Single women are reclaiming the honeymoon. A growing travel trend known as the "we-moon" encourages unmarried women to take celebratory trips with close friends rather than reserving dream destinations for a future spouse.
The term was popularized by Self magazine editor Jessica Cruel, who described her own we-moon experience in an April 24 essay. Cruel traveled to the Four Seasons Resort and Residences Anguilla with two girlfriends to celebrate finishing her first book.
"So often we have our dream destinations on reserve for the day we can go with the person we've agreed to spend our life with," Cruel wrote. "When do single women get to celebrate life milestones and fulfill the desire for companionship and adventure?"
The concept borrows from established travel traditions like the honeymoon and babymoon, both of which mark major life transitions. The difference, according to Cruel, is that a we-moon celebrates achievements that fall outside the traditional relationship timeline.
She noted that single women frequently spend money and vacation days traveling for other people's bachelorette parties, weddings and baby showers. The we-moon flips that dynamic by making the single woman's own milestone the reason for the trip.
The idea arrives as a record share of American adults are unmarried. According to Pew Research Center data, roughly 46 percent of U.S. adults were single in 2023, up from 39 percent in 1990. That shift has fueled demand for travel products and experiences built around friendship rather than romance.
Cruel described riding a speedboat toward her Anguilla destination and struggling to take a photo without honeymooning couples in the frame. She and the boat operators were the only single people aboard, she wrote, though she was traveling with her own "throuple" of single girlfriends.
The trip required what Cruel called a simple but meaningful act: calling friends and asking them to travel for her, not for a wedding or a shower. She framed the we-moon as a way to celebrate ambition, independence and friendship on equal footing with romantic milestones.
Travel industry analysts say group trips among friends have grown steadily since the pandemic, with resorts increasingly courting female friend groups through package deals and shared accommodations. The we-moon label gives that behavior a name and a purpose.
For women considering their own we-moon, Cruel's advice centers on treating the occasion with the same seriousness as a honeymoon. That means picking a destination worth the splurge, setting a date around a real accomplishment and inviting the people who supported the milestone along the way.
The trend also challenges a long-standing assumption in the travel industry that premium romantic getaways are reserved for couples. Cruel's essay suggests single women are ready to spend on themselves, and they are bringing their friends.
