Interested in turning your wedding flowers into free flights? Want to take your new ring to the runway for the honeymoon of your dreams? It's totally possible with miles and points.
If you’re in the wedding-planning process, chances are you’ve got some major expenses coming your way. To help offset the stress of that growing bill, consider using a travel credit card (or two) to make those expenses work for you.
In this guide, we’ll reveal the best ways to earn miles and points from your wedding expenses and how to redeem them for travel.
Why Use Credit Cards for Wedding Expenses?
According to The Knot, the average cost of a wedding in 2025 is $33,000. Some might scoff at the idea of spending that much on a wedding, but to others, this is what they’ve dreamed about for literal decades.
The truth is, if you’ve planned for a wedding of any size and aren’t strategically putting those expenses on a travel credit card, you’re missing out on thousands of dollars in value that could be used for your honeymoon (or other trips!).
And better yet, when you apply for a new card, you’ll often receive a large welcome offer in the form of bonus points after meeting a minimum spend requirement — perfect for when you have upcoming charges.
Which Credit Card Is Best for Wedding Expenses?
In general, we recommend credit cards that earn transferable points for maximum flexibility when it comes to travel redemptions.
Many of these cards also come with additional perks, including:
Hotel elite status
Global Entry, TSA PreCheck®, or NEXUS application fee credits
Other travel, lifestyle, and dining benefits
These perks will only add to the value you receive while traveling — think free food and bev before your flight, early check-in at your hotel, and easy re-entry into the country.
These are some of our favorite cards to consider:
Credit Card | Welcome Offer |
|---|---|
Earn 75,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. | |
Earn 125,000 bonus points after you spend $6,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. | |
Earn 75,000 miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within 3 months from account opening, equal to $750 in travel. | |
Earn 75,000 bonus miles after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months. | |
You may be eligible for as high as 100,000 Membership Rewards® Points after you spend $6,000 on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership. Welcome offers vary and you may not be eligible for an offer. Apply to know if you’re approved and find out your exact welcome offer amount – all with no credit score impact. | |
You may be eligible for as high as 175,000 Membership Rewards® Points after you spend $8,000 on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership. Welcome offers vary and you may not be eligible for an offer. Apply to know if you’re approved and find out your exact welcome offer amount – all with no credit score impact. If you’re approved and choose to accept the Card, your score may be impacted. |
Whether you’re paying for a venue, catering, flowers, the dress, and more, you can most likely put it on a card and earn thousands of miles and points in the process.
💡 Pro Tip: All of these credit cards unlock access to valuable airline and hotel transfer partners where your miles and points will have their greatest value.
Is Wedding Debt Ever Worth It?
This is something we need to address. If swiping a credit card for your wedding will result in you drowning in debt, it’s not worth it. Full stop.
Credit card rewards are great, but not if you're paying interest. The second you start carrying a balance, those perks lose their value fast.
Stick to your budget, spend only what you can afford to pay off in full, and treat credit cards as a tool — not a lifeline.
How To Earn Points From Your Wedding
Photo by Daily Drop
If you’re looking for a little strategy on how to maximize this opportunity, we’ve got you covered.
Step 1: Apply for a Travel Credit Card
The first step in leveraging points and miles to pay for your honeymoon is to apply for a credit card.
The Venture X is a great card to start with, thanks to perks like:
A $300 travel credit annually for bookings through Capital One Travel
10,000 miles as your anniversary bonus
Complimentary access to 1,300+ airport lounges worldwide, after enrollment
2x miles per dollar on all purchases
Although it has a $395 annual fee, the $300 travel credit can offset that tremendously.
Use this card to pay for your wedding expenses until you reach the minimum spend requirement and receive your 75,000 bonus miles!
💡 Pro Tip: In addition to the welcome offer miles, you’ll also receive miles for the actual spending on the card. If you spent $5,000, you’ll earn — at a minimum — another 10,000 miles because of the 2x miles per dollar category for all purchases.
Step 2: Refer Your Fiancé for the Same Card
Sharing is caring, especially when you're sharing expenses to earn points to cover your honeymoon. Referring your partner to get their own card and earn their own welcome offer is a strategy we like to call two-player mode. This can help accelerate the points you earn.
Once you’ve hit your minimum spend on the first card, pause your spending and have your partner apply for the Venture X using your referral link.
If they’re approved and meet the minimum spending requirement, you’ll receive a referral bonus — typically around 25,000 miles.
Continue to put additional wedding expenses on your partner’s card until the minimum spend is met. With your welcome offer and referral bonus, and their welcome offer, you’ll collectively have close to 200,000 miles!
With Capital One miles worth around 2 cents each when redeeming with airline partners, you’re looking at $4,000 in potential value!
💡 Pro Tip: You and your fiancé can combine your miles by transferring them all into one account for easier travel redemptions. Just call the number on the back of your card!
Step 3: Apply for a Second Card
Still have wedding expenses left? If so, it might be worth applying for another card to earn more bonus points from a welcome offer! Just note it’s always a good idea to wait at least 30 days before applying for your next card.
Enter: The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
This is, perhaps, the most popular travel credit card out there. It may not offer some of the more premium travel perks like the Venture X does (e.g., lounge access). Still, with an annual fee of just $95, it’s a very worthy card to have in your wallet.
Here’s why we love it:
10% anniversary points boost (earn 10% of your total spend in points) each account anniversary
$50 in statement credits each anniversary for hotel stays booked through Chase TravelSM
5x points per dollar on Chase TravelSM purchases
3x points per dollar on dining, select streaming services, and online groceries (excluding Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs)
2x points per dollar on other travel purchases
And once you meet this minimum spend, you’ll be looking at 75,000 Chase points to add to your travel stash.
Still have more to go? Rinse and repeat, my friend. Refer your fiancé and snag that second welcome offer (and all the bonus points that come with it 👀).
🙌 Don’t Miss: Learn why the Sapphire Preferred and the Venture X make the perfect credit card pair.
Redeem Your Points and Plan Your Honeymoon
This is the fun part — well, almost as fun as the actual travel itself!
With hundreds of thousands of miles and points at your disposal, it’s time to book those flights and secure your accommodations.
Start with Daily Drop Pro
If you don’t know where to start, we recommend using Daily Drop Pro to source award flights and hotel stays — all from one easy-to-use dashboard.
With a Daily Drop Pro membership, you’ll gain access to:
Unlimited flight and hotel points searches
Customizable points deal alerts
Cheap cash deal alerts
Access to the Daily Drop Pro Lounge
MUCH more
As a self-proclaimed miles and points expert, I can attest that using Daily Drop Pro has made finding award deals so much easier — who doesn’t want a tool that does all the work for you!
🙌 Don’t Miss: Read our step-by-step guide on how to use Daily Drop Pro, or if you’re more of a visual learner, check out our YouTube video that walks you through all of its features.
Bottom Line
Even if your wedding budget is on the smaller side, you can still earn enough points for a dream honeymoon. And with a larger budget, you might score an even more luxurious getaway, with flights and hotels almost entirely covered by points.
By strategically applying for a credit card (or two), using it responsibly for your wedding expenses, and redeeming those points with the help of a tool like Daily Drop Pro, you’ll be jet-setting to the destination of your dreams — with minimal out-of-pocket costs — all thanks to miles and points. 💍✈️
Even if your wedding budget is small, you can still earn enough points for a dream honeymoon. And if you have a bigger budget, you might score an even more luxurious trip with flights and hotels almost entirely covered by points.
By strategically applying for a credit card (or two), responsibly using that card for your wedding expenses, and redeeming your points for flights and hotels with the help of a tool like Daily Drop Pro, you’ll soon be jet-setting off to the destination of your dreams — with minimal out-of-pocket costs — all thanks to miles and points. 💍✈️
