Linds4

Hi All!
My fiance and I will have about 8-12K in spend that will be made from mid-September through late October for our wedding. I was originally planning on the 100K Citi AAdvantage offer, but I don't think I'll be able to get the spend done within 90 days as the offer seems to be fading away. My credit score is in the 790's and I currently have the Chase Hyatt and Amex Blue Cash. My plan is below. Not interested nor will I qualify for any business cards. Any other ideas for cards to pick up?

Barclay US Airways Premier, 1st purchase 40K miles
Chase Saphhire Preferred, $3k spend, 45K points with authorized user
Citi AAdvantage, $3k spend, 30K miles


As for what we are doing with the miles/points, we aren't quite sure. I was thinking of getting US and AA miles since they will merge in 2015. Our honeymoon will be more of a anniversary due to limited time off at work, likely an AI in the Caribbean so the points/miles will be mainly used for flights. I just didn't want this large spend to go to waste! Thanks in advance!

MSPeconomist

If part of the money will be spent at a hotel (reception? lodging for wedding party or out of town guests?) get a credit card for that hotel chain, although you might be able to negotiate better prices if you forego earning points. Some chains give points to the planner for individual guests' room charges, etc., even though the planner isn't paying but has set up a room block.

Linds4

Thanks, unfortunately the reception won't be at a chain, nor will guests be staying at a chain.

tys90

Is there any way you can move those charges up a few months so you can get in on the Citi 100k AA offer?

If not, I wouldn't go for the 30k AA miles card, there are better options if you want airline miles. There are a couple of options for 50k AA miles, check out the credit card sub-forum.

Linds4

Hi tys90. I'd be able to move up some of the spend but not enough to meet the 10K requirement. I'll check out the 50K offers. Thanks!

farbster

You will often find that cash is king with vendors. You might save enough money that foregoing the points would be worth it.

salosa

I am getting married in August and am doing the same thing!

A few of our vendors accepted cash only because of the credit card charges. I found two ways around this. I either negotiated the credit card fee waiver into the vendor quote or I was able to convince them to use amazon payments which allows you to pay up to 1k a month with your credit cards and without fees.

If not obvious already, you and your future spouse can both sign up for the same card and use amazon payments on separate accounts so you can hit the limits on both cards more quickly.

Hopefully, that helps!

johnec4

congrats on your wedding.

you can get a citi AA 50k bonus card here
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/credi...ost-first.html

or direct link here
http://creditcards.citicards.com/usc...8E0C9A202711E4

Linds4

Thanks salosa, I hadn't thought about amazon payments for the vendors who prefer cash. And thanks for the well wished and AA citi link, johnec4!

salosa

Yeah usually the pitch I give is that it costs them nothing to use Amazon payments and might even generate more business for them in the future if they can offer clients a credit card option.

Linds4

Finally decided and was approved for the following:

Barclay US Aiways 40K miles
Citi AAdvantage 50k miles
Chase sapphire preferred 40k points

Pretty happy with how things worked out! Thanks all for the feedback!

farbster

Congrats on the points and the wedding. I'll leave it up to you to decide in which order