Where Honeymoons Come From

Ever wonder why newlyweds take honeymoons? Wonder no more. Barbara Penner, a lecturer in architectural history at the Bartlett School of Architecture in London, wrote the upcoming Newlyweds on Tour: Honeymooning in Nineteenth-Century America (New Hampshire, July 2009) to quench our curiosity by sharing the entire history of the honeymoon. You might not be able to snag a copy of the text just yet, but The New Yorker recently conducted an enlightening Q&A with Penner, which will whet your appetite for the book.

In it, she explains that growing up in Niagara Falls drives her fascination with traveling newlyweds -- and all things honeymoon, even those heart-shaped tubs. You might be surprised to learn that in the early days of honeymoons, couples traveled for a much longer period of time and brought along many relatives, including the wife's mother. If you read the Q&A, you'll find other surprises, too. In any case, newlyweds reading this the world over are uttering a collective sigh of relief that they no longer have to bring their mother-in-law on the honeymoon.