anniversary and things like that? Or is it kind of just only come to us for the wedding and then we're done with you?

Sara Margulis (26:26.17)
Yeah.

Sara Margulis (26:46.02)
Yeah, no, I mean, that's what we're building. We really hope that couples will continue to use Honeyfund and that their friends and family will continue to contribute to their next honeymoon. This is like a way I'm trying to expand the use of the word honeymoon to mean not just that first trip, but like any romantic travel you take together as a married couple, because you have to be reminded sometimes of why you're in love and what you love about each other outside of the pressures of everyday life. And that continued travel is so important for a healthy relationship.

So we've actually, you know, we did a bunch of research last year where we surveyed Honeyfund couples, past and current, wedding guests givers that used the platform in the past, and just the general population just to find out like what do they think about this concept of anniversary Honeyfund or a baby moon or a Honeyfund. And people like overwhelmingly loved it. And what was interesting is that

couples like really want to be able to do that. They really, really do. But they of course worry about how it'll be perceived. And you know, the wedding guest audience, general population of them who would give to it, like are totally interested in giving to it. But

Brittany (27:51.992)
Mm-hmm.

Brittany (27:59.586)
Mm-hmm.

Sara Margulis (28:00.474)
you know, there's this, little bit of etiquette hurdle to get over. Well, that's what we did with Honeyfund almost 20 years ago. And we totally confident we can do that again. So yeah, I'm really excited about the next, what we call it the second Honeyfund, like bringing that couple back for the next trip.

Brittany (28:06.871)
Right.

Yeah.

Brittany (28:18.038)
Yeah, absolutely. mean, vow renewal, even if it's just in general, like, what can I get you for Christmas this year? I think it's great. I love it. I even personally wish I almost wish because there was one time when I was very busy with work and my family always laughs small story, but

Sara Margulis (28:24.683)
Yeah.

Brittany (28:35.278)
I was very busy with work. didn't have time to shop for everyone's Christmas gift. So I bought everyone a cutting board, like a really nice customized cutting board. I thought everyone would really love it, but my family still laughs about it today. They were like, 2017, the year of the cutting board. You know, they all laugh now because it's not that I didn't want to get them a good gift. I just didn't have also the time to like think about it. And I think, I think that should be honest with you. There's so many people, regardless if it's even just your wedding.

you know, they want to get you something that you want. So I think that what you've created is really brilliant. So Sarah, is there anything that you feel like we didn't cover or just in general that, you know, you don't know what you don't know, just parting words for couples that are in the thick of it right now planning their honeymoon or, you know, travels?

Sara Margulis (29:21.326)
Yeah, totally. So first of all, we talked at the beginning of this about how honeymoons can tend to be kind of an afterthought. And I really feel like...

Brittany (29:32.014)
Mm-hmm.

Sara Margulis (29:35.002)
Deciding early on how much of your budget is going to go towards the honeymoon and how much towards the wedding is super important. Do not do anything to plan your wedding until you have agreed to a budget. If you have friends and family involved in contributing to that, talk to them, find out what they're kind of willing to contribute.

Make sure you understand what this total package is gonna be before you make a guest list, before you decide on a honeymoon destination, before you decide on a venue. You have to know what you're working with.

Brittany (30:08.024)
Mm-hmm.

Sara Margulis (30:08.09)
because all of those other things get impacted by that decision, right? So that's what I really encourage couples to do. And then if what you really want is an amazing honeymoon, then ask yourself, are we willing to have a smaller wedding to make that happen? Or are we willing to have a honey fund? Do we feel good about putting that out there? There's also tons of other ways to finance a honeymoon. can get open at travel rewards credit card and start racking up points. Although cost of your wedding can go on that card, which will get

Brittany (30:11.406)
Right.

Brittany (30:33.934)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Sara Margulis (30:38.044)
you tons more points. You know, there's there's just lots of creative solutions out there when it comes to travel. But like start with a really like, firm idea in mind of like how much you're going to spend. And we actually have a one page wedding planner that helps you with that math and even kind of asks you to consider like, what are the big ticket items that you're going to start planning for on day one of your marriage? How much money left in the bank when you wake up the morning after your wedding? You know, these kinds of questions are so important to think about.

Brittany (30:54.094)
Mm-hmm.

Brittany (31:00.876)
Mm-hmm.

Brittany (31:04.821)
Yes, my god.

Sara Margulis (31:07.964)
Before you even start making a guest list, before you choose a venue, before you get attached to a whole idea of 250 people, you've really got to have those tough conversations with yourself and with each other.

Brittany (31:20.972)
Yeah, my gosh, Sarah, that's so brilliant because you're right. It's like, you know, first comes the wedding and then comes potentially the honeymoon and then maybe you're buying a house. And so yeah, you're right. And I think that I love this because I feel like Honeyfund is more than obviously just

planning your honeymoon, it's actually helping you to be really intentional with this big chapter in your life. And I think that that intentionality is really what's gonna support couples creating this really great experience and being able to go on this honeymoon stress-free, because they feel like they've had some of these tough conversations that quite frankly, I think everyone should have before they get married for sure.

Sara Margulis (31:56.378)
Totally, and you have to have an experience of knowing that you can tackle a big challenge together and come out the other side in a way that you both feel good about. That's what marriage is. Continuing on with making plans, facing life's challenges, and coming out the other side, we did a great job at that, right? And practicing at it and getting better at it every day. I always tell couples, the wedding planning process is actually a really good practice ground for marriage.

Brittany (32:01.731)
Mm-hmm.

Brittany (32:06.284)
Yeah, absolutely.

Brittany (32:14.894)
Yeah.

Brittany (32:24.045)
Mm-hmm.

Sara Margulis (32:26.148)
big financial commitment. It involves lots of friends and family, so you have to practice boundaries. And it also is like super emotional, right? So you have this like really amazing time in your life where you can practice like how good are we at handling these big things in our lives together? And, you know, a lot of times like one person's vision kind of gets takes over and becomes the runaway kind of like guiding force for the whole event. And that's not a way to do a marriage. That's going to lead to, you

Brittany (32:55.256)
Right.

Sara Margulis (32:56.333)
resentment and problems down the line. So I think it's just a really cool way to start practicing your marital skills.

Brittany (32:59.256)
Yeah.

Brittany (33:03.978)
I 100 % couldn't agree more and it's having these tough conversations so that you can enjoy the process later. And I just think that's what makes it the whole platform. And a little pro tip as well to the couples out there, you you mentioned with the travel rewards credit card, which I think is actually brilliant, by the way, when you sign with your venue, you're going to also probably get points with the property as well that you're signing with that, you know, I don't know how long it takes, but you could potentially also use that towards your future travel plans as well.

So something to definitely keep in mind.

Sara Margulis (33:34.714)
You can, I'm thoughts. Yeah, in fact, know Hilton's weddings division offers those kinds of perks where you can get free nights for your honeymoon at another Hilton property or points into your honors account. So definitely if you're gonna host your wedding at one of those bigger hotel chains, look into what they're gonna offer you on the backend.

Brittany (33:57.1)
Yeah, for sure. Because sometimes they'll offer even like double reward points or whatever if you're using one of their cards. You definitely have to have a rewards membership thing signed up. So make sure that you don't forget that. For sure.

Sara Margulis (34:08.504)
Yeah, I'm such a trouble junkie. I sign up for literally every airline, every hotel, every rewards program. I use it every time.

Brittany (34:15.342)
I can only imagine, Sarah. You're probably like, I got this in the bank. I'm going to plan this trip with purely points.

Sara Margulis (34:22.522)
I have done that a lot and thankfully, I mean, that's one of the perks of owning your own business is, know, bracket up points you can use for travel. But yeah, I love the whole topic of like hacking travel with rewards, points and credit cards. I think it's such a fun little game to play.

Brittany (34:37.251)
Yeah.

Brittany (34:41.528)
my gosh, absolutely. I'm curious, what is one of your favorite honeymoon spots that you recommend coming from the expert?

Sara Margulis (34:49.924)
So, yeah, so, God, I love this question. I just like an all time MVP of romantic travel, I have to give it to Mexico because there's like so many amazing towns and resorts and during COVID, they had it so dialed in. I went to Mexico three times during COVID and I never once got sick and I never once worried about anything. I know it gets a bad rap because of like, you know,

Brittany (35:14.402)
Wow.

Sara Margulis (35:19.866)
travel warnings around like crime and things like that, really in the definitions like Cancun, Cabo, Puerto Vallarta, Playa del Carmen,

Brittany (35:22.744)
Sure.

Sara Margulis (35:31.204)
people just live to serve you on your trip. mean, the culture is just so welcoming and so warm and they really have it down. that would be like my all time MVP. But I mean, most popular honeymoon destinations over the years for Honey Fund includes Mexico, but also Hawaii was our kind of all time number one. Italy took over a couple years ago. This last year and this year is all about Asia. So Japan and Thailand are really popular this year.

Brittany (35:59.564)
Wow. Okay.

Sara Margulis (36:01.388)
And then like Eastern Europe is really cool if you want a more affordable European getaway, Croatia, Turkey, the Republic of Georgia where wine was invented in the Republic of Georgia. Like so many cool places to discover with so much history that you just don't hear about every day. So yeah, I mean, it's the whole world is your oyster when it comes to your honeymoon, you get like immediate approval on your time off because nobody can say no when you've gotten married in your.

Brittany (36:06.158)
Mm-hmm.

Brittany (36:12.659)
wow, didn't know that.

Brittany (36:18.934)
Mm-hmm.

Brittany (36:27.148)
Right. Right.

Sara Margulis (36:29.259)
You know, take advantage of that. You've got all your friends and family like loving on your honey funds. I mean, there's no excuse not to take an amazing honey.

Brittany (36:37.046)
Yeah, absolutely. And I'm totally with you. It's like, and if you don't plan it, I mean, I hate to say it to couples, but it's gonna go on the back burner. It's just, if you don't plan it now, it's just, time's gonna go by. Like you mentioned, it's gonna be like the next life event's gonna happen. And before you know it, you've been married five years and you're like, what about that honeymoon we never took, you know? All right.

Sara Margulis (36:55.406)
Yeah, and then you've got the kids and it's harder to get away. You would be surprised how many podcast interviews I've done where the hosts whose job is to like be steeped in wedding stuff all day every day didn't actually take a honeymoon for themselves. It's just like, yeah. Even people who are all about weddings sometimes just, you know, miss it. So.

Brittany (37:09.764)
my god, that's hilarious. That was like such a priority for me. It was such a priority. 100%.

Brittany (37:21.422)
Isn't that funny? I don't know why that is. Maybe we're just so like laser focused on like that day, like getting through that day and those tasks. I don't know. Crazy. I mean.

Sara Margulis (37:30.81)
Yeah, but I mean, the honeymoon is a lot. Our couples report that like planning the honeymoon is like so much more fun and so less stressful than planning the wedding. So it's like kind of a break in your day-to-day stress. So yeah.

Brittany (37:38.978)
Yeah, yeah.

It's almost like light at the end of the tunnel to look forward to, right? Because trust me, I'm like Excel, spreadsheeting budgets with them and reviewing contracts. And I'm like, I promise it gets more fun because it's in the beginning, it's very daunting. Yeah.

Sara Margulis (37:47.737)
Sara Margulis (37:54.266)
Yeah, you know, pour them a glass of wine and tell them about Honeyfund and they'll thank you for a little moment of speciality.

Brittany (38:02.028)
Yes, they will. will. And soon enough, we'll be able to put our whole wedding website over there, the whole thing. So that's amazing, Sarah. You've got some really great stuff going on. Definitely keep our team posted. And just for any listeners out there, so they can just go to the wedding website. I know that you also are on Instagram, all the socials in terms of being able to find more information.

Sara Margulis (38:23.066)
Yep, they can find us on the app stores, honeyfund.com. Sign up for a free account, doesn't cost you anything to check it out. And then yeah, our Instagram and TikTok are really great places to find really inspiring content that touches on a lot of the themes we talked about today, as well as, you know, just honeymoon travel tips, wedding planning tips. So definitely follow us.

Brittany (38:46.764)
Yeah. You've got a great team, by the way, even setting up your podcast. mean, you've got an amazing team that's on it. They're very intentional. I really loved even conversing with them. So kudos to you for building such a great internal operation.

Sara Margulis (39:02.34)
Thank you, I'm very blessed. Awesome team at Honeyfund.

Brittany (39:06.008)
Well, thank you so much there for your time. Can't thank you enough and I hope that this encourages more couples out there to plan their honeymoon and to just enjoy it and be able to decompress from the big wedding weekend.

Sara Margulis (39:17.806)
Thank you, Brittany, for the opportunity. It's been so much fun talking to you.

Brittany (39:21.26)
Yeah, same. Thanks, Sarah. Take care.

Sara Margulis (39:23.802)
All right, you too.