Planning a Mini-Moon: Being Flexible on Dates

October is a magical time of year in the wine country. Grapes have been harvested and leaves are shades of gold and burgundy. The weather is pleasant.

So what does this have to do with our wedding/mini-moon? It means for our mini-moon we need to be flexible. Many hotels and bed and breakfasts don't have any availability the weekend after our wedding. Others only have rooms at $1,000+ a night.

Affordable options could be had - The Calistoga Inn was a choice.

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While budget-friendly, it didn't meet all of our must haves. European in style all guests shared bathrooms. Another let down was the lack of available cooking classes. We also quickly discovered that we wouldn't be able to book dinners at our restaurants of choice until two months in advance (August). Our mini-moon was quickly looking like a washout.

Rather than stress or compromise, we're going to postpone our mini-moon by one month. Waiting a month means that the Napa Valley becomes more magical - the tourists flee and rates return to "normal."

Cozy romantic cottage rooms such as these open up:

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And a variety of cooking classes and culinary retreats can be found a plenty! More on the classes we considered another day.

Were you able to book your dream mini-moon? Did you have to be flexible? What were your compromises?