How do you do it?

         How can I get a similar luxurious honeymoon like Cedric and Cecilia’s?

         The answer is simple – copy Cedric’s approach by finding and applying for credit cards with huge sign up bonuses, meeting the spending requirements imposed on each card you got with wedding expenses, and booking an award ticket or hotel room via its respective reward programs. https://wfphoto.biz/wichita-falls-wedding-photography/ While the formula is simple, the nuances within each of the steps can be quite complicated. Which cards should you really apply for? How do you use your wedding expenses to match the spending requirement? How do you book the air ticket and hotel rooms using miles and points? And how do you manage all these cards without being overwhelmed?

         That is why I have created this section for you. I will use a top down approach to help you understand the whole process, by showing you a simple flow chart on how to replicate Cedric and Cecilia’s success. Consequently, I will draw your attention to some important aspects of their story. Lastly, I will ease your concerns and answer your questions in regards to credit card applications, maintenance, preparation time, and credit score checks. By the end of this process, you will have an arsenal of skills to plan for your amazing 5-figure honeymoon without breaking the bank.

 Honeymoon booking process

         Here is a simple process flow of how to get flights and hotels by utilizing wedding expenses:

         Find your honeymoon destination > Determine duration of trip > Find flights and hotels > Find credit cards that offer the points > Apply for the cards > Meet the minimum spending via wedding expenses > Receive and redeem points for travel

         As you can see, the goal is simple. This process is identical to the process of planning any regular vacation (i.e. identifying your vacation spot and booking the respective flights and hotels). The few steps added above are just the phases in which you will accrue the necessary miles and points for your trip. By the end of it, you will have enough points to redeem for your honeymoon.

 What should you pay particular attention to during the process?

         Longer preparation time

         The first thing we should pay attention to is the additional time needed to book your honeymoon with miles and points compared to cash. Based on the flow process above, there are a few more intermittent steps to earning the necessary points for your vacation. After you apply for the credit card, you need to wait for it to arrive, put spending on it, and wait for the points to be posted. Only after these criteria have been fulfilled can you book that portion of the trip with your points. On average, it takes at least a month for your accrued points to appear in your account. However, here are some bonus tips to speed up the process:

         Tip #1: Some banks allow overnight delivery on approved credit cards. You can call the respective banks to speed up delivery. Since they want you to spend with the card, they will gladly accommodate you.

         Tip #2: Bank reward programs typically process sign on bonus when your billing cycle ends, and banks are more than happy to move the billing cycle of your credit card to a different date. Once you have met the spending requirement, you can send a secure message or call the bank to request for a billing date change. By moving up the billing cycle, you can earn your points faster, and in turn, redeem your flights or hotel rooms with greater options and flexibility.

         Tip #3: Before you alter your billing cycle, make sure you’ve paid off your card balances. This can help avoid unnecessary interest charges, secure your credit score, and reduce stress for you and your spouse.

         Minimum spend – We can tackle them easily!

         Meeting minimum spending requirement is one of the biggest hurdles to meet credit card bonus requirements. However, I am sure you picked up a clue or two from the previous section on how to tackle this. Since you are currently planning for a wedding, minimum spending requirements on credit cards can be easily met because of the large wedding expenses! Instead of thinking about how to meet a $3,000 spend requirement in 3 months from daily expenditures, such as groceries and transportation, your wedding expenses have you covered. You can fulfill minimum spending with 1 or 2 deposits from your wedding arrangements and earn a free flight or few hotel stays in the process.

         Timing of honeymoon – Do you want to go right away? When should you apply for the cards?

         For Cedric and Cecilia, they wanted the honeymoon immediately following their wedding. In other words, their card applications had to be done with careful thought due to the timing of when their points post and the availability of award tickets and hotel rooms, etc. Without this consideration, they would have had to pay for portions of their trip with cash and not fully utilize the points earned. If you also want your honeymoon right after the wedding, you have to be mindful about when to apply for the cards and how to earn the points as quickly as possible. If you don’t plan this correctly, there is a possibility that you cannot use your earned points to redeem the needed flights and accommodations in time.

         To show you the planning that is needed in order to get all the points for your honeymoon, I am going to use a simplified version of what I did for Cedric and Cecilia in terms of when to apply for certain credit cards based on the timeframe of their wedding expenses.

         During their wedding planning process, Cedric and Cecilia needed to pay upfront or deposit on certain items including booking a DJ, photographer, wedding venue, catering, etc. Below are 4 common wedding expenses I’ve chosen to help illustrate their influence on timed expenses.

         Starting on the third column from the left, “Months till” indicates how early on average a couple should have the item arranged, as recommended by theknot.com. The fourth column, “Pay upfront?,” indicates if the item needs to be paid immediately upon attainment. Please note this is just an example of how most people organize their expenses, including Cedric and Cecilia. Be sure to plan accordingly if your own organizational tool differs. The last column, “C&C,” indicates how much Cedric and Cecilia spent on the deposit or upfront payment, depending on the item. For example, $1,127 for the bridal dress indicates the total cost for the dress, whereas $598 for the flowers indicates only 50% of the overall cost ($1,196), as we are currently more concerned with using upfront payments to achieve credit card sign on bonuses as quickly as possible.

         Knowing the expense information is crucial because we can extract them to match with the credit card applications as indicated above. Based on the 4 items listed in the spending table, I will go through them one by one below based on when the upfront expense occurs:

         12 months till wedding – Venue/Catering (Cedric and Cecilia: $9,706 deposit)

         In Cedric and Cecilia’s example, the first item that needed to be taken care of was the wedding venue and catering, as its booking had to be done the earliest based on our timeline. Cedric and Cecilia had to put down $9,706 as deposit. Before putting down that money, they applied for 3 cards total - one each with Chase United Explorer that earned 60,000 miles per person after spending $3,000 in 3 months, and one with Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select card, which offered 50,000 American Airlines miles after spending $3,000 in 3 months. This totaled to $9,000 of spend requirement. By splitting the deposit into 3 cards, Cedric and Cecilia earned 170,000 miles in total (instead of just one 50,000 miles bonus), which translated to 3 one-way business class flights already.

         10 months till wedding: Flowers and Photography (Cedric and Cecilia: $1,598 deposit)

         Similarly, Cedric and Cecilia both applied for the Wyndham Rewards card, which offered 45,000 points (could be used to redeem 3 nights at any of their properties) after spending $1,000 per card. However, this card did have a $69 annual fee that was not waived for the first year. Yet, they decided to get one each because 6 nights of 5-star hotel room was worth much more than $138 (= $69 x 2). Cedric and Cecilia used one card to deposit $1,000 for the photographer, and earned the bonus right away. As for the other card, they put down $598, leaving $402 left before earning the bonus. They fulfilled the rest of the requirement with another wedding expense (invitation cards) and, in total, received 6 hotel nights for their honeymoon with these 2 cards. The card also offered 2 points per dollar spent, which gave them even more points on top of the sign on bonus.

         8 months till wedding: Bridal Dress (Cedric and Cecilia: $1,127 total)

         Lastly, instead of using one of the credit cards they applied to from previous spending, Cedric and Cecilia got another hotel credit card - the Chase Hyatt credit card. That was because Chase Hyatt offered 2 nights at one of their properties after spending $1,000 on the card. Since the bridal dress cost $1,127, Cedric and Cecilia were able to use the Chase Hyatt card to pay for it and unlock the 2 hotel nights at one of the Hyatt hotels for free.

         As you can see, large expenses used for the wedding can help you build towards a luxurious honeymoon. From the mini example above, you can appreciate the beauty of matching your expenses to your credit card applications in exchange for an unimaginably affordable vacation.

         What if my fiancé and I want to delay the honeymoon to a later time?

         In this case, you can have a more relaxed timeline to apply for the credit cards for big airline or hotel bonuses. Again, this is because points and miles that are earned via credit cards take time to be posted to your account. With your decision to delay your honeymoon, you can ensure all your miles and points from credit card sign-ups will be ready when you want to book your honeymoon.