Is it stupid to pay in full, rather than deposits?

[Yissi]

I'm getting married in a couple of months and I have 18 different suppliers in total, so a lot of payments to take care of. I've got them all confirmed in the past couple of days and am now booking them officially, they are all asking for deposits, but they all have different dates in which they'd want the balance and it just seems a lot to keep on top of, I just want to pay everybody in full? I've got cash there. Is there any reason this may not be sensible?

I would only pay via credit card.

You could use the cash to pay off the card. If it's over £100 you are protected on credit card.

Also make sure your wedding insurance is water tight.

I had a spreadsheet (I'm that kind of person ) that helped me keep track as we also had a lot of different suppliers. Then set reminders in my phone of who o needed to pay and when.

This was my plan but most have only accepted bank transfer. I spoke to my wedding planner who said this was fairly common, as I hadn't expected it. It's frustrating as I would rather do it that way!

If it's just keeping on top of things you're worried about, they'll be in touch to remind you nearer the time. We opened a Monzo account for our wedding had created different pots for different suppliers and just kept the money in there until it needed paid

The money is better in your pocket than theirs. If, for any reason, you or they cancel it could be really difficult to get some of the money back from them whereas if you've not paid in full, you'll only be losing the deposit. I've heard so many suppliers that just disappear or circumstances change so wouldn't take the risk. Like you, I had the money there so set it aside in a separate account so it was ready to be paid at the right time. I made a spreadsheet with all the payments made/due and dates. So many payments are due in the last two months you'll not have a chance to forget. Suppliers will all be in touch to remind you as well.

If you have a wedding planner is part of their role to monitor finances. I assume the risk is that you may lose all your money rather than just deposits if something changes

Do you have wedding insurance?

When we got married I just paid deposits and put reminders in my phone calendar the day before payments were due. It's not really that complicated and leaves you with less risk, should any suppliers go bust

You would be very foolish to pay everything because if the wedding is cancelled or delayed for any reason you have lost control of all that money and then have to fight to get it back.

Similarly if one of the suppliers goes bust you have a problem.

Pay the deposits only. The system exists for a mutually beneficial reason.

@Whatelsecouldibecalled @MsSquiz Wedding insurance is almost impossible to get at the moment due to covid. There are two providers offering it and the coverage isn't brilliant. I've still got it but it does seem a bit pointless. So yes OP, it would be silly to pay in full. Although most of our suppliers are asking for final payment 6/8 weeks ahead so you can't be far off that anyway?

I didn’t because Covid hit just after we’d booked our wedding. It felt safer to have the money with us and so in case of cancellations we weren’t having to worry about getting refunds. Even though there’s not likely to be another lockdown, there are other reasons why weddings can be cancelled.

We had a tab in our wedding budget spreadsheet to keep track of what we had already paid (with date and method of payment, so it would be easy to check) and what we were due to pay so there was one place we could check for all suppliers, rathe than needing to search through emails.

I just got married so have some recent experience, and I think it's better not to risk it, tempting as it is. I understand the temptation as there's so much to organise and it feels simpler, but I'd really urge you not to.

Our band disappeared on us - just went completely AWOL, stopped responding to all emails and calls a couple of months before the wedding.

We were lucky we only lost a deposit of a few hundred rather than the whole amount. We're trying to get it back but really glad it's not more (and we also have insurance which seemed great but they have small print meaning that they don't have to help with this particular situation).

I really advise paying as little as possible for as long as possible, especially at the moment, things can still be a little unpredictable.

Just keep a spreadsheet of your payments/ get your wedding planner to do it if you have one. The suppliers will all let you know when payments are due anyway.