Wedding Blog
You’ve had blogs about creative wedding ideas and such but what about how to pay for them?! Know of any good credit cards that offer 0 % down for one year so when the year comes, our wedding gifts (cash) will be used to pay for the the credit cards? Anyone have any other ideas on how to pay for the wedding????
I’m getting married May 2007 so I need lots of help with the finances!!!
HELP!!!
~~~
Dear Thrifty Bride,
Weddings are insanely, ridiculously, earth-shatteringly expensive. No need to mince words here, it’s just a fact of life. In my experience, most brides fall into two main categories: those who are lucky enough to be filthy rich or have a filthy rich family so there is no concern about beluga caviar for all, 16 piece bands or $15,000 site fees…and then there are the rest of us. Budgets certainly differ in size and scope, but most of us have them. And whether your budget is $5000 or $20,000, budgets are darn difficult to stick to. Having a lower budget just means you’ll have to get a bit more creative!
In terms of credit cards, I would try to avoid that method at all costs. Even if you have a year at zero percent, things tend to come up. All of the sudden you might find your year is up and your 18% interest kicks in and you just spent all your loot on great Christmas presents. In terms of what you should do, I would suggest a couple of the following tips as starting points:
*Embrace the concept of DIY wholeheartedly: putting together elements of your own wedding is fun and way less expensive than letting someone else worry about it. You can, pretty painlessly, create your own wedding invites, save-the-dates, favors, even centerpieces. Gartner Studios has a pretty fab do-it-yourself invite printing program that looks easy as pie.
*Plan your wedding for an “off” day or time of the year. For the most part, everyone wants to get married on a Saturday night and spring and fall are the two most popular times of the year. If you plan your wedding for a Friday night–or even something more creative like a Wednesday night, you will find significant savings with almost every vendor as these nights are often left unbooked for them. If you choose winter over spring, you will also save.
*Start saving! I’m sure you and your fiance have already begun to do this, but it might not be a bad idea to sit down and go over every bill and every expense you have and see where you can cut back. Call your credit card companies and get the interest rates lowered; ditch Showtime and HBO from your cable bill or ditch cable altogether; switch to a VOIP phone service such as vonage to avoid expensive monthly phone bills. I would also recommend starting a separate savings account that you can use to put any extra cash you might come across for the wedding.
There are loads more ideas out there for saving money, but hopefully this will get you started. In the meantime, keep reading Weddingbee as there are always oodles of great specific tips from brides trying to make it work thrifty style.
a penny saved is a penny earned,
Erica
www.paperbride.com
www.papermama.com
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Share this post: Dear Miss Beetle,
i would like to add to this.
if you MUST use a credit card (sometimes for online ordering you have to), i would suggest calling your credit card company. if you have a good standing with them, and talk to a supervisor or an account executive that handles interest rates, you can get them lowered. i call once a year to all my credit card companies and ask about lowering my interest rate. i bring up my good payment history (paying on time every month and paying more than the minimum) with them, and ask if there is anything they can do to lower the interest rate.
also, cards that have cash back opportunities tend to have higher interest rates. see if you can change to a different simpler card, which might offer lower interest rates.
finally, i called my credit card company and told them that their rates are too high, and although i love their service and have been with them a long time, i just cant afford to pay that % anymore - especially since i’m getting married this year. my credit card company offered to give me 0% interest for 1 year so that i would keep their card, THEN after the 1 year, they will lower my interest rate.
a lot of people say this doesnt work, but its all in the tone of how you ask for it. be nice, pleading (dont beg though!) and try to appeal to the fact that they WANT your business. and be firm. good luck!! =)
I’ve always been told not borrow money for something that won’t make you money or decreases in value. You can borrow money for a house, but not for an apartment. You can even borrow money to purchase a ring, but not a wedding dress. So, think about whether this is something you should borrow money for (because really, credit cards are short-term, high interest loans).
Even if you fully expect cash gifts, wouldn’t you rather use that toward your future together, rather than paying off wedding expenses.
My fiance is going to be in school until after our wedding, so we are going to limit our budget to money that i can save up before it occurs. That way, we will be able to start our life together debt free (except for student loans…).
The savings account is also a good idea for those deposits you may have to start paying as your planning progresses.
My fiance and I have set up a separate savings account and we each put a set amount into it each month. We just don’t think of that money as discretionary, making it easier to save.
I’ve opened a Amex Blue card with 10K limit for 6 months. Only for online wedding purchases. But plan to pay if off right away. We opened a ING Savings account in January, that had a 4.75% interest rate. So right now we are living on one income, and putting away 2K a month into the ING account for wedding purposes only. Its really tough, my fiance too is in school getting his masters. So money is real tight. The blue card was the only one I could find with that high of a limit. I just researched on here while looking http://www.creditcards.com/
I do the same thing Michele is doing (living on one’s salary and saving the rest to ING and it’s been very tough (really). Same situation, FI in school for his masters. It’s tough…but doable. Good luck!
I’ve always felt that one shouldn’t get married if they don’t have the money. The only reason I feel this way is because when the bride-to-be sees something she’d like, it’s always expensive. And then to have that feeling that you can’t afford that, is not fun. Even if you’re the crafty Martha Stewart type and can make your own invitations and party favors, there are always certain things that can’t made. Besides, who wants to be in debt long after the honeymoon?
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Mrs. Beetle, New York/Palm Desert
About: Mrs. Beetle previously wrote our weekly advice column. She got married in October 2006, and is currently guest blogging.
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