Hi, This is a message for any teachers getting married and planning a...

Hi, I am a Teaching Assistant and have the same issue to deal with. We have booked a mid-summer wedding only due to the time off in summer holidays. We are hoping to have a honeymoon after the wedding but have not looked into prices yet. It's hard trying to do it all in the school holidays as we always have to pay extra during the holidays which isn't very fair on us. I don't think I'd feel very comfortable in asking for time off for a honeymoon. Good luck with what ever you choose.

I would think there is really only one way to find out and that is to ask. I know things have changed in recent years but I remember teachers having time off from time to time for things like this.

Hi, I am a TA/Pastoral support worker and I too am getting married in the summer holidays. It is very expensive particularly the honeymoon as we have booked Aruba in the carribean as there are no hurricanes in that part in August. I am getting married in New York so I need over 3 weeks off in total which would be impossible. You could ask, hope it goes well for you and you are able to acquire what you want. 🏵

My H2B is a teacher and we are planning to get married during the October Half Term break and go on a small 2-3 day minimoon after the wedding. Then plan our big honeymoon later on during a different school holiday!

When it was me- I got married during spring holidays, we went away for a few days in Scotland and went on our proper honeymoon during the summer holidays. Depending on where you teach the general consensus is you are allowed days off for other people’s weddings but not your own so I imagine it would be very difficult to ask for honeymoon time off. That being said it really depends on how long you are asking for etc as I’ve know work colleagues to be allowed an additional day off here or there for their own trips etc
Fingers crossed you get the answers you need 🤞

My friend is a teacher and her school stance is if we ate going to fine parents for taking kids out of school then we need to ensure we have the teachers there to teach them. So they had to pay more. I don't agree with it but I suppose it depends if your school allow children out for once in a life time holidays or not - I'd speak to then

Sorry Hun, YOUR wedding is not a “circumstance beyond your control”
I was a Sen TA for twelve years .... had one ceremony ( legal one ) in Easter holidays , had another for family in june - bank holiday weekend and went on honeymoon in the summer ...
you have to remember if your school gave you time off for YOUR wedding ,planned for when YOU want it ,it sets a precedent ...meaning they would have no grounds to refuse anyone else.

Have you asked? Have they said you absolutely can’t? I work in a College, so a little different, and I’m hoping to take whatever dates I like. I’m getting married in June 2019 and I’m planning to take a couple of weeks around that. We didn’t even think about school hols to be honest. A few people have said they wouldn’t be comfortable with asking but remember it’s only a job! We have to remind ourselves often that the world will not collapse if we take term-time off; the kids will not lose anything if you are not there for a week! Your life is about YOU and not what you do for a living. Also, you can’t take time off for funerals?? That’s ridiculous! It’s not a prison sentence. Maybe I’m just very lucky where I work?

Gonna play devils advocate here ... Not a teacher but i think if the school had sense theyd say no, I just think if teachers can book holidays in term time because it's cheaper then they can't really say anything about parents doing the same... parents get fined for it, so I imagine if parents where to find out they'd be pretty pissed off that's it's one rule for one and another for the other. I think you do get enough holidays to work around it as all the other teachers on this thread have said they have done.

Unfortunately if you don't ask you don't get. I highly doubt the school would say yes though, the best thing to do is to have a mini moon over a bank holiday weekend, for 3 days or something right after your wedding and then save up for your real honeymoon at a later date.
Or, because we can't afford a honeymoon at all, we are asking all our guests to leave money instead of gifts if they are planning on giving one. And then having a honeymoon with what we get given if we can afford it at a later date.

I'm a teacher and would never dream of asking for time off... I get ample holidays and the cost is something I'll just have to swallow. You've got to think of the children you teach, is it fair on them to have supply and unsteady teaching for you to swan off on holiday when we already have six weeks at summer and a ton of holiday scattered throughout the year. We are getting married at the start of August and going straight to honeymoon for two weeks. It's doable, you just need to be aware of what you can actually afford.

My fiancé is a teacher and we’re getting married on good Friday and going to Bali for two weeks, returning before the end of the easter holidays. Yes it’s more expensive to go away in the holidays but you get 13 weeks off a year as compensation. Work around your very generous holiday schedule.

I have been able to get two days at the beginning of the Easter holidays just because it made our flights so much cheaper! That may be the way forward rather than asking for a big chunk of time off.

I work in a school and we've planned our wedding for the end of June in 2020. We're hoping to get some solid time in America for the honeymoon in August but we have friends out there to help with some costs. It just depends on what your employer has stated on holidays and time off, where you want to go (wedding and honeymoon), budget and time of year. Maybe get married when you want, have a mini-moon then a full honeymoon. Hope you figure it out!! Xx

I'm a teacher and I've booked for Easter Saturday. You just have to swallow the cost of school holidays. Or ask for unpaid sabbatical time then come back later. It's the price of doing the job you want. Good luck

Welcome to being a parent. When you cant take your children out in term time for Holidays even if its right before they break up. It works both ways really

Surely even if they said yes you'd have to take it unpaid and then you'd be financially worse off anyway? 🤔

My fiancé and I are both teachers and we’ve booked ours during the summer holidays. As others have said, we get more than enough holiday time over the year and parents aren’t allowed to take kids out during term time either! Have a look at adults only hotels though as the price of those doesn’t change as much between term time/holidays!

Hey! I am a recently married teacher! Congratulations on your upcoming wedding! So exciting!

I personally think it would be extremely unreasonable to ever expect any additional time off for your honeymoon! We already have at least 12 weeks a year to play around with as teachers! I think it would give a really unclear message to the children and parents if staff were allowed time off just to avail of a cheaper honeymoon. Also it would make your life harder as you would be coming back from an amazing trip having to pick up from someone else covering your class.
Like you say it's a once off trip so perhaps just save a little harder for it and go at an appropriate time. We paid for our whole wedding and honeymoon ourselves so just had a short mininoon to Barcelona after our wedding in July and have booked 'the big honeymoon' to NewYork and Mexico for during the easter holidays! It's giving us time to save up again and it's so exciting that we have something else to look forward to now too Good luck with it all! Xx

Have you looked at routing through different countries or even different cities? I'd suggest a romantic city break and then a longer honeymoon in the school holidays. Just look at different regional airports!

You might get a day or two if it overlaps term time and you can't get different days (eg. flights only on specific days) - but this would be unpaid leave.

As other people said, we booked our wedding around school holidays. We had our wedding in the middle of a 2 week holiday then a short minimoon in the UK. We then had our honeymoon at the start of the summer holidays. We had to choose our honeymoon destination based on where we could go on our budget in the holidays. We had a week in Italy and had an amazing time.

I'm not a teacher but my mum is and she is having my beautiful children so I can go on honeymoon with h2b so we have to do it in the holidays we just have to save from now till then and as we live together and have everything we need we have people helping is with certain things as our present or giving us money to go towards honey moon so we don't have a house full of things we already have and it helps us in other ways x

I’m a TA and I’m on a temporary contract from sept to June so do not know if my job is even guaranteed next year. Not getting married to late August so honeymoon will be September. Interested to know what everyone thinks about this. Should I mention it now to my employer or wait to see if I have a position next year. Only problem is honeymoon will be booked in Feb

You could ask your guests to give you money/vouchers towards a honeymoon - "Honeymoney" many travel agents (especially independent homeworkers) offer this for your guests/family etc to pay lumps off an already booked holiday or towards one. Most honeymoon offers, are valid for at least 6 months after the wedding if you need to defer. Look at travelling from different regional airports too!

I think it’s very unfair to have one rule for parents and another for teachers, especially when we get fined if we take our children out. And it’s not fair on the children to have a supply teacher, more so for autistic children like my son who can’t handle change.
Not trying to sound rude but you chose the job and unfortunately that means having just your 13 weeks a year off (more than other people get)

My friend's a teacher and has secured a day off for my wedding, but I would assume that is because the date is out of her control.

If parents can’t take children out for cheaper holidays then why should teachers be allowed. You should factor the added cost into the honeymoon and choose a cheaper holiday like everyone else has to.

Congratulations on your wedding coming .... How to Bring the costs down !! Google compare flights on Mondays or Tuesday's to bring Prices down !!!! Also have a look at Air B & B as also a cheaper way to stay overseas . Look at January sales to get a Reduced holiday for the summer too ..... Warm wishes for tracking something down Cheaper !! Love Sarah xx

Speak to your school head they may be more than happy to get a relief teacher in for you to go away on honeymoon. I sure if you ask and give them enough notice they may be very accommodating. You could always leave a work package ready for new teacher to follow as well horrible you.

My husband works in a school got married in June half term at the end so he could help the last preparations we had 1 day to clean up, he and I were back at work Monday. And we went away in summer booked after the wedding for last minute cheaper bookings and haveing previously picking the cheapest days general weekdays to fly so I could let my boss know, not doing all inclusive as cheaper and comparing hotels we knew our price range and stuck to it xx

I'm a teacher, getting married in August 2019 because there is not a chance they would allow time off for me during term time. It's not the school, it's the governments ruling. We have plenty of time off in the school holidays - not to be sounding harsh, but we knew the down sides when we trained for the job. We just have to suck it up and get on with it.x.

Have you considered flying from a "different" country- the school holidays for Scotland and England are different. Not too sure about Wales and Ireland or where you are based. But i know a few Scottish people who have flown from Newcastle/Manchester in the school holidays because it is different and saved money.

I'm a business manager at a school. I can't take time off in school term and don't get all holidays. Me and my h2b have asked for people to pay towards honeymoon as wedding present as know it'll cost more.

I agree with all the teachers on here. I am also a teacher, and we have such long holidays that there is no way you should be considering asking for extra time off. I would be surprised if your school said yes anyway. We are getting married in 7 weeks time at the start of our Christmas holidays. We wanted to go to NZ, but was too expensive. We are now doing a shorter and more reasonable honeymoon, and saving our dream holiday for the future when we don't have the financial burden of a wedding as well.

Weddings in a hotel with a wedding licence are very expensive especially in school holidays. You will have to Think out of the box....we had too and were quite successful

Can I ask.. Have you priced this up yourselves or spoken with an independent agent ( like me!). Obviously I don't know what your looking for yet, but you might be surprised at what can be done. I can't make any guarantees of course, but I'd be happy to have a look for you. It's an argument if supply and demand, but some of our suppliers are good at price matching. If you want to see if anything can be done, you can contact me here.. Steve Friend - Brilliant Travel or email me [email protected]

I’m sorry, but if you even think this is OK then you don’t understand being a teacher, you need to be there for the students. I’m a head of department in a secondary school and would be extremely disappointed if one of my staff even suggested this. We have 12/13 weeks off a year. That’s what you signed up for. Don’t like - go and work in a different job. As others have said, schools fine parents for taking their children out - we can’t then just take time off when we feel like it. Totally unrealistic. If you can’t afford your dream honeymoon now, do something cheaper and then save and do the dream holiday a few months / years down the line

I got married on the first Sunday of the May half
Term this year- I didn't ask for any time off for the wedding or honeymoon at all- we had 5 days in Malta for our mini moon during that week off then had over two weeks in Summer for our actual honeymoon on the Italian riviera and then Corfu. It's just one of the downsides to being in the profession but if you organise trips yourself instead of package deals and book well in advance, good value holidays are possible!

Sorry to sound harsh, but that's the job and I'm afraid it comes with benefits and restrictions. My fiancé is a chef and that means he works Valentine's day, Christmas Eve, Christmas 🤶 Day, Boxing Day, New Years Eve, Bank Holidays, Mothers Day etc. He always works when other people are enjoying themselves. He rarely gets a weekend off so we have to plan around that. But that's the profession he chose and he loves it. It has benefits and it had restrictions, just like your job and sometimes those restrictions cost money (paying for a taxi in the wee hours or on Christmas day) or time. If you can't afford to have the honeymoon at that time, put the wedding off until you've saved some more money or do what we are doing, have a mini moon and have your honeymoon later when you've saved more money.

My stepsister is a teacher. She is getting married on the 1st June which is a Friday during half term. Not sure what she is doing about honeymoon.

Think a teacher done it before but had to be unpaid leave

I'm support staff in a college so I'm term time only. We're getting married in the Easter hols then goimg on our honey moon in the 6 weeks. I can't tale leave in term time

I'm a term time only nursery nurse and I was granted a week off for my wedding, I had the choice to owe the time back or just take it unpaid. I understand as a teacher you can't owe it back really as you have set hours but as a one off event surely you'd be given it .. I took my honeymoon in the school holidays though, it would be too much I feel to expect them to give me all that time off during term time when I signed a contract agreeing to take my holidays during the school holidays xx

It’s not just affecting teachers. It affects parents with children in school. We have the same problem - but we have the added problem of the fine. You should ask because it’s only fair if we want flexibility you should get flexibility so you can have your special day and honeymoon at an affordable price.

We got married this summer in the school hols and went on a minimoon and go away next summer hols for our honeymoon. I think that's the sacrifice we make for the job that we do just like those who choose a job which means they work over Christmas, just one of those things unfortunately xx

My friend asked for 2 days off, one for the wedding and one for the day after, she was granted it but without pay. No chance at that school to be allowed to go on honeymoon during term time.

If you are looking at a honeymoon in the summer holidays try looking at flights from Scotland. As their school term dates are different to Englands, holidays in August are a lot more reasonable

I’m a teacher, we have decided to get married on a weekday in August to save money there to go towards our honeymoon. I think that’s the best you can really do x

We got married may half term and had a minimoon then followed by our actual honeymoon during the summer. It was more expensive than if it was during term time but I knew when I became a teacher I'd always be paying more for holidays

My brother in law managed to get a week off work before spring bank to attend our wedding which was abroad. However he took it unpaid and asked them at interview If this would be ok. It was also only a short term contract. If he hadn't been able to he would have had to fly out the night before our wedding. For their wedding they married at the beginning of the 6 week holidays and went greek island hopping. Unfortunately this was something that you must have realised prior to starting your career. I'm a nurse and have to work every other christmas and can't take any holidays over that period and it's something I just have to deal with xx

I am a TA we get married 30/3/18 and myself and h2b have booked a minimoon for 5 nights just the two of us then we are having a 2 week big hol with the children in the summer holidays but another TA in my school was granted a week unpaid off for hers xx

Ask your head - if you don’t ask, you don’t get! Depends on the school/management

I'm a ta and got married in May last year, during the half term holiday. We had 5 days in Edinburgh for our honeymoon and booked a longer holiday in America for the October holiday (we get 2 weeks off because we only have 5 weeks in August). Unfortunately Cosmos changed the date by 3 days and I wasn't allowed the 3 days off so we had to cancel it and arrange another holiday for a different school holiday.