Newlyweds are now taking shorter honeymoons than ever – in the past ten years the honeymoon period has shrank by half. A study, by hotel booking specialists LateRooms.com, puts the change down to work pressure and rising costs. Is it the work pressure or the cost that is ending the two-week exotic honeymoon?

The study by LateRooms.com shows that:

• 38% of couples take two-week honeymoons compared to 80% in 2005
• 1 in 5 put this down to work pressures and 30% blame financial issues
• One third wait up to six months for their post nuptial break
• 1 in 10 don’t have a honeymoon at all
• The beach break is still the most popular choice for a honeymoon, regardless of length
• 30% of couples getting married now request contributions to their honeymoon in place of a traditional wedding list

Traditionally, UK couples routinely enjoyed honeymoons lasting two weeks in some of the most exotic locations on earth. However, modern work pressures and the increase in couples paying for their own wedding celebrations has curtailed the extravagance once considered de rigeur for all newlyweds, according to a study by leading hotel bookers LateRooms.com. Tradition is ushered out into the wedding wilderness with the revelation that just over a third of British couples recently married, or just about to tie the knot, will take a traditional two-week honeymoon.