Credit Card vs. Loan

Honestly, how you fund your wedding is your business but I don't think you'll get the advice that you're looking for on this post. Best of luck with your search!

Nope.

ETA: Not sure where you are, but a wedding where I live costs $30. Cost of marriage application, and we can self-marry. This to me reads "wants the wedding more than the marriage."

In 2 years, you could put aside $200 each month and you would have $5,000 saved up. I think that's a much better option.

ETA: also, please don't ask your family for help. If they want to help they will offer.

If you don't have the money now, there is no guarantee you will have it later. I urge you to consider having a wedding you can afford. Less money will not make it any less special.

It's a *super* new company-- I'm talking like a month old. I would suggest waiting a while before signing on a loan until hopefully they have a few more reviews out there (also, that will give you more time after the wedding to pay it off).

You might be able to get a personal loan from a more established bank, as well. . .I'm not sure if the terms would be similar/better/worse, but it may give you more peace of mind.

I was also going to suggest looking at a personal loan from an established bank also like Barbara said. also look into what the terms of agreement are and read all the paper work. Credit cards can raise the interest rate if you miss a payment, can this company do that too?

I don't know that you're going to get the answers you're looking for here. We're not going to tell you how to make the best bad decision - like, "should I walk in front of a bus or a train?" We'd tell you not to do either one. Also, please don't ask your family to contribute. If they offer, great! But don't ask.

I second Lori's suggestion. Save what you can. Best of luck!

Honestly BTB, my cousins went into debt to get married, and they have been paying for it ever since. Not paying a loan back on time dings your credit as well. You have been together for five years, what is another year or two of waiting to ensure that you can afford the wedding you want to the love of your life (who you want to spend the rest of your life with)?

ETA: Everything Lori said.

I would definitely say loan over credit card. I've never heard of Promise Financial though. Perhaps you can find lower rates with your current bank/credit union. Note: I've found that banks tend to have lower rates than CUs (at least around here). Once you do get a loan, if possible, you'll want to pay a little extra than the minimum payment each month. This will lower the amount of interest that you'll pay in total.

In order to not completely deplete our savings, we each opened a new CC that offered 0% interest for an introductory period (18 months). So all our wedding expenses have been put on these and we have a year and a half to pay it off without it costing us more. This is what I would recommend (especially if you are only looking for $5k). I opened a chase freedom card and got a $10k credit limit. FH opened an Amex blue cash and also got a $10k credit limit. We both have good credit though, so not sure what the limits would be if you don't.

You've been saving for five years and don't have the funds for the wedding... how much do you plan to spend on your wedding?

I highly suggest NOT getting a loan OR putting anything on a credit card.

How you fund your wedding is totally your own business. If FH and I didn't have the wedding money set aside by now, I would've done a loan over a credit card anyway. Relatives of FH put their wedding on a card and had a lot of trouble paying it off- payments are super low, but sometimes people don't take into account that the interest is sometimes more than you even pay off (not saying that was their issue, but just something to think about).

I work in personal finance... people only say to put wedding expenses on a credit card when you can pay off the balance every month. It's just for points/cash back and fraud protection that people recommend a credit card.

From now until October 2016 - if between the two of you you saved $400/month, that would be $6000. That should be more than enough for a small but nice wedding.

I second what @athena asked - you've been saving for 5 years and still don't have the funds for your wedding? I would re-evaluate how you save I think you might be doing something wrong.

We got a wedding credit card but paid them all back before the interest could accrue.

We have not been saving for 5 years, we have been together for 5 years and both of us have been paying our own way through school while living in San Diego, hence the reason we have a very small savings. We don't plan on spending more than the 5,000 which is why that is all we are looking to get. It's really difficult to have a wedding in So Cal for that kind of money. The cheapest we have found is 9000 so far and we don't want to spend that much.

I know this is not what you want to hear, but taking out a loan for a wedding is a bad idea. (I think taking out a loan for anything else than a house or maybe a car is a bad idea).

Could you not just go to the courthouse and have a vow renewal down the line? If you could not save up $5k in five years and you don't think a year is enough to save that much, how do you think you could pay of your loan in time?

I say do what you want. I personally am taking out a loan as well because of issues that came up in the middle of planning. I think that a wedding is important to a lot of people, including myself. This doesnt mean that the marriage is not equally important. Girls dream of this day their whole lives, it should be close to what they want to do.

You dont need to use any specific wedding loan company, A lot of credit unions will give you a personal loan that you can use for whatever you like. I say do what make YOU happy and dont worry about what anyone else thinks. That is what I am doing!

FYI If you have a 401k you can sometimes take a loan out from yourself and then your employer takes the money directly from your check to pay back your 401k. A friend of mine did this for her daughters wedding because she felt like it was better to borrow from yourself and pay yourself back then some bank.

Best of luck!!!!

I would suggest that if you really need to/ want to get married next year that you do a nice little destination Elopement with say 20 people and take them to dinner. keep it small and simple so that you don't go into debt for the wedding.

Go to your family church and tell them you want to get married there. It should be a minimal fee if your family are members there. Then get a pre owned wedding dress, have fh wear clothes in his closet, buy a marriage license, make a bouqet and boutineer for your fh, a cake from cosco or Sams, some punch, and some beer and boxes of wine, invite your immediate family and your best friends (no more than 40 people). Total budget about $400.

It's an extremely bad idea to start your marriage in debt for a party. If it's about the marriage, get married at a courthouse. If it's about a party, then wait until you can afford it.