Loan for your wedding...

I think in their situation its stupid! Surely you just have the day that you can afford. I know some people dream of their fairytale wedding but if you can't afford it then don't bother, the important thing is you become husband and wife, you can do that for about £100 down the registry office.

I think thats totally nuts! £12k for a wedding on loan and in the situation that is just crazy. They will be in debt for years and unlikely to pay it back

they can get a great wedding for less than £2K. why are they thinking so big

stupid in my opinion

It would be crap to still be paying for the day years later. Small ish loans fair enough . I took out a credit card specifically for my dress as I had initially thought I would only spend a couple of hundred . I paid the deposit with it , paid it off over six months and then paid for the rest of the dress . Everything else was saved for.

WSS! First time round we took a loan for the honeymoon and when we divorced we were still in debt. Not just that loan, but ex-H took out more loans on top. This time round, older, wiser and richer, we just paid for what we could when we could, but refused for even a penny to be debt.

I think there a situations where a loan is acceptable. Say you've just landed a decent job and you have a wedding imminent. Well, you might decide that you can now afford to splash out a bit but not have the actual cash saved yet. So you get a loan out and repay from your salary. This obviously only works if you know your salary is secure.

But in theory, I don't think borrowing should be used to pay for a wedding. A wedding is an extravagance. Marriage is much cheaper and really all that you need.

I agree with Footlong. I really don't mean this to sound condescending like it's going to, but my grandparents were working class immigrants who strongly believed in living within your means, they passed that on to my parents who passed it on to me. I would never buy anything on credit or take out a loan for anything other than education or a house. Anything more than that is an extravagance, and if your income doesn't allow for it now then when will it?

Nope we didn't take a long. We had no savings before we booked our wedding, We saved every penny we had and had a wedding we loved within a budget we could afford.

In the end I actually saved money by cutting things out I didn't want or think neccesary e.g We budgeted for 50 day guests but when we wrote the list we had 40 and instead of nviting 10 people for the sake of it we just stuck to 40. This saved us nearly £500 all in.

My friend is stilling paying a loan for her wedding and she got married in 2009. I think it adds strain to a new marriage that isn't needed.

That should say loan!

We didn't take out a loan, but we were prepared to.

We worked out what we could afford based on disposable income. Then, halfway through planning, hubby got made redundant so we decided we'd take out a loan to pay for it. In the end we didn't need to because he got a new job straight away.

So, there are circumstances where I think it's ok. But in your friends' case, she's off her rockers!

I agree exactly with Peanut. I've never taken a loan for anything except my mortgage. I just save up until I have enough money.

Exactly! I'm glad you've all agreed, it shocked me to think people actually do this! She's actually my friends sister, if she was a friend of mine directly id tell her I think she's crazy! I just can't understand it. There are done situations where a loan is unavoidable but doing that is just stupid. I know lots of people who have had a lovely budget wedding!

We had everything we could have possibly wanted at our wedding and even we didn't spend £12k!

Each to their own but my opinion is that you should 'rely' on a loan or parents for your wedding.

No I wouldn't get a loan to pay for the wedding as I see it like footlong said as extravagance!

We didnt get a loan or use credit cards for our wedding. We didnt want to go beyond our means for the day.

We wanted a good party for our family and friends and like I mentioned on a thread earlier, when ever we bought anything for the wedding I would think "this is for one day" or "this will be used once"

we went for the cheapest options we could find without skimping on quality!

I would hate to start married life with such a debt!

I wouldn't get a loan for a wedding. It would be a lot of money spent on one day, and a LOT of days spent paying it back.

However, credit is not something to be scared of, but you MUST use it wisely. Credit cards do offer extra consumer protection. Regular use of credit cards, and paying off the balance, is an essential money budgeting skill that you will require when applying for large amounts of credit like a mortgage.

Interest free credit can work in your favour too (i.e. the money stays in your account longer, earning you interest) if you need a new car or sofa. The money you pay off each month would be exactly what you would save for a future purchase, you just have the purchase ahead of time.

I know it is not in some people's nature to owe, but credit isn't always the monster it is made out to be. Our greed is the monster!

Her day, her way hon.

I wouldn't have done it, but I am bad with money and was also highly stupid and racked up a few grand on credit cards that I struggled for years to pay off. I worked hard to get out of debt, so am wary about getting involved with too much credit. I have my car payments, phone and mortgage and try to save up for anything else I might need or want. We worked out a wedding budget, went over it several times, but didn't rely on any credit to have what we wanted.