While we were planning our wedding, my husband and I were strategic in our spending. He often traveled for work and generally stayed at the same hotel chain. We planned to host our reception at a hotel from this chain (in Chicago) and also booked our honeymoon at the same hotel (in Aruba). You could say we were loyal! We used a credit card from the same hotel for wedding expenses. As we made deposits and payments for our photographer, florist and and more, we earned hotel points, and there were extra point benefits for using the card at the hotels. We paid the balance for the reception with this credit card and made arrangements for the points to hit our account in time to cover our honeymoon stay. The result: we only paid for one night out of two weeks out of pocket, and even earned “cash” to spend at the resort for meals, spa services, etc.
There are definite advantages to paying for event expenses with a credit card, aside from earning hotel points or airline miles. If you have an issue with a product or service, you have recourse through the credit card company. You can keep all of your expenses in one place so that it’s easy to track your spending. You can earn cash with some cards. You may even be able to use the checks that credit card companies mail to you for payment to vendors who only accept cash or checks (but do check the rules for the APR and how it is calculated for this type of balance as opposed to purchases). Some companies offer exclusive benefits to cardholders such as discounts at retailers.
However, this methodology only works if you are able to pay off your card every month, or can pay off the balance within a promotional 0% interest rate. If not, what you’ll pay in interest can easily exceed any benefits earned. You’ll also need to check if the card has annual fee (many that offer rewards do).
