Honeymoon Planning- uncertain job situation

So FH and I are getting married in October 2008, in Texas.  We both live in the UK and are currently both students- at the time of our wedding I'll be 10 months into a 12-month IGS visa and should be in a full-time permanent job, and FH will hopefully be employed following his graduation from university next July.

Here's the issue- we're strongly considering taking a 7-day cruise to Mexico for our honeymoon, and because of Texas laws he'll have to be in the US for at least 3-4 days before we can get married.  So we're looking at taking a holiday of about 2-2.5 weeks all told to get married, honeymoon, and hopefully grab my spousal visa from the LA consulate.  Problem is though that we don't know what FH's job situation will be like next summer and fall, and now I'm worried that if he finds a job say, next August or something that his new employer wouldn't want to give him 2 weeks off work only a few months into starting the position.  But if we want to go on a cruise, we'd have to book it probably around next Feb/March, well before we'd know what the holiday situation might be with a future employer.

So how should we go about planning?  Should we just plan for the cruise, knowing that there's a possibility we'd have to cancel/change plans depending on holiday allowance? Negotiate the leave up front when FH applies for graduate jobs next spring? Not plan a honeymoon at all?  Any suggestions appreciated.

With all the job-hopping that has been going on with my own FH lately (cue eye-roll here), I can sympathize, as we've been trying to plan a holiday in September for ages.

Basically, when he gets hired, they should asked him if he's got anything ALREADY booked.  If it's on paper, paid for, etc, then there's really nothing they can do about it.  His time off might not be paid, seeing as it's happening so soon after hiring, but at the end of the day, so long as he's up front with the information (either literally just after he gets the job offer or on his first day of work), then there's nothing they can do.

So what I advise is booking your honeymoon for whenever you please, because by the time he gets that job, it will be virtually set in stone.  If a company wants to hire him in the first place, I doubt he'd lose the position so long as he discloses the information straight away.

The past 3 employers my FH has gone through have all acted the same way - he told them he had something booked in September & even though that's technically before he's contractually allowed to take holiday time (before probationary period is up), they told him that since it's already booked, there's nothing they can do to stop him from taking time off.

Basically, by pre-booking it, you're not giving the employer a choice - and you get your holiday!  I'm sure most normal people won't mind, given that it's a wedding & honeymoon, not just any old holiday!!

Definitely just plan it! My husband started a new job in London last September, and we got married at the beginning of October in NY. We were worried about taking so much time off at the beggining of his job, but now I'm wondering if we shouldn't have just done it. I think they probably would of let him take the time off if he'd asked, and we have still not taken our honeymoon. If I could do it all over again, I would have just made my plans, and worked out the details after the plans were set in stone. You'll be surprised how accomodating employers will be if they really want you in the job.

Now we have to figure out a time where we can both get off, whereas I wasn't working last October. Meanwhile other obligations are starting to pile up (I have a family function and a wedding to return to the US for in the next year) and I honestly don't know when we will get away. Luckily we still have the money set aside, but the date is still a moving target.

We had a 3 week trip booked to the States just 3 months after DH started a new job...he told them straight out and they accepted it.  Just have it there fo rthem and they can either accept it or not give the job.  Or you can do what we did with our honeymoon and put it off until a few months later - we got married in April and honeymooned the end of June...gotta say it actually worked out really well - we went into the honeymoon much more relaxed and not worrying about anything (like storing the gifts we received at the wedding).

Yes, it's common for employers here when you start a new job to ask you what holidays you've already planned & then they work around you - no big deal I think since the taking of holidays is seen as being so sacred here in the UK (thank god! compared to the US).

Onetiger has a good point though - it's nice to have a break from the stress of planning one thing to embarking on another.  We married in August 2004 & didn't honeymoon until October that year, because we were waiting on my UK visa to get sorted before I could travel to & fro internationally.  Still, if you're flying over to the US for the wedding & want to cruise over there, I can understand not wanting to have the extra expense of flying back again for the honeymoon at a separate time.