Author: Holly Johnson / Source: Wise Bread
If you’re worrying about the outrageous costs of getting hitched, you have good reason. According to online wedding resource, The Knot, the average wedding in 2017 set couples back $33,391. This amount includes everything from the venue, to the dress, to the cake, to the invitations.
One thing it doesn’t include, however, is the cost of a honeymoon.Imagine spending more than $30,000 for your wedding and still having to pay for the trip of a lifetime. For many people, this could mean scaling down their dreams, delaying their trip, or going without a honeymoon altogether.
But what if there was a better way — a way to turn your wedding expenses into the free or almost-free trip of your dreams? Doing so is possible if you’re willing to strategize, think ahead, and take advantage of rewards offered by credit cards, airlines, and hotel chains. Here are some steps to take as you hatch a plan.
1. Set a budget for your wedding
First things first. Before you can plan a rewards strategy for your honeymoon, you need to know how much your wedding will cost. Since creating a budget for your wedding is likely a good idea anyway, it makes sense to sit down and tally up all of your expenses.
Create a budget for each component of your ceremony and reception, including table décor, the dress and tux, rings, and food. Obviously, it may be difficult to have some of this information handy until you start meeting with wedding vendors. Either way, The Knot’s 2017 Real Weddings Survey can provide you average prices you can use to create your own estimates.
2. Turn wedding expenses into sign-up bonuses
Once you know how much you plan to spend on your wedding, you can strategize which rewards cards to sign up for. Ideally, you and your betrothed will both sign up for a few cards at once in order to maximize your biggest wedding expenses by earning sign-up bonuses.
Here’s how this works: Many travel and rewards cards offer a bonus if you sign up and meet a minimum spending requirement within a few months (e.g. spend $3,000 on your card within 90 days to earn 50,000 points). If you plan to spend $15,000 on your wedding, for example, you and your fiancé could each apply for up to five cards with big bonus offers to earn a huge stash of points all at once.
The key to making this strategy work is ensuring you have the cash to pay off your wedding expenses right after you charge them. With credit cards carrying an average APR of more than 16%, you shouldn’t charge your wedding expenses if you plan to carry a balance.
3. Look for expenses that fit within “bonus categories”
While sign-up bonuses offer an easy way to maximize your wedding expenses, also think about whether any of your wedding bills may qualify for bonus categories. The fact that some of the best travel rewards cards offer three points per dollar spent on dining could prove lucrative if you have your rehearsal dinner at a restaurant, for example, or even have your wedding catered by a restaurant.
Considering having your reception at a hotel? Hotel credit cards offer extra points if you book using their co-branded credit card. If you plan to buy supplies or food for your reception from a traditional grocery store, you could consider the best credit cards for grocery spending, which offer up to 6% cash back that can go into your honeymoon fund.
Keep these bonus categories in mind when you’re selecting cards to sign up for. While earning…
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