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

Absofuckinglutely not.

ETA: I only use credit cards when making purchases, including wedding expenses, because I know better than to use debit and cash is inconvenient. But I pay them off in full every month so I do not consider that debt.

I couldn't have said it better myself Pancakes

No. Especially in this day and age where it's socially acceptable to live together before marriage.

Haven't read responses. I don't think it's ever a good idea to go into debt, and especially not for a wedding.

Sort of. Some things went on credit cards, that needed to be paid for up front, but those are already paid off. (The wedding was less than a month ago.)

Did we go into debt *we couldn't afford* - no. We knew how and when we would pay it off. But sometimes things hit all at once, or cost more than we expected, so $500 for my dress went on the credit card and got paid off over a couple of paychecks.

We also had a hole in our roof, our fridge broke and I ended up in the hospital for a week. Life happens. We had money saved, were frugal in our spending, had the wedding we could afford... and still needed to float it on "Debt" for a bit to pull it off. Weddings are EXPENSIVE and life happens.

Would I have had a 20k wedding on my 8k budget, and financed the other 12k to invite more people / have a better party? Nope. But someone who has different values than me might make another choice.

We just finished paying all of our deposits and ended up in a bit of debt. We had everything planned out and under control but hey life happened... our cat got quite sick and we had extra vet bills, my car tire was flat and had to be replaced, my windshield was shattered by a huge rock that fell off of a gravel truck on a highway... all this happened within 2 weeks of paying the deposits so we had to borrow money from parents. Are we happy, no. Can we pay it off by Christmas, yes.

We put everything we could on the CC just so we can get the air miles, but we also pay off our CC every month so for us the CC is a good thing. Gives us a credit rating and air miles rewards. If you cannot pay off a CC every month though, it can be vicious circle of extreme debt...

I don't think so. If you can't afford it, figure out (acceptable) ways to tone it down or wait until you can afford it.

I wouldn't recommend going into major debt, but sometimes maintaining a credit card balance isn't fully avoidable. When we planned everything for our wedding, we had a very large safety net of savings. Now, we have a mortgage and a small safety net. If certain payments all hit at the same time, say my dress payment plus car insurance, since everything goes on the credit card for the cash back, we might end up with a balance carrying over for a month or two until our paychecks replenish the funds.

I'd hardly call that "going into debt" to pay for the wedding. A loan to have a lavish wedding or racking up 6 months of income in credit card bills is what I'd consider as going into debt for a wedding.

I guess we're the opposite? We're paying off personal debt before the wedding and paying for the wedding without credit. We have our budget set up to allow us to afford this option, and not everyone has. The only debt we will have will be house and our two cars.

(I want to put out that maintaining a balance of 20-30% on your CC actually boosts your credit score. But if NO interest accrues then it doesn't help, and if you're over 30% of max, it will hurt your credit score)

Definitely not going into debt (unless the fact that we don't have the entire budget in our accounts as of this moment counts, we're accruing it throughout the next two years; but we have pretty secure jobs- knock on wood!) I like to live within my means and would avoid going into debt at all costs (except a house and probably a car- still using my first jeep that I bought in cash wootwoot :]).

I do love putting everything on my credit card though (points are awesome!), but only what I know I can immediately pay off. My FH on the other hand.. he thinks credit cards are just free money lol so he decided it was best to hand me his credit cards.

I'm from a family that lives paycheck to paycheck. My FH comes from money (not crazy money, but crazy to me).

As in take out a loan... NO

as in put our honeymoon hotels in a credit card sure!

Personally (again, just my opinion) I think it's a bad idea to go into debt for a party. Buying stuff with a credit card you pay off immediately is not in the same category as 'going into debt', cause clearly you had the money within a month.

Depends on the kind of debt. It took us 3 months to pay off our credit card that we used for our honeymoon. Not a big deal, especially since it was interest free. Our rings were also bought on an interest-free credit card promotion, and we just paid those off. Small debt that is easy to take care of is fine.

But taking out a $10,000 loan just for the wedding, with no specific plans to pay it off ASAP? That's bad debt.

I think if you're smart about it, putting a part of a wedding on temporary credit isn't the worst thing in the world. Deposits, larger payments that line up with other large payments and may screw you over if you're saving-and-paying rather than paying from savings - that sorta thing.

We're taking out a small loan (as in 1 month of after tax income - paid off within 6 months) for vendor deposits to take advantage of seasonal discounts they offer. It will also help boost our scores and means we qualify for better mortgages with our bank when we try to buy a home in a few years.

ETA: Basically, the useful loan will be paid off long before the wedding happens and is only for deposits.

I'm team "try to avoid it if you can, and if you can't be very very cautious."

My parents were originally going to pay for the bulk of the wedding. We had a falling out (wedding-related but also not-- it was a long time coming) because we said we wanted to do it ourselves, on our terms. We're glad we did it on our own.

We budgeted, got creative, and saved money. We're throwing what I consider to be a reasonably-nice wedding for about 115 people in NJ for about $20k (which is cheap). We tried to pay for most of it out of pocket, and we are. In between, we also had large car bills, and I had foot surgeries amounting to nearly $200k before insurance. I also couldn't work a second job (swim coach) because I couldn't be on my feet or on crutches near water. Stuff happens.

A few weeks ago, we reevaluated where we stood, and found out that some investment money we were trying to withdraw won't be processed in time (our fault for not paying attention to withdraw cycles). So, we applied for a little loan. We came close to paying outright, but the loan gives us some flexibility. It's less than what we make in a month, and we'll be able to repay it within 6 months of the wedding without making many sacrifices. Would it have been great to avoid? Yes. Do I think we're failures or stupid for doing it? No.

I don't consider myself stupid for doing this. We're living within our means and needed some cash fluidity. There's a difference between throwing a $50k wedding that you can't afford and trying to be smart, but maybe needing an extra couple hundred (or even thousand) because life got in the way.

We put some of the wedding expenses on a credit card but we earned cash back and there is no interest for a year. We'll be done paying it off this month so it's basically "free money."

I agree with (almost) everyone that I think capital-D Debt is not a smart move, but that credit cards can be used wisely.

I'm saving money specifically for the wedding, but I'm not going to beat myself up if I dip into my regular savings account (within reason, obviously). So I guess that counts as going over budget, even though it's not the same as going into debt.

I think it depends. To me debt is if you have any money left to pay that you can't pay off right on your wedding day. I think it's okay to have a bit of debt from a wedding because there will always be things that you haven't thought about and unforeseen circumstances that may pop up. But that isn't me saying that you should take out a loan for the wedding. I feel that you should be able to pay everything off within 2-3 months after the wedding. If it's turning out that you can't, then unfortunately you need to know where to start cutting.

I've already cut some items off my list that I wanted but are unnecessary, but I know for sure that if we were to go over our budget, we are financially able to deal with it and can easily pay it off within a month afterwards. Even if it means pushing the honeymoon back more.

No. Only put on a credit card what you can pay off that month because it's a really slippery slope and it causes you to spend more than you would otherwise. Going into debt for a party, no matter how fabulous or important, is dumb and it sets a precedent for the way you'll live you married life.

I think a certain amount of debt is to be expected. Between the wedding and the honeymoon we didn't have any room in our budget for the unexpected- and we had a few medical bills and moved apartments. We should have the credit card balance paid off by our first anniversary though. Also- there is nothing I would change.