Should I pay off my credit card debt or save for a wedding?

No brainer: pay off your debt and as fast as you can!!

Completely agree with RayRay.

Mmm can you maybe do a half and half kind of thing? Nothing ruins your finances more than credit card debt so getting rid of it the faster the better! Maybe you could skimp on a few wedding things too? DIY stuff is totally in!

Definitely don't worry about what others thing. A 2 year engagement is not unheard of. If that's all that's worrying you, then definitely pay down the debt.

If you really want to get married sooner because YOU want to, there are definitely ways you can do both. It just depends on what you are willing to compromise. Don't neglect that debt, though!

Welcome!

Personally, pay off your debt, that is something that is going to live with you. We delayed our wedding, by the time we say "I do" we will have been engaged for over two and a half years. Having to have to pay off more debt while you start off your marriage might create more stress. But I would consult a financial advisor.

Agree with RayRay pay off your debt as fast as you can..

Welcome to WW..

I think you should either pay off the credit debt sooner or do what Christina suggested and pay off some of the debt while still saving for the wedding. Either way, you definitely should focus on clearing the debt as much as possible.

Pay off credit card debt for sure. I did it after college and it's the best feeling ever. It'll be a great way to start off a marriage being debt free.

I agree with the others. Pay off your debt as quickly as possible. Money and finances is one of the biggest problem causers in marriage. If you can avoid starting off your marriage with that extra debt, that would be the choice I would recommend.

Wow, I didn't expect comments so fast! Thanks for the advice, I guess I just needed to hear from someone else that it's the best thing to do. And I'm glad to hear that others have had a long engagement too. I'll sit down with my fiance and decide what is more important to us, waiting to have a fancy wedding or having something very small to do it now. Such a hard decision...

I would pay off the debt. There's nothing wrong with a long engagement. Ours was two years. It gives you more time to plan.

I'm agreeing with everyone on here. Pay off debt first and then get married. We want to buy a house but in order to do so we have to clean up a few things

I definitely would advise paying off the card debt.

FH and I did that. We payed everything off to not stretch ourselves too thin and we did have to wait to get married. Ideally i wanted to about 3 years ago but i do not regret waiting, since it has made everything so much less stressful.

You can even pay off the majority of it like everything minus one small limit, low-rate card, and at that point start to save for the wedding.

Even though you're paying on time you are still racking up interest and that's just extra money your giving away. So in the long run you'll end up saving in that way towards the wedding.

Plus, you deserve to have the most fairytale wedding you have always dreamed of, so if it means waiting a bit to have it so be it! You have to plan for the future and that means being fiscally responsible

Hi Jessica, welcome to WW!

I agree with everyone. What's your plan for paying the CCs off?

Agree with the others- pay off your debt as fast as you can and then start saving for the wedding you want. If you really don;t want to wait the 2 years you can always do a small ceremony at the courthouse with just your parents or a couple of close friends and then plan a big vow renewal for a later anniversary.

I had the same issue! We paid off our CC... then to take advantage of the CC's points/bonuses we are charging every purchase on the credit cards and making immediate payments.

Example: Paid off our southwest credit card. Charged the venue to it, made payment to the credit card and now we have enough points to get a free or two free round trip tickets, (depending on how far we go)! Only do this though if you have to money to pay the charges that you made

Oh & WELCOME to WW!

We had the same situation. Paid off our CC debt and planning wedding almost 2 years out from our engagement so we could save in the meantime.

We're also planning on doing what Christine did and charging some things on CC's only to pay off immediately from saved funds to gain benefits of rewards/cash back.

Pay off debt first; you can't make nearly the interest on saving as you lose on CC debt.

The only thing I might do though is set up a small auto-save plan, like Smartypig, that takes an amount per month and saves it. I do 60.00 a month, I barely notice it, and now there is almost 4000.00 in that account. Every once in a while, I add a blob of money to it, but as a strategy, it's better to pay off CC's.

I also do what Christine does; I charge literally EVERYTHING on my Amazon card (with points) but I don't carry a balance on it. I get the benefit of the credit rating, the points, and no debt.

Congrats to you for thinking smart!