Best Credit Card to Pay for Wedding

[Orgirl1969]

New to this board, but I've done this a few times with travel boards, etc.

FH and I are both coming into this as a second marriage. Neither one of us had a particularly notable wedding the first time and want to make this one pretty special and to include all 5 (yep, that's 5!) of our teenagers. We decided not to ask the parents for money (if they offer, GREAT), but since we are both professionals and can pay off the balances pretty easily, we thought the best way to pay for the wedding and keep track of our budget was to designate a specific credit card just for wedding expenses. Our thought was to get a good rewards card either for cash back or travel. Perhaps we could use the miles to help pay for the honeymoon. Anyone have any experience like this? Suggestions on the best card? :confused:

Thanks so much! ~Steph

[70707Bride]

I have a Capital One Rewards card. You get a point for every dollar you charge, then if you want, you can pick prizes. Mine are racking up because of college! haha.

[theweddinghelper]

I don't have a capital One Reward's card but if I did, I would use that one as well! I've heard some good things about them also!

Good luck w/ your Wedding and welcome to our board! :)

[LaceyinPgh]

Sean and I used our American Express for the little here and there purchases. But, the major stuff was all out of pocket. I wouldn't have done it any other way. Our Am Ex. offers all types of reward programs. We have to have a million points by now because we never really cash them in. For our honeymoon we used some of our frequent flyer miles for the airline tickets. Just be careful that you don't max out a credit card. You don't want to be paying 15% interest on something that you don't need to.

[Orgirl1969]

Heard lots of good things about Capital One. Checking it out with the FH! Just didn't want to miss out on something better if it was out there! Thanks!!!

[mariaandmanish]

Manish and I used the Am. Ex card for the most part, and paid it off as we went along. We got a lot of reqards from that, and have already paid that credit card off. No, we just have to pay off the MC we used for some of the smaller items. But, we get good rewards from that too. Just make sure you can pay it off as you're going along, so that you're not paying a lot of interest that you don't want to pay.

[ladymelissa]

Whatever has the lowest interest rate. You'll pay more in interest than the "rewards" are worth.

[septemberbride06]

Me and Joe have a MC and they had some pretty good stuff. Just as a rule of thumb we didn't use it for things over $500.00 because we knew we would not have it to pay off. Setting spending limits really helped us alot. I know this may sound cheesy, but we also found alot of good deals on E-Bay. Believe it or not, we actually saved (We added it up one night) about $800.00 just getting stuff off there!! Can you believe that? That is alot of money when you'r planning a wedding and you are as young as we are.
(21 and 24):p

[LizabethDavis]

I would never use a CC to pay for the majority of the wedding, but that is just me. I guess if you are going to go that route, find the lowest interest rate with the most rewards! Good luck and welcome to the boards!

[70707Bride]

Whatever has the lowest interest rate. You'll pay more in interest than the "rewards" are worth.

Yeah, I've got a magazine that has the "rewards" and they aren't that great and yet they require a lot of points. But if you need to use the card, then it won't really matter, I just wouldn't charge a bunch of stuff to get the worthless rewards.

[70707Bride]

My Capital One card has 8.9% interest.

[Orgirl1969]

Actually, FH and I set down tonite and looked at the options. Decided the "rewards" weren't worth the interest rate and we found a Chase Platinum with 18 months of 0% on purchases AND balance transfers and then 4.9% for the life of the card. I know it sounds bad that we are putting a wedding on a card, but here are the reasons:

1. We live around Kansas City and are actually getting married in my hometown about 2 hours away so a lot of things (bakery, florist, etc) I've had to choose in person and then order later. I can't drive home every time I need to make a purchase for the wedding.

2. Going along with that, I haven't lived in my hometown for a couple of years and am doing some other things long distance and I wanted some protection so I don't get ripped off. If anything goes terribly wrong (heaven forbid), I do have some recourse with the credit card company if I have a problem with a purchase or a service.

3. We just bought a large home in June and are remodeling the walk-out so that's taken a good portion of our savings. We like having a cushion in the bank and didn't want to have absolutely nothing in savings come January.

Also, I should add that we worked up a realistic budget sometime ago and both FH and I are determined to stay within that. It's made for some interesting, albeit creative, ways of doing things. That, and my sister is a store manager for David's, don't ever think THAT hasn't helped me stay within the budget!!!! :wink:

[LaceyinPgh]

Actually, FH and I set down tonite and looked at the options. Decided the "rewards" weren't worth the interest rate and we found a Chase Platinum with 18 months of 0% on purchases AND balance transfers and then 4.9% for the life of the card.

Just a word of advice. Check the interest rate after that 18 month introductory period. If it is a fixed rate it could go from 0% to something more akin to 15% or higher. If it isn't a fixed rate you are gambeling, it could start low after the 18 months then shot up with NO warning whatsoever. As for the 4.9% transfers. Make sure that interest isn't an additional fe tacked onto whatever your interest rate at the time happens to be.

[Orgirl1969]

Just adding a postscript to this thread in case anyone is interested. FH and I found the card! Chase WorldMastercard, O% APR on purchases and balance transfers through March 1, 2008 then fixed 3.99% APR and rewards on top of that. We don't have any balances to transfer at this point, and we are pretty sure this one can be paid off long before our first anniversary. Just dandy! Thanks everyone for the advice, it paid off...

~Steph