The bulk of the spending will be on the banquet hall (~12~15k).

All of the other expenses would be smaller than that.
wedding dress - $1K
invitations - ~500-1000k
photographer - ~2500
cake - $250


In total, we have budgeted $25,000 for the wedding.

If you are planning to spend $25,000, then that will give you 25,000 miles on any airline of your choice (most airlines have credit cards that give you 1 mile per dollar). Some have higher-end cards that give you 2 miles per dollar, with an annual fee that is waived for the first year.

Since you mentioned Southwest, their credit card (through Chase) gives you 25,000 points after first purchase, and 1 point per dollar, which means you would end up with 50,000 points, which would be worth over $800 in Southwest flights. Other airlines would have similar programs, some better and some worse.

If you just want to go the cash route, then Capital One cash rewards will give you 1.5% of your total spending, or $375.

Do note that credit cards have monthly limits, so you would need to spread out this spending over several months.

Congratulations on your wedding :)

Well, as I've been reading, the Chase Sapphire card has a 50K bonus, so that would be $500 right there.

That would probably be better than the Citi card right? or am I missing something?

I don't think you can go wrong with Sapphire in your situation. It's a good card with flexible rewards.

Your banquet hall and cake MIGHT even get counted as "dining" which would give you 2 points per dollar. I wouldn't count on it but it could be possible and would be a nice bonus for you.

The Sapphire card will also be able to transfer points to Southwest starting tomorrow. You haven't even mentioned your honeymoon plans yet and the Sapphire will definitely come in handy for the travel costs.

Best card to take advantage of $30k of wedding expenses?
 

Hi there! I'm getting married this year, and plan on spending about $30,000 that we can use to get whatever spend bonuses cards offer. Any advice on what might be the best card to take advantage of?

I'm a GM on Delta, my fiancee is FO, and she's Gold on American. We've both already got the BA Chase Visa (through the BA.com link, so 100k Avios with no spend. We've also both got the Sapphire Preferred.)

Any thoughts, FTers?

Thanks so much,
Scott

Moderator action
 

wrytoast's question has appended to previous discussions. Note that the AARP card rewards program has changed.

How about the spg card? 25K bonus to start