4 Ways To Use Credit Card Rewards To Help Pay For A Wedding

Your wedding can be one of your biggest life expenses, depending on what you include in your ceremony and reception. The average expense for a wedding has consistently risen over time, to a point that now the average wedding costs in the range of $30,000. If you’re looking to get married soon, Mint can actually help you create a separate wedding budget to help you manage those costs. 

In this article, we’ll talk about how you can use credit card rewards to help pay for a wedding. And while you’re unlikely to be able to pay for your entire wedding with credit card rewards, every little bit saved helps.

Planning a wedding

If you have a wedding coming up, the first thing that you’ll want to do is create a budget. Just like with your regular expenses, having a budget is an important step in keeping your costs down. Without a written budget, your costs have a tendency to go up and up without end. 

One important thing to keep in mind is that a budget can be as strict or as loose as you want it. Some people prefer to handle cost overruns by reducing the budget in other categories to compensate. Others choose to just increase the budget if costs are higher than expected. No matter how you decide to handle it, having a written budget means that you’ll make a conscious decision about it rather than just having expenses rise without you realizing it.

Paying for your wedding with credit cards

One way that you can help offset some of the costs of a wedding is via credit cards and credit card rewards. If you average a 2% return in credit card rewards on a $30,000 wedding, that’s $600 back. Of course, the easiest way to save money paying for your wedding is to have a smaller wedding, but that may not be an option for you, depending on your specific situation.

There are a few things that you’ll want to consider if you are talking about paying for your wedding with credit cards. The first is that paying for everything with credit cards does make it much easier to lose control of your spending. Just like with anything else, you should only spend money on credit cards that you have in the bank. That way you can always make your credit card payment in full, each and every month.

The other thing to consider when paying for a wedding with credit cards is that not every vendor might accept credit cards as a form of payment. This is especially true for individuals or smaller businesses. And those that do take credit cards may charge a processing fee. Of course, it doesn’t make sense to pay a 2.9% credit card processing fee to get 2% back in rewards. In those cases, it’s better to pay with cash, a check, or a payment service. You might also ask if there would be a discount for paying in cash — again, that could be more lucrative than any rewards you get from paying with a credit card.

Getting signup bonuses with all that spending

One option for making the most out of your credit card rewards that you might want to take advantage of is signing up for new credit cards that offer attractive welcome offers. Many credit cards offer signup bonuses for new applicants with a value of hundreds of dollars or more. These offers usually have a spending requirement associated with them, which isn’t a problem if you’ve got all those wedding expenses. Just remember to watch out for the many overpriced wedding items that you might want to avoid.

Using credit card rewards to pay for your honeymoon

Another way that you can use credit card rewards is to help pay for your honeymoon. Many credit cards offer rewards such as airline miles, hotel points or other types of travel rewards and benefits. Signing up for a few key credit cards can be a great way to splurge on a honeymoon to remember at a fraction of the cost. Flying in first class or staying in luxury resorts is something that may be much more in reach by using miles and points than if you were to try to pay for it with cash.

The Bottom Line

Smart usage of credit card rewards can be a great way to help pay for a wedding or, at the very least, get a rebate on all of the spending you’re doing. Make sure to set a budget to help stay out of wedding debt and use credit cards as part of your spending strategy. Following these simple steps can help you maximize your credit card rewards without hurting your overall credit score. Watch out for vendors that charge credit card processing fees and don’t use your credit card as an excuse to spend money that you don’t have.