Wedding loan

yourdeadwright

Just wondering do people still get large wedding loans or is it a mix of savings and loans,

We are getting married in May & have saved for it ,at this stage pretty have everything budgeted for but we may end up having to get a 1 or 2k loan ,

A friend of mine got married just before covid & got a loan of 15k on top of 10 grand saving for similar sized wedding as mine will be.

His view was he wanted all the money upfront to pay for things & didn't want to wait to save & would be paying back almost the same amount of cash as he would have been saving ,He didn't regret it , I can see his a point because we have saved really hard & gave holidays &other things a miss for the last two years,

I'm not saying there is a right or wrong way or judging anyone , I'm just wondering what the majority do these days for there big day ,,

woodchuck

We didn't take out a loan, but I guess we were lucky that we had savings to dip into. We tried not to lose the run of ourselves either though. We knew all along that we only wanted a small/medium sized wedding without too many bells and whistles. It still ended up being more expensive than we anticipated, but we didn't need to take out a loan.

I know one of my friends took out a loan to help cover some of the cost, but I don't know the details. However they originally planned to have their wedding in March 2020 and finally only managed to have their big day in November 2021. So if they were depending on cash gifts to help pay off the loan (wedding cancelled at the last minute and everything was paid for), that obviously didn't work out for them :/

And I've heard so many stories about people who planned a large wedding, but went ahead with much smaller guest list due to restrictions. So again, they might've been in trouble if they were in any way dependent on cash gifts from guests to cover the cost/loan.

So I'd just be very careful about taking out a loan, depending on your repayment plan. I.e. never ever depend on cash gifts to cover the cost!!

If we weren't able to afford the wedding we wanted, we probably would've scaled way back and cut our cloth to measure instead of taking out a loan. Starting married life in debt just seems like such a bad idea to me.

jo187

I never been to many weddings as an adult. Small group of friends, getting married later.

When one of them got hitched he wanted cash gifts. I recall asking people what was the norm? I was told 150-200. I was told the guest is basically paying for there share.

This was a fee years ago so don't know if it's gone up or down or if someone was taking the piss with me.

Pawwed Rig

1 or 2 K is not much really. Could you get a loan from family rather than goto a bank? On the assumption that you get gifts you could nearly commit to paying it back immediately after the wedding? Or else just stick it on the credit card or overdraft?

woodchuck

"91% of the money spent on weddings was from savings, and the rest of the money came equally from parents, loans and gifts."

Source:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.weddingsonline.ie/blog/weddingsonline-survey-2021/amp/

woodchuck

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118449038#Comment_118449038

As wedding guests, we give a 200euro gift as a couple (more for a close relative). From our own wedding recently, most of our friends gave us this amount too. Not that it was asked for or expected of course, but it does seem to be the norm.

"Cover your plate" is the term often used. While I hate the phrase, 100euro/person is roughly an accurate estimate to cover the cost of attending a wedding as a guest, if you factor in the meal, drinks, canapes, late night food etc. But not including things like flowers, photographer, DJ, dress etc.

super_furry

Wouldn't bother taking out a loan for that amount. You could pay it in cash gifts the morning after.

yourdeadwright

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118449053#Comment_118449053

To be fair we likely won't have to & as someone said its a small amount that can be easy paid back ,

I think like most things wedding related whatever works for YOU works ,I just wanted to see how people generally are going about weddings just as topic of conversation ,

Pawwed Rig

I wouldn't be going into massive debt for the sake of a wedding (€10k or more) but a couple of K wouldn't concern me too much. Alot will depend on other aspects of life such as salary, whether you already have a house or not etc. If you (general you) don't have a house and you take out a massive loan for wedding then you need your head examined.😉

yourdeadwright

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118449622#Comment_118449622

That's it really about what suits your circumstance,

What is an expensive wedding for one is peanuts for someone else ,

B.A._Baracus

Honestly? Don't go nuts and spend a fortune. Plan the wedding you can afford.

I've worked with people who say they spent 30+ grand on their wedding, I've also known people who invited so many for that "big wedding" and its silly. It really is. Because there's a point where you're just inviting people for the sake of it.

It's your special day. Invite only those closest to you. Your sister, your brother, your best mate - not that second cousin who you haven't seen in 6 years lol.

yourdeadwright

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118450044#Comment_118450044

I agree

I'm not asking for my own wedding we are already sorted as i stated may at the very most need a 2k loan but more than likely won't , I'm just wondering what the landscape is like these days ,

We actually went for 100-105 people which is perfect for us ,

castletownman

Mine is sixteen months away, and rather than committing to a loan, I am going to set aside a modest €50 per week between now and then. Even factoring in prior commitments like other weddings coming up and stuff like that, I should have 3K in reserve so to speak.

That will help pay for the band anyway and any unforeseen extras, without the longer term commitment of paying off a loan. Between cash gifts on the day, and both set of parents contributing to the costs, I think my saving scheme is more logical.

Neyite

No loan here - probably why we are engaged so long! But then we never wanted a big wedding, or lots of frills. Having said that, we haven't scrimped on the things we do want. (ok we will honeymoon in Europe instead of the Maldives but apart from that...) And I'm even more happy with that because we've renovations we want to do starting in the summer and we will be free to plan it with the option of a loan for that if we want.

I know a couple who are still paying off their wedding day and honeymoon. Or rather, her parents are. They split 8 years ago, just under two years into their marriage. Actually thought of another couple who didn't have a loan but her dad spent a fortune on the wedding only for them to split just over a year later. Another couple started their family right away so paying off their loan, plus reduced maternity income, then after that high creche fees, plus taking an unpaid parental day was a serious struggle for them for the first few years. So I would suggest that you sit down and have a think about what you want in the next 5 years post wedding together (house move, kids, promotions, travel etc) and see how wedding costs might factor in there.

B.A._Baracus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118463034#Comment_118463034

Good advice.

Personally I think getting a house is more important than a big wedding.

swededmonkey

We're getting married at the end of the year. Due to covid, we opted to delay our wedding date which has given us time to save the money ourselves. Saying that, we are having to save hard as there is quite a big guestlist and will be a relief when its done! We're planning on using gift money to pay for the honeymoon and will have plenty left over to get some work done on the house.

Ginger83

We had 10 at ours whereas a friend invited 384 to theirs. Everyone is different so don't put yourself under too much pressure.

kinney

My wife wanted a great celebration, and I wanted to make her happy. So I took out a loan. But I can't say that I regret or that it was a waste of money. We got back everything we invested into this day. So if someone hesitates, I wouldn't turn anyone away from this idea. However, I'd avoid taking a short-term cash loans, because their rates are huge. Better stich some of the https://bnlfinance.com/how-to-get-a-wedding-loan-with-bad-credit/ suggestions to increase your credit score and get a better options wedding loan.

Pinoy adventure

The honeymoon part of the wedding will be probably be the most expensive part.

maybe skip the Maldives and head too cork or Kerry.

plan your budget and stick with it.

yourdeadwright

Ohh in the end there was no loans taken at all thankfully was not needed

We had an absolute ball ,

One of the best days of our life's over 4 months ago now ,

Pawwed Rig

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119652310#Comment_119652310

A week in the Maldives would probably be around the same price as a week in Kerry