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Smart Ways to Use a Credit Card for Wedding Expenses

6 min read

Last Updated: December 10, 2024

Table of contents

Key Takeaways

You can earn rewards such as cash back or miles by paying for your wedding with a rewards credit card.
With a 0% introductory APR offer credit card, you may be able to avoid paying interest.
It’s convenient to pay for a wedding with a credit card but requires discipline and good budgeting.

Your wedding day may be one of the happiest days of your life, but there’s no denying that planning a wedding can be stressful at times. From hunting for the perfect venue and wedding vendor coordination, to creating the ideal guest list and funding the whole event with all the bells and whistles you want—there’s certainly a lot to do.

Add to that, financing a wedding can be a matter of uncertainty for some people. You might be wondering how to pay for a wedding using a credit card.

Benefits of using a credit card to pay for wedding expenses

Some couples may opt for a personal loan or home equity loan for their wedding to fund their big day. Other couples may rely on credit cards, savings, or monetary gifts to pay expenses. Credit cards have some advantages that other options can’t match.

Purchase protection

While you can certainly pay most wedding vendors in cash or use funds from a personal loan, one of the key benefits of using a credit card is a dispute process for purchases. According to the Federal Trade Commission, the Fair Credit Billing Act allows consumers to dispute charges, and you may be able to have a transaction reversed.

For instance, if the wedding vendor supplying your cake doesn’t deliver the cake as promised, you may be able to dispute the credit card charge. Couples who pay cash may find it harder to navigate such a situation.

Credit card rewards

Many credit card companies have a rewards program that could allow you to earn credit card rewards on the wedding expenses you charge to your card. These rewards could be cash back that you can redeem for other wedding-related expenses. Or you could have a travel rewards card like the Discover it^® Miles card that lets you turn Miles into cash. Or redeem as a statement credit for your travel purchases like airfare, hotels, rideshares, gas stations, restaurants, and more.²

Every Discover Card lets you earn rewards on every purchase.

New cardmember bonuses

A new credit card may offer incentives for new cardmembers that could significantly increase your rewards. The incentive may earn you additional cash back or miles every time you use your credit card for wedding purchases within the bonus period. Weddings typically require a high amount of spending and may be a great opportunity to take advantage of a credit card bonus.

The credit card offer may differ from one credit card issuer to another. For example, Discover gives unlimited Cashback Match to all new cardmembers: we'll automatically match all the cash back you’ve earned at the end of your first year. There is no limit to how much we’ll match.³

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0% intro APR credit cards

Along with a bonus, the best credit card for you may also offer the benefit of having an introductory 0% APR credit card. This may allow you to slowly pay off your wedding expenses without paying any interest if you pay off the balance by the end of the promotional period. Once the promotional period is over, any pending balance will incur the full interest. To get the full benefits of a promotional offer, you should read the card’s terms and conditions carefully before charging anything to the card.

Disadvantages of paying for wedding expenses with a credit card

If you’re going to use a credit card to pay for some (or all) of your wedding expenses, there are a few pitfalls you’ll want to learn about. If you can avoid these, then using a credit card to fund your wedding might go much more smoothly.

Going over budget

Without discipline and planning, you may spend more than you intended and take longer to pay off the balance. To avoid this, it can help to create a wedding budget beforehand and be diligent about sticking to it. You can also set mobile alerts to let you know when you’re close to going over budget.

The Discover mobile app gives cardmembers the power to set limits for transactions and balances (and receive an alert if a purchase exceeds your limits).

Increasing your credit utilization rate

Weddings can be expensive and using a credit card to pay for expenses could use the majority of your available credit. This may increase your credit utilization ratio (the percentage of available credit you’re using) and consequently lower your credit score. This change is not necessarily permanent, and your score may gradually increase as you repay your credit card debt. But even a temporary decrease in your score may impact credit applications in the immediate future.

One way to avoid a high credit utilization ratio is to increase your credit limit. Alternatively, consider staggering your payments and paying them off quickly. For instance, if you’ve booked your wedding venue and made an advance payment, try to avoid making payments to your caterer and florist in the same month. Making gradual payments to different vendors and attempting to keep your card balance low may help prevent a big increase in your credit utilization ratio.

Did you know?

If you plan to use a credit card to pay for some wedding expenses, you may be able to take advantage of Discover Cashback Match. We’ll automatically match all the cash back you’ve earned at the end of your first year.³

Learn More

Paying high interest rates

Compared to personal loans for a wedding, credit cards may have a higher interest rate. Even for those taking advantage of a promotional low interest rate, not repaying the balance during the promotional period will mean incurring interest at the card’s regular interest rate. The high costs associated with a wedding paired with high-interest rates may mean you start your marriage with high credit card debt.

A good workaround is to pay off the balance within the promo period. Consider using any cash wedding gifts from guests to pay down your wedding debt. Some credit cards let you apply your cash back rewards directly as a statement credit. This can be especially convenient when you’re running up large bills.

Credit card annual fees

Credit card offers can be very enticing, especially if you plan on using your new card a lot in the first year. But after you pay off your wedding costs and your spending returns to normal, you might be stuck with a hefty annual fee for your card. Annual fees only make sense if your rewards outweigh the fees.

Discover has no annual fee on any of our cards.

Wedding planning can be exciting and fun, but finances may sometimes be a hurdle. Credit cards may be a great way to pay for wedding day purchases since you can earn rewards. Consider a credit card issuer’s rewards programs, interest rates, and customer service reputation to ensure you get the best deal for your wedding expenses. With the right promotional offer and paying your balance in full by the due date, you might avoid interest charges altogether. But to avoid sinking into credit card debt, it’s important to maintain a strict wedding budget and keep spending within your limits.

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