Long time lurker, second time poster....

I'm in the throws of planning my honeymoon and am looking to cash in some of my credit card rewards points to book comp airfare between EWR-SFO. Since this is theoretically a once in a lifetime trip, we're trying to make the most of it and do a few extras while traveling that we normally wouldn't do. Trying to fly F = exhibit A.

So at this point, we've got the following options flying CO out of EWR:

-Book 2 tickets, r/t, fare class of L/S, for free + upgrade later
-Take a $325 credit per ticket and book another fare class (we pay the difference)

Ideally, we'd like to fly F r/t, however we'd be equally ok with doing F on the departure only. So what's our best bet here/how do upgrades to maximize benefit and minimize cost? Neither of us have any current status with CO.

Thanks in advance. If any of you ever need any help working HHonors, I'm your gal ;-)