I got married on June 4, 2022. On June 14, 2022 my husband and our dog left for 3 months in Germany while I stayed in Canada. Why? Well that’s a story I’d love to tell you another time if you are interested!
However, part of what made it a little easier is knowing on June 22nd I would be leaving to meet him in London, England for our honeymoon!
Funny thing about our honeymoon is that we were going on this trip before we ever set a date for our wedding. The previous September when Ed Sheeran announced his tour dates, we bought tickets, so we knew about this trip for a long time.
Once we decided that we were going to make this one of our honeymoons…I have called every trip we took since the wedding our honeymoon. I swear I’ll stop after our 1st anniversary! I decided to insert a little bit of bougie and romantic things into the itinerary. These are some of the finer things we enjoyed while there!
- Dinner at Darwin Brasserie in the Sky Garden
The Sky Garden (1 Sky Garden Walk, London) can be visited with or without a dinner reservation, however a dinner reservation ensures you don’t have to wait in line, and also includes access to the Sky Garden (which is actually free, but I have heard lines can get long). We dressed up in some fancy clothes and made our way down to the financial district to have dinner at Darwin’s Brasserie. This is the more casual of the two restaurants (with the other being Fenchurch Restaurant) but we preferred the menu.
Unfortunately for us some of the access to the gardens were closed for a private event, but I didn’t feel this took away from the experience at all. The real show is not the botanicals, but the view! This was my husband’s first time in London and it was great to do this on our first night there. He was able to get a good idea of what some of the city looked like from above, and I was able to point out some of the areas we were going to be taking a closer look at in the next few days. The dinner and service here was fantastic, and we had real champagne for the first time!
- Gordon’s Wine Bar
Gordon’s Wine Bar (47 Villiers Street, London) is a cute little hole in the wall (literally) spot that claims to be the oldest wine bar in the city (over 130 years old). While I can’t authenticate that claim, I can tell you it is quaint and lovely for sharing a drink with someone special. They don’t take reservations, so unfortunately it is a first come basis for seating, of which there is not much of. We were quite lucky as we stopped in on a very nice day and most people were keen to be sitting outside, so we snagged a small table. The atmosphere is like sitting in a literal cellar. The ceilings are low (my 6’8” husband had to crouch while standing). You can hear and feel the rumble from nearby trains, and there are framed news stories (mostly Royal related) hung all over the walls dating back quite a while. They have some small nibbles, but don’t come here expecting a full meal. It’s close to the theatre district, but we went in the early afternoon to increase our chances of getting in. The dress code seemed business casual, but we slipped in on the definitely more casual side as we had done a fair bit of sightseeing in the morning. The wine list has something for pretty much every price point, and it was a great place to relax for an hour or so. I can imagine in the evening it would be a very romantic place to be!
- Theatre tickets in the West End
Theatre in London is certainly not reserved just for love-birds on their honeymoon, I tend to think that getting dressed up, having dinner, and then taking in a show is a great time anytime! We did get tickets to Dear Evan Hansen at the Noel Coward Theatre. Normally I am more of a comedy show person than a musical person, but my husband enjoys them, so we went. The show was great! We enjoyed it a lot. We planned for a dinner beforehand somewhere nice, but without a reservation ended up eating at Pret! So, if you are planning to take in a show in London, make a reservation! This is a pretty busy part of the city, but our fast dinner did allow us a bit of time to do something else I wanted, and that was to see Neal’s Yard, which is just a colourful, quirky little area.
- Dinner are Bertie Blossom and a stroll down Portobello Road
We made dinner reservations pretty randomly one day that ended up being one of the more fun and romantic evenings on our trip. As I mentioned, we did go to see Ed Sheeran at Wembley during the trip (fantastic concert, this was my second time seeing him at Wembley). Randomly, afterwards I was watching his Instagram stories and noticed his account only followed like 5 others, so naturally I looked at who this was and there was a restaurant called Bertie Blossoms (323 Portobello Rd, London) – which I came to find out he has some level of ownership in – so I immediately made a reservation. He no longer follows this account, so make of that what you will, however we went.
The dinner was very good, but the atmosphere was a little dank to be honest. What puts this evening of ours on the list of recommendations however, was our walk there. We were staying on the cusp of Paddington in Kensington (right across from Hyde Park) and we took the 30 minute walk to the restaurant. It took us through the beautiful homes of Notting Hill, and through the markets on Portobello Road, until things frankly got a little gritty and then we arrived.
On our walk back, we stopped into two other pubs and had cheeky pints at each, and it made for a really fun and charming evening.
- Integrate something you both love
London has a lot to offer people who are fans of certain things. Many things are filmed here, and many famous, or infamous, things have gone on here. I’ll throw out some quick suggestions so you know what I mean, and then I’ll tell you about our particular love of a TV show we had to get a deeper dive into.
- Harry Potter Lovers – well, this is the place for you! Not only could you see The Cursed Child, you could take a city tour of the filming locations of the movies, and you can find platform 9 3/4 in Kings Cross Station. How neat! But, even better than that, and something I did in 2015 – head out to Watford and do the Warner Bros Studio Tour. You can arrange tickets and transportation from Victoria Station. It’s honestly fantastic. You can spend half the day there.
- Maybe the Beatles are something you both love? There are several kinds of tours you can take to see all the places the Beatles would have interacted around the city, including recreating the iconic Abbey Road crosswalk picture!
- Royals – if you’re a big fan of the Windsors, you may want to dig deeper into just getting a look at Buckingham Palace through the crowded gates or being paraded around the Crown Jewels. There is no shortage of tours offered that can bring you inside both Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey, and even out to see Kensington Palace or Windsor Castle.
Honestly, I could go on, Sherlock Holmes, Jack the Ripper (dark, but I did want to take the tour, we just didn’t have time), or even just historical pubs! Our particular niche interest on this trip took us on an afternoon tour to see a bench and pub. We self-guided this one, although a few guided ones have started to pop up. We absolutely LOVE the show Ted Lasso, so we took the tube out to Richmond to have a look around the area that Coach Lasso would live in were he real. We also had lunch at the frequently featured pub. It is called The Prince’s Head in real life, and the Crown & Anchor on the show. If you are a fan too, this should seem familiar:
We really enjoyed going out here, and the area around Richmond has a lot of the great shops you would find near Oxford Circus without the insane crowds. We roamed the area, including lunch, for about 2.5 hours. The bartender at the pub did tell me that many of the local businesses were stopped from selling anything related to the show by Warner Brothers. So, you may see some pictures of shop windows really blasting out the show online, this has pretty much stopped. One corner of the pub does have a bit of a nod to the show, but that is it now.
Other ideas that we didn’t do but could be fun:
- Meal in the Dark at Dans Le Noir (69-73 St John St, London)
- This is a fun and interesting way to have a meal. We noticed it when we were across the street at the Chocolate Cocktail Club (72 St John St, London) and something we would do if we went back
- Thames Dinner Cruise
- Sip wine and enjoy a multi course dinner from the river admiring sights such as St. Paul’s Cathedral, Tower Bridge and the Parliament buildings. It’s a great way to see landmarks from a slightly different view, and who isn’t feeling amorous sipping a drink on a boat?
- Park Picnic – Hyde Park, St. James Park
- Both of these parks are beautiful to lounge in with a picnic on a lovely day. St. James park views the back of Buckingham Palace, while Hyde Park has a small lake which you can paddle a boat or lots of flora to view.
- Champagne Trip Around the London Eye
- Another romantic way to sip some bubbly and fast track yourself through what is usually a long line. From the London Eye you get a great view of all that can be seen from the South Bank of the river. The London Eye is very touristy, so if you want to ride it I would recommend something that allows you to skip what can be a very long line on a nice, clear day
In a big city like London, there are so many things for just about everyone that with a little bit of research you can definitely plan the perfect activities for a fantastic honeymoon. If you have the time, a night or two outside the city would be enjoyable too. Whether that be the seaside in Brighton, the spas in Bath, or a quaint cottage in the Cotswold, England is an amazing place to find some romance!
