Personal loan?

I agree about the 0% APR CC. Bank of America has a great one that's also cash back rewards. It was almost two years interest-free and we get about $30 in rewards back every month.

If you must take a loan, definitely ask your parents before a bank, with a contract for repayment plan in place. They will (hopefully) treat you better, not charge interest, and be flexible if your life circumstances require it. You may have to swallow your pride, but better than going bankrupt down the line.

We had to cut back on things due to money issues - dog needed emergency surgery so we had to dip into our wedding fund. The rehearsal will be at my parents house and we are buying pizza and beer for the guests there. I ended up cancelling HMUA and I'm using shoes I already own. It helped with the stress of everything and not having to use a CC or loan.

You can find things to help you cut back that you don't really need for the wedding. Make a list of what you haven't purchased and see if it is really necessary.

If you do a loan be sure it's from a bank or credit union. Don't do a payday loan. Some of the smaller finance companies will help as well. The interest is a little higher but not too bad. Do you have the option to take a loan against your 401K? That would be a better option. It's your money you are borrowing.

Thank you everyone, for the encouragement and the advice. We decided to talk to each of our parents as a first resort and go the route of a no interest credit card as second. I applied for a lot of jobs in the last 36 hours since I found out about all this. I think mostly I'm just hoping to not have to worry about any of this.

If we absolutely have no choice and have to take out a loan, I might look into what @Melody said about taking it out of my 401k... Does anyone know how that works?

Your 401k options vary by plan. I would call just to see what options you have. They will be able to tell you what and how much is available. The interest is usually very low. I think mine is 1.5% interest.

@Melody- Oh wow, that's definitely a lot more affordable than anything else I've seen or heard of. Thank you for the tip, I'm going to check it out!

We're paying cash as well, I WAS laid off and don't start my new job until November. I started waitressing even though I am getting unemployment (don't forget you'll be eligible for that if laid off and possibly a severance package). I do report this to unemployment and they pay me the difference of I don't make what I would have received from them. (Does that make sense?) Lol. I'll keep waitressing after I start my new job for Christmas and extra wedding fund for unforseen expenses. It won't be fun but it's temporary and will be worth it to me.

Echoing the advice about not taking any money out of your 401k!! Not to mention, if you take a 401k loan and end up having to leave the company the money is often taxable with penalty if you do not repay it back almost immediately.

DO NOT take it out a loan against your 401K. You'll be paying the price down the line and it's just horrible financial advice!

Taking a loan and a withdrawal from your 401K is 2 different things.

Loans you are borrowing your own money, Withdrawal you are actually taking the money out permanently.

Withdrawal is taxed at withdrawal and you can be penalized at tax time.

I can only speak from my experience.... 1. Taking a loan does not suspend my ability to contribute, a withdrawal does. 2. Payments for my loan are taken out after tax. 3. On a loan, if I lose my job before paying it back the balance converts to a withdrawal only if I chose not to roll it over to another plan.

I would take a 401K loan there before a personal loan or credit card, simply because it doesn't affect your credit score in the event that life happens and you aren't able to pay it back immediately.

Talk to your plan and ask questions and then make the best decision for YOU and YOUR situation.

I am so confused. The emergency fund should be used for your "necessary living expenses" and rent.

The wedding savings is for the wedding.

So if you have both, I don't understand why you would need to take out a loan....

What @gymrat said ^^^

@gymrat- I had wedding savings and was also counting on my last few checks before the wedding to pay the last couple of payments. The reason we might have to take out a loan is because I might get laid off at my job so I wouldn't have those last few paychecks I expected to have. We of course have emergency savings, but we are saving that for emergencies as it was intended.

@Melody- thank you again for that insight. I'm going to look into it in advance so I know what it entails in case we need to go that way, but I'm hoping loans from our parents will be enough, if we need any help at all.

Carol, omg. If you lose your job and will have trouble paying your living expenses, that classifies as an emergency!

If that's not an emergency to you, what do you plan on using the emergency savings for?

Well that's the thing, I don't want to use it on the wedding itself. My FH's job is fine, thankfully, but I don't know what will happen with mine so I want to make sure the emergency savings is for rent and food and that stuff. I also didn't realize I would be eligible for unemployment until @Danielle mentioned it in the comments. I'm hoping if it comes down to it, that will help make up a lot of the gap in the finances.

Do what's best for you guys. We don't know your financial business nor is it our place to judge. We can give you our opinions. Yes. But ultimately it's your choice. Personally- I don't know how people have 30K weddings... & they say they save every penny for it. Can someone give me advice? You just make 6 figures if you can afford a 30K wedding. And I would never have the guts to ask our parents to pay for my wedding. Ugh.

There are options. I believe everyone has debt.

What about just getting a credit card? If you have to use it, it's there. If not you can still have it in case of emergency. You wouldn't pay interest if you don't use it.

@Kerry - wut? What do you want advice on? How a couple can have a $30k wedding? How you can make a 6 figure salary?

Before getting a 0% CC, make sure your remaining vendors take them and understand any fees involved with CCs for them. For example my DJ didn't take CC for final payments, neither did my photographer or florist so we had to pay cash. The venue did and didn't charge a fee so that was extra CC points for us. My brothers venue charged a 4% CC fee, so they quickly got them a check vs the CC info they already provided. I agree with other PPs that the CC may be your best option, but just make sure it's actually a usable option! Hope you won't have to worry about this at all in the end!