Post # 1
Member
3170 posts
Sugar bee
Can anyone think of reasons not to do this, other than the obvious one of the wedding being unexpectedly cancelled (which will not happen unless one of us dies or is permanently disabled, in which case we will have far bigger problems than a lost vendor payment)? I want to do this for reasons of honeymoon planning — we’re putting certain vendors’ fees on our CC to get points for flights and hotels, and I want to get the points as soon as possible so we can get down to the business of booking our trip. It’s a long, complicated story on how we are planning to maximize CC rewards for our trip, but suffice to say we have to spend a lot more on our CCs than our day-to-day expenses, and paying wedding vendors is a good way for us to do that. (I’m sure someone will point out that one should not finance one’s wedding with debt, which I agree with, so let me just say that money is not an issue and there is more than enough cash on hand to pay the CC bill immediately.)
My mom’s opinion is that if we pay in advance, the vendor has no incentive to do the job well, but the vendor in question is well known for their professionalism and the quality of their finished work, so I would think they wouldn’t want to compromise their reputation out of laziness. Can anyone weigh in?
Post # 2
Member
1252 posts
Bumble bee
FantasticFawn: The incentive the vendor has for doing a good job is that you’re a paying/paid customer. All vendors know that word of mouth is the best way to get more business so I think that argument is invalid.
I like your idea. Put it on the CC, then pay it off right away. You get the good credit, you get the points and it also makes the planning a little easier.
So far we’ve paid for everything up front. We don’t do the deposit thing, we just pay the whole amount so we know we’re good. There’s no questions, and when we get to the wedding we won’t have to do anything else.
Post # 3
Member
3170 posts
Sugar bee
acglandorf: Yup, I totally agree with what you’re saying. I was taken a little aback when I heard my mom’s opinion because it just didn’t seem to make sense to me. I know a lot of people who are also getting married, as do most brides, I’m sure…so vendors know their customers are a big source of potential business through word-of-mouth recommendations. They’re getting paid either way, so I’d think they would not want to mess up my wedding and have me tell all my friends how bad they are!
Post # 4
Member
6532 posts
Bee Keeper
Pay with a CreditCard and tell your mom that the vendor’s incentive to d a good job (apart from, you know, basic professionalism) would be that you can always call the card company to dispute the charge if they don’t.
Post # 5
Member
1103 posts
Bumble bee
FantasticFawn: Your idea sounds great, I would totally be doing the same thing if my credit cards had decent rewards programs.
I will say one thing, we’ve had vendors tell us that if we pay in cash, we don’t pay tax. This is a big deal for something like our photographer, we are saving $335 by doing this. Is that an option for you? If it is, and you have subtantial tax on some of your vendor contracts, I don’t know if the CC rewards would equal the amount of tax your paying? Just a thought.
Post # 6
Member
3170 posts
Sugar bee
tjacob2014: We’ll have to pay tax regardless of the form of payment we use, it is included in our estimate.
Post # 7
Member
3170 posts
Sugar bee
Horseradish: Good point and another advantage of paying with CC.
Post # 8
Member
1103 posts
Bumble bee
FantasticFawn: It was included on our contracts too, we just simply had to ask what kind of discounts/flexibility there was if we paid cash, so it wasn’t offered to us right away by our vendors. Just FYI 🙂 I think we are saving a total of $1500 this way so far, but we still have some vendors left to book.
Post # 9
Member
2957 posts
Sugar bee
This is an interesting question to me because all of my vendors (other than the caterer) required that I pay in full by some date before the event.
Post # 10
Member
6532 posts
Bee Keeper
tjacob2014: offering to drop the tax from your bill is illegal in most places.
Post # 11
Member
3170 posts
Sugar bee
tjacob2014: Yup, I see what you’re saying, but we won’t go that route. The vendor should be reporting the cash payment as income and paying taxes on it, which I’m sure many of them do, but I’m equally sure some don’t report it. A discount for paying cash can be totally fine and above board (e.g., if a vendor saved a couple percentage points off of the final bill for not having to process a CC transaction and passed the discount on to the customer), but if a vendor framed it as “you don’t have to pay taxes if you pay in cash,” I would not be comfortable with that.
SLOBee: Same with ours. The final installment is due about a week before the wedding. I’m not sure if my mom thinks they will fail to be professional or responsive for the seven months between now and the final installment due date if we pay in advance, or what. I love her to death, but sometimes I think she is actively looking for things to worry about and this is one example. 🙂
Post # 12
Member
2957 posts
Sugar bee
FantasticFawn: Oh, haha I thought “Why did I have to pay everyone in advance?” I guess it is normal. Feel free to let your mom know that my vendors did a wonderful job:)
Post # 13
Member
7934 posts
Bumble Beekeeper
as long as you are putting on credit card, i see no reason not to pay advance. if anything happens, they don’t show up, something goes wrong, you have more legal recourse if on credit card.
i hired a well respected photobooth for my wedding, was in great communication until the week before my wedding. no return call or email when trying to confirm. he was a no show at the wedding. thankfully, everything i paid was on credit card. i was able to dispute and got my money back.
Post # 14
Member
3170 posts
Sugar bee
ajillity81: Yikes! This is good to know. The vendor in question is my florist/decor company, so they BETTER show up, haha.
Post # 15
Member
1103 posts
Bumble bee
Horseradish: I believe as long as they are self-reporting, which is their responsibility, it’s all kosher. I don’t think it’s odd for a vendor to say “we will charge you $3800 inclusive of tax, etc if you pay in cash, but if you pay in credit its $3800 plus tax”. Getting payments in cash avoids credit card fees, etc. Regardless, it’s not my responsibility to force a vendor to do their taxes properly, and I will be offering to pay cash if it’s cheaper for me.
Plus, I’ve had other vendors request cash as only method of payment, with no separate line item for tax on my invoice. No other option. I’m not going to ask to see their tax return. They are well respected vendors in the industry.