Wedding Blog
Alright, so not entirely free, but practically! We have narrowed down our choices to either Bali, Indonesia or Phuket, Thailand…but whichever one we choose, our entire hotel stay for the week will be free. How is that possible you say? I’d like to introduce my friend, the Starwood American Express card!
I originally signed up for this card just for personal reasons because I had heard from people that it has one of the best reward programs. However, it wasn’t until after we got engaged and began to make purchases for the wedding that I began to realize why. Given how expensive weddings are these days, the rewards you can earn from credit card programs for each dollar you spend can really add up and go a long way. I would argue that this card is one of the best in particular for brides and grooms, especially if you are paying for part of the wedding yourself.
The way this card works is that you can earn “Starpoints” with each dollar you spend, and you can redeem those points for flights or for hotel nights at any Starwood hotel around the world, which includes the family of Sheraton, W Hotels, Westin, and more. The amount of points you need in order to earn a night depends on the category level of the hotel you want to stay at. Most of the top resorts are in the category 4-5 range, with a few tip top resorts in certain areas in the world at a category 6 or 7 (i.e. Bora Bora). The great thing is that there are no blackout dates either. You can also combine points with cash, and basically stay in a top hotel for less than half the required points + $60 a night for a room that would normally cost $200-$400 a night.
What is even cooler is that every dollar you spend at a Starwood hotel earns you double the number of points. Lucky for Mr. D and I, we coincidentally chose our reception to be held at a Westin hotel, before I even remembered I had a Starwood card. That means we will earn double the number of points based on the cost of our reception. Mr. D and I have looked at some of the nicest resorts on both of those islands, and it looks like almost our entire hotel stay will be covered.
Anyway, I just had to share this little secret with you all, as just merely using the card is going to save us a couple thousand dollars!
Any of you utilizing rewards for your wedding/honeymoon? What other ways are you funding your honeymoon?
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Share this post: How We Are Practically Getting Our Honeymoon For Free
I hear ya!
We are using points for the honeymoon and hotel. Plus I’m an elite member for both hotel and air so that means free meals and a bump up to business class. We are going to Thailand so that means even less money will be spent. Two weeks in Thailand for next to nothing- can’t beat it! If you aren’t married yet, I definitely say start saving points now and you can at least earn something free to use on your honeymoon.
I love my SPG AmEx card, too! But it does have an annual fee. The program is best for some of the middle-range resorts; it doesn’t make sense for the Category 6 hotels where you’d have to charge $10,000 just to get enough points for one night stay.
Yes! I have racked up tons of Marriott rewards points traveling for business trips over the past few years, and we were able to have our entire stay in the Cayman Islands covered using just the rewards points alone. The only thing we will have to come out of pocket for will be the airfare. Yippee for rewards points! 
We got just a regular AmEx card with no interest for the year. We timed it so that our final bill with no interest will come right after the wedding. This helps us not only get rewards for future trips, but it allows our parents not to give us two fat checks at once. Instead they’re sending us checks as they are capable because we don’t need to pay the bills all at once.
This card sounds great but there’s $45 annual fee after the first year.
Can anyone recommend a good frequent flyer credit card?
Marriott Rewards credit card = no fee.
Our reception was at a Marriott and we put the WHOLE RECEPTION on it. Tons of points.
Even if you don’t want a credit card, there are “club” programs to collect points (e.g., Amtrak, Marriott). Be sure to check out the maximum number of points that can be granted per event; if it appears you might go over, get a second Marriott Rewards club account for hubby and have it in the contract that the points are split between you and him.
that is definitely one of my regrets - not getting a rewards card!
Friends of ours used an airline-branded card for all their wedding expenses. Can you say free first-class to Hawaii and back?
Mr. CB has had a United Mileage Card a couple years before the engagement, so I signed up for one as soon as we got engaged. We’re hoping to use the miles to upgrade our seats to fly comfortably since we plan to travel far. It was best I signed up for my own vs getting a joint cc from his acct bc you get 21,000 miles (when I signed up) to start, so we’re trying to put all wedding expenses on my card in hopes that I’ll catch up to him. Business class - here we come! Unfortunately there are no free mileage cards but at least for United, they offer many ways to earn miles. =)
Honeymoon — we won ours through a radio contest! I entered us on a whim, we were chosen as finalists, and we beat out a few other finalist couples to win an all-expenses paid trip. Yay!
Miss Daffodil– I’m also using the same SPG AmEx card and getting married at the Westin in Pasadena after a church ceremony. Lots of similarities :)!
USAirways Mastercard…we’re putting everything for the wedding and everything in daily life on this card. We’ve already used the miles to buy plane tickets to our Vegas wedding and we plan to use more for a anniversary trip, hopefully to Greece!
Aww…Kate, you are lucky!
I have a question for everyone. What card would YOU say is the best to make wedding purchases on?
The Starwood AmEx sounds good, but if there’s an annual fee, I’d reconsider. I suppose if you charge enough on it, then it may be worth it…if the net you earn on it is more than what you would earn on a lower rebate/fee-free card…
We have a citibank cash back card that we’ve been giving a work out. We also signed up for the amex Aadvantage card when they were having a promotion - 20,000 miles + a free companion ticket after you spent $750. So that will at least cut our airfare in half. The fee is waived for the first year, but once that period is over, we’re probably going to cancel it.
I LOVE my Starwood AMEX and it IS the best travel card even with the $35 yearly fee (which is waived your first year).
It was voted best travel card by Money Magazine and Travel&Leisure magazine. It also won a Freddie Award (the Oscars for the travel industry) for best Affinity Credit Card.
The best thing is it isn’t just for hotels. You can exchange your miles for air miles on ANY airline…so you aren’t stuck with just American, or just United, etc. Or you can use your miles to do thing like upgrade from a normal room to a suite, etc. Or tade in points for gift certificates to stores.
Fiance and I spent a week in Cairo last year at a hotel on what we earned and we already have our airline tickets home for Christmas booked this year. Not to mention a hotel in Atlanta for a friend’s wedding this fall. By the time the wedding is over we’ll be able to do a week at one of their 5 star resorts.
I travel frequently for work so the miles and hotel points add up. For my MOH gift my sis and her family get two nights free at the wedding hotel, if my points come in for the most recent meeting I did (I’m a corporate meeting planner and yes, we get to keep our points from our corporate functions) then my mom and his parents get free rooms as well.
We’re using Marriott points for our honeymoon; hopefully we’ll have some time to cash in the AmEx points (from my corporate card) to go on a week-long cruise next summer. I do pay $75 a year for the privilege to use the American Express Membership Rewards program ($45 for consumer cards) but it’s well worth it in the end.
oh my fiance travelled so much for work. he’s racked up so many starwood points. and i love the westin hotel beds! alas, we’re staying at boutique hotels for the honeymoon, so we do have to pay for those, but i’m sure the points will be handy for later mini-moons!
Starwood really has the best hotel rewards program out there– i stayed for a weekend in the Montparnasse neighborhood in Paris for FREE when that room would’ve cost 400 euro a night! Even if yo udon’t get the credit card, just signing up for the rewards program is worth it.
My fiance travels for work and has practically lived in a hotel for the past 2 years and he has really racked up the points on his Choice Hotels card (Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites, etc.) They have a great program where we can redeem our points at resorts all over the world (not just Choice Hotel properties). Right now I think we’ll be able to stay at a top-notch resort for our honeymoon for 6 days absolutely free!
Loving the starwood card also- DH & I flew first class to Hawaii on our skymiles & we got 4 nights of our honeymoon free with starpoints.
We also had our wedding at the Bonaventure…but our points are still nowhere to be found. =( The catering manager told us we would receive SPG points for the cost of the wedding. We’ve asked her about it since then, but all she said was, I already submitted the form so its out of my control.
Make sure you get SPG points from the hotel ON TOP of using your card!
Also, another perk was that we ended up booking everyone’s rooms on our SPG thinking we would get credit for all the nights. HOWEVER, you only get credit for up to 3 rooms. The solution? Get SPG under your name and your hubby’s name…then you can merge the points later.
Hope everyone makes good use of things I didn’t know until later!
go to bali! i’ve been to both phuket and bali, and while both are incredibly scenic and beautiful, i think bali is more romantic for you newlyweds.
my FF miles are getting us to maui first class for free. Well, not really free, i did have to do a bit of shopping and flying to get the points, but you get the idea. 
I was married at a starwood hotel also. You not only get points for using your card, but make sure to give your SPG # to the catering manager that you are working with. You can earn 1 point for every 3 dollars spent with your wedding, which includes banquet charges, and all guest room booked under your wedding block (even ones that you didn’t pay for). Make sure to rack up on as many points as possible!
LOVE my SPG Amex! The FI and I just smile everytime we make a wedding (ha or other) purchase with it cause its counting towards the HMoon. We are Gold Members of Starwood Preferred Guest (staying 20 or so nights/year) and you get EVEN MORE points/dollar. Fan friggin tastic. By the time we are ready to book hotels, I estimate that we will have 6 nights paid free at category 5 hotels in Hawaii. Can’t get any better. Totally worth the annual fee in my book.
FI and I are going to Hawaii and our hotel in Honolulu is booked with Starpoints from his Amex. Airfare was booked on his AA points from his American Citi MC. It’s a real bargain honeymoon. I love points programs. So worth it even though there’s a fee. For a measly $35-$75 per year you get free travel, free hotel stay and free products. Why not!?
I used my rewards card for the whole entire wedding, but am not using any of the points towards my honeymoon in Paris. We already have a place to stay for cheap (well I don’t know cheap since we had to buy it) because we have a timeshare we bought awhile back and using that for our stay. The only thing I had to purchase was airline tickets, which my cousin who works for the airline, is kind enough to upgrade to first class!
I have the same card and it is AMAZING! I use it when I travel for work… and I hardly EVER pay for personal travel expenses!
12k points per night for an overwater bungalow in Tahiti!!! That’s my honeymoon destination
I just signed up for it. I’m excited to see how many points we can get before our wedding.
[...] of you may recall when I posted how we were going the cost effective way and using our Starwood points for a honeymoon in Bali. As [...]
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Mrs. Daffodil, San Francisco/Los Angeles
Age and Occupation: 26, Nonprofit Strategy Consultant
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Resident Physician
Engagement Date: December 29, 2006
Wedding Date: May, 2008
Blogging Since: August, 2007
Venue: Church w/ floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the Valley; Westin in downtown LA
About Me: I moved around a lot growing up, but consider myself a Southerner at heart. I love scrapbooking, dancing, doggies, and diet coke. I am all about personalizing everything and hence, I'm a DIY bride who is just loving the entire wedding planning process! Mr. Daffodil and I met in our college fellowship group and were "just friends" for three years before we started dating. We've been together for four years now and can't wait to get married in sunny SoCal, Mr. Daffodil's hometown.
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