Spin-off: Do You Think It's OK to Go into Debt for a Wedding?

That's the general opinion. I'm a little looser with it, because we did go into a little bit of debt. Not a big deal. It isn't ideal but I 100% don't regret it. A lot of women on here said they didn't technically go into debt, but had some credit card bills to pay off after the fact...which I feel is the same thing.

We put a large portion of our wedding on credit cards. But we got 0% interest for 18 months and fully expect to be able to pay if off in that time frame or shortly after. So it was "free money". Not to mention the $250 signing bonus and the points we will accrue on what we put on the cards. I think if you can afford the payments and aren't taking on an extremely high interest rate/long term debt, it is OK. But I know that is not the popular opinion on here.

I think it's ok if it's something that wouldn't take years to pay off, so if it's within reason. FH and I are having a two year engagement to avoid getting into crazy debt.

Ideally, we don't plan to put anything on the credit card that we can't pay off immediately if it can be avoided, but if something has to go onto an interest-free card closer to the date, that's not going to ruin my wedding, my day or my overall finances.

I have, however, been putting purchases on the card here and there to accrue airline miles. I've got the cash, I'm going to spend it, and if I can get a few free flights out of the deal, I'm happy with that.

I wouldn't jump into wedding planning knowing that my only option was to charge it all and figure out how to pay it off later or rack up a lot of interest, but don't mind having a card as a bit of a safety net.

I second what KM & Raelyn said. I think it depends on your ability to pay back & you financial situation. We used our credit cards to buy FHs tux, our rings and some of the online stuff. Most of it is already paid off but at the time it was no different then paying a deposit and then when we picked it up paying for all of. It was much easier to budget. We didn't put anything big on there.

Paying for our wedding in cash was an absolute must for FH and me. Financial issues are a major cause of marital strife and often divorce. To go into debt over a wedding? Personally, I just don't get it.

Calm down Lmac. That is called your OPINION not a fact of life that all must abide by.

We're eloping so that it's not going to be an issue. We had money saved for a wedding, then our cat needed a life-saving surgery that cost around $5,000 total. We ended up deciding to spend our extra savings to save him, but then we realized we weren't where we wanted to be in terms of paying for our wedding. Elopement had been on our minds for other reasons too, but this pushed us in that direction. My FH asked, is the cat more important or a wedding? Easy question. And I've recently gotten out of some debt, so I'm not on board with creating more. No regrets, it's going to be intimate and beautiful.

I personally would not. I wouldn't feel comfortable doing that

I second what @raelyn said. Credit Cards = Free money if you can manage it right.

@lmac try decaf

No debt. I made sure I stayed within my budget, even if that meant cutting things I wanted.

I also think it depends on the mindset. I think it can be dangerous if you go into it with a "Hey, we can just take out a huge loan and throw this glamorous party, no big deal" mindset. We waited, and waited, and took second jobs, and waited...until two weeks before the big day before we made the decision. It wasn't the first thing we wanted to do, at all, but by the time the end came, and a few unpredictable things happened, we decided to just remove the financial stress from the last few weeks before and do it. Again, zero regrets.

For us it wasn't an option. We're having the wedding we can afford with our current money situation.

We put our deposits for vendors on our credit card this way we could get everything booked in a timely manner. Our wedding is costing us about $15K and we will have everything (including the credit card) paid off 6 months BEFORE our wedding. I don't really consider what we are doing to be "going into debt" for our wedding. We also have very low interests rates on our card.

I dont think so but its only because we don't own our own home yet.

The finance talk on here is tough because a lot of the people on here are pretty well off. I came from a family where if you made over $40k, we would be taught to make fun of you and dislike you because you were rich. My parents do not have retirement accounts, no college education, they work 7 days a week. They have to post-date checks and take out home equity loans to pay for things, sometimes. The bank account needs to be managed closely because it usually falls to zero each month. You never pay a credit card off each month. And I would not qualify my family as poor. But we also did NOT live lavishly. NEVER left an hour beyond our home until the youngest (me) moved out. We had to support ourselves in middle school and high school with baby sitting jobs (school lunches, sports, going to movies, etc).

So yeah, it's nice to be able to pay off so much at once, but I know not everyone has that luxury. And it's not like those people are having $30k weddings. It could be a couple thousand, and they need like $500 on their credit card. Idk. Just a touchy subject. Since my financial background has changed a lot since I was younger, I am able to see things from two perspectives whereas most people only think about their situation as being the norm.

I'm sticking very close to my budget and agree with everyone else - I have put purchases on cards to earn points, but I've paid them off as well before interest accrued. We also have money set aside for purchasing a house hopefully within the next year and we do not want to touch that at all. I'm having a fairly low budget wedding and I'm happy with where we are; the money is in savings and I've transferred it out as I make payments. Money issues (not related to their wedding years ago, but still) was the biggest stress in my parent's marriage and I do not want debt in my life if I can help it. I have student loan debt but I've almost paid off all the credit card debt I accumulated during my younger 20s and I plan to keep it that way.

I just got a sponsored ad on my FB newsfeed for wedding loans from Promise Financial, (which I have never seen nor heard of before!), probably because I've clicked on so many threads today containing the words "debt" and "wedding" -- frightening how well that data tracking works...

I definitely don't think anyone should go into debt over a wedding. I would be so stressed out, and probably just pissed, having to pay off a celebration after the fact. But I'm fully aware of how lucky FH and I are to have financial help from our families for the wedding; it's impossible for me to really say what I would do if we were paying for it 100%. Would I actually downsize my wedding by 30% (approximately what they're contributing), or would I stretch myself to make it happen the same way, and possibly carry balances? There are some situations, like Raelyn's, that don't strike me as problematic, and seem fine. If it's someone who has tons of other debt, then that's obviously a pattern, and should not be extended to a wedding. I think it's hard to judge...

If you are good with budgeting and paying off your finances, then I see no problem with putting some expenses on a credit card.

For my FH and I, we happened to set our initial budget off the amount we could both freely deposit into a savings account. We were fortunate enough to receive several financial gifts as well from our families. So are not and will not be in any debt from our wedding.

I understand that this is not the case for everyone, however. My only advice is just be smart about your purchases if you have a specific budget. I loved using my credit card to accrue rewards points! I was just able to pay it off before the bill cycle ended.

I wouldn't, but only because I'm lousy with money. Luckily, my mom is paying for the vast majority of everything, so I don't have to worry too much.

If you know that you can pay the cards off within a reasonable amount of time, without late penalties or anything, why not?