Weddings expenses in Singapore are a significant chunk out of your pocket, and with the right strategy, you can turn those expenses into a treasure trove of miles. We have three simple tips to help you do just that (and trust us, it’s more fun than it sounds).

1. Pay with Credit Cards Whenever Possible

Many wedding vendors (think photo/videographers, flowers, bridal gowns) prefer payments via PayNow, but it never hurts to ask if they accept credit cards. Some vendors might agree to credit card payments but charge a fee of around 3%.

Whether the extra fee is worth it depends on how much you value your miles. We will explain how we value a mile in subsequent posts, so keep reading and don’t worry, it’s not rocket science!

2. Opt for a Flexible Payment Plan

Don’t be afraid to ask your vendors (especially bigger ticket items like the hotel/restaurant) if they can offer a flexible payment plan. Instead of paying a lump sum 20% deposit at the beginning and the remaining 80% at the end, ask if you can pay it down bit by bit monthly.

This is crucial as most credit cards have limits to the number of miles you can earn per month. For example, the UOB Lady’s Card only allows you to earn 4 miles per dollar (4 mpd) on the first S$1k spend per month. You can find out more about the UOB Lady’s card here.

3. Know Your MCC Codes

It’s crucial to understand which MCC (Merchant Category Code) the vendor falls under, so that you can pay using an eligible credit card to earn miles. Common MCC categories include travel, restaurant, retail, and services. Here’s how you can find out the MCC code of a merchant.

Alternatively, you can always check in directly with the vendors and their finance teams should be able to assist. In our case, payment for our hotel banquet was under MCC 7011 Lodging – Hotels, Motels, Resorts, Central Reservation Services (not elsewhere classified) and other similar services. This means we had to select ‘Travel’ as the category for the UOB Lady’s card to be eligible for bonus miles.

Our Credit Card Strategy

In our case, we knew we would be spending tens of thousands on our wedding (S$54k on hotel banquet alone). Hence, we strategically built our credit card portfolio to maximise miles earned on every payment. To do this, we implemented a two-pronged approach.

1. Apply for specialised spending cards that offer 4 mpd earn rate. Below are some of the cards we used to pay for our wedding expenses.

Card	Monthly Cap	Payment Mode(s)*
UOB Lady’s	S$1,000 spend / 4,000 miles	Online or contactless payments (with travel selected as the category). We were lucky to have taken full advantage of their 6mpd promotion which ended in Mar 2024!
UOB Preferred Platinum Visa	S$1,110 spend / 4,440 miles	Mobile contactless or online payments
UOB Visa Signature	S$2,000 spend / 8,000 miles	Contactless payments
DBS Women’s World Mastercard	S$1,500 spend / 6,000 miles	Online payments

2. Take advantage of periodic credit card sign-up offers. We signed up for the following cards and met the minimum spend and annual fee payment requirements to earn a huge chunk of miles. The annual fee may seem like a steep price to pay but we have actually received over S$10k in value from the AMEX Platinum Charge card – will leave this to a separate post!

Card	Sign-up Bonus Miles	Requirements
AMEX Platinum Charge (his)	87,500	Spend S$6k within 60 days of approval and pay S$1728 annual fee.
AMEX KrisFlyer Ascend	15,800 (+S$150 eCapitaVouchers)	Spend S$1k within 30 days of approval and pay S$343.34 annual fee.
AMEX Platinum Charge (hers)	87,500 (+Samsonite luggage)	Spend S$6k within 60 days of approval and pay S$1744 annual fee.

This two-pronged approach allowed us to accumulate almost 400,000 miles just by paying off our wedding banquet (S$54k) alone, which equates to an enviable rate of over 7 miles per dollar! For context, we redeemed a pair of return business class flights (4x flights) for a total of 317,000 points for our honeymoon to New Zealand, with plenty of change left!

Date	Cumulative Amount Paid	Cumulative Miles Earned
Mar 2023	S$1,000	0
Apr 2023	S$8,000	20,880
Jul 2023	S$10,000	32,880
Aug 2023	S$12,000	44,880
Sep 2023	S$14,000	56,880
Oct 2023	S$16,000	68,880
Nov 2023	S$18,000	80,880
Dec 2023	S$26,000	180,380
Jan 2024	S$29,000	209,380
Feb 2024	S$31,000	221,380
Mar 2024	S$36,200	320,880
Apr 2024	S$41,700	342,880
May 2024	S$50,700	378,880
Jun 2024	S$54,000	392,080

By following these tips, you can score yourself a free honeymoon trip by paying for your wedding. If that doesn’t get you excited, I’m not sure what else will (apart from the actual wedding day of course). Stay tuned for more insights and strategies on how to make the most out of every dollar spent. Happy mile earning!

Keep the Change

Tine & Hao