About two-thirds of newlyweds, 67%, say they took on debt to fund their large day, according to a March 2025 survey of over 1,000 brides and grooms from LendingTree.
To some folks, the selection could appear frivolous. The cake will get eaten, the flowers die, and you find yourself with a invoice that collects curiosity. However there’s one other approach to take a look at it, says Matt Schulz, shopper finance analyst at Lending Tree. “To me, good debt is all a couple of return in your funding,” he says. “And that return on funding does not should be monetary.”
If having a sure type of wedding ceremony is a excessive precedence for you and your vital different, it is OK to tackle some debt to make that dream a actuality, in keeping with Schulz: That may quantity to “good debt,” he says. You simply should be savvy and cautious all through the method.
The perfect methods to borrow in your wedding ceremony
When you can, the perfect monetary possibility is to pay for the marriage your self — even when which means solely having as a lot celebration as you may afford, says Lauren Nowacki, a senior author for Bankrate. “Clearly, money is king, particularly from your individual account,” she says. “Do not be borrowing cash from anybody if you do not have to — so, financial savings, revenue from a aspect hustle, your regular revenue.”
But when push involves shove and you’re feeling like it’s a must to go into the crimson to fund your large day, some types of debt are wiser to incur than others.
1. A bank card with a 0% introductory supply is ‘exhausting to beat’
When you should cost some purchases, your greatest wager is to make use of a bank card with a 0% introductory offer, says Schulz. You may usually want a credit score rating above 670 to qualify for certainly one of these playing cards, which include a interval throughout which you will owe no curiosity in your debt — sometimes 6 to 21 months. As soon as that interval expires, a normal bank card rate of interest kicks in. The common is at present greater than 20%, according to Bankrate.
So long as you’ve a plan to pay your debt again throughout the introductory interval, you will not owe an additional cent on the stability, says Schulz.
“When you’re searching for a low-interest solution to finance a big-ticket merchandise that you’ll buy, or a giant occasion that you’re attempting to throw, it is a fairly exhausting deal to beat,” he says.
2. Attempt a private line of credit score
You probably have good credit score, you could need to borrow immediately from the financial institution. These preparations, typically known as “wedding ceremony loans,” says Nowacki, “are actually [a] nice possibility for those who have larger bills.”
That is as a result of “the rate of interest is normally decrease than a bank card, particularly if in case you have an excellent credit score rating and credit score historical past,” she says, “and it is unfold out longer, so the month-to-month funds are smaller.”
For smaller bills you are assured you may pay again rapidly, she says, charging in your common card may be wonderful.
Irrespective of which type of debt you tackle, she says, one piece of recommendation stays fixed: Make a plan for a way mortgage reimbursement will slot in your monetary image after the marriage. With out one, debt can get uncontrolled. That may critically bitter no matter good emotions you’ve out of your large day if it will get in the best way of different objectives like saving to purchase a house or begin a household.
“You understand, a marriage is someday, however then you’ve a wedding the day after,” Nowacki says. “Do you need to enter that marriage with some joint debt? Look into what you need to do in your marriage and the way that it will have an effect on that.”
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