The rise of the ‘friendmoon’ – why are newlyweds ditching the traditional romantic break?

An email pinged into my inbox earlier this year. It read as follows:

“Dearest chosen ones, we were thinking it would be lovely to keep our wedding party going a few days longer in a pretty place with our closest friends. In short, we were wondering whether you’d like to come on a friendmoon after our August wedding?”

Now I’m au fait with staycations (a holiday spent in one’s home country) and on board with bleisure (when business and leisure trips merge) but I’d never heard of a friendmoon. I’ll confess: reader, I was floored.

For the fellow uninitiated, a friendmoon is just what the name implies: newly-weds bring their closest friends along after they have tied the knot, on what was traditionally the preserve of the couple.