# Where can we borrow €5k  for our wedding while both of us are unemployed?



## BeachBride

Well I guess the best way to fund a wedding is actually to save for it but my partner and I are both unemployed at the moment and I honestly don't think we will be able to save. It seems as soon as we get a bit of money together _some_thing happens to rip a chunk out of our savings.

So I seriously think the best way to finance our wedding is to borrow. We will need to borrow €4 - €5k and the idea is to pay that back over 5 years. But, with both of us out of work the chances are probably extremely slim that we will be able to borrow. 

Does anybody have any experience of borrowing for a wedding, especially a similiar amount, while unemployed? Is it possible at all or will we get nothing but doors closed in our faces? If it is possible which avenue do you think would be likely to be the most suitable; credit union loan, personal loan, or even credit card? (Credit card seems a bit 'out there' but I have heard it suggested on money saving websites.)

Bottom line; we are looking for a €5k loan, repayable over 5 years and (of course) with the lowest rate of interest possible. It might not matter a jot that it's for a wedding but I thought maybe it would because it's very much a one-off 'purchase'. I'd appreciate people's thoughts and suggestions, even if your thoughts are 'you're crazy'!


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## emeralds

What income do you have?


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## BeachBride

The household income is €17,784 pa because we are not getting any help with the rent. If we _were_, the annual household income would be €21,364.


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## TommyB

I think it is utter madness to want to spend that much money when you are unemployed. It is a luxury you cannot afford and paying interest on a debt will further reduce your future income. 

You can get married without a wedding or you can wait till your situation improves. You need to get out of a debt seeking mindset.



> (Credit card seems a bit 'out there' but I have heard it suggested on money saving websites.)


PS. I'd stop reading money saving sites that have suggestions like that.


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## wbbs

Bad idea to borrow especially if unemployed but if you are determined to do so then a credit union is your only hope.  You will find it impossible to get a bank loan or credit card without an income other than social welfare.  The credit union might, just might, look at it more sympathetically (madness in my opinion but I don't make the rules!).  You would need to build up a savings record with them first.


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## BeachBride

For something so important we don't mind paying €25 a week, even if it is for 5 years.


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## Berni

BeachBride said:


> For something so important we don't mind paying €25 a week, even if it is for 5 years.



If you're not able to find the money now to save, where is it going to come from to pay back the loan?


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## vandriver

What is the breakdown of your costs to arrive at 5k?(Because I know my wedding didn't cost anywhere near that amount)


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## mercman

Without casting any aspersions on your wedding plans, and I do agree that all women would love to have an all singing, all dancing wedding with strings and bows etc. But the important question is quite simple -- are the two of you happy ? If so, a small ceremony should suffice -- get married and enjoy the rest of your life. Personal happiness is the order of the day !! If you want to fill family and friends with drink, let them treat you.


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## Slim

BeachBride said:


> ...So I seriously think the best way to finance our wedding is to borrow. We will need to borrow €4 - €5k and the idea is to pay that back over 5 years. But, with both of us out of work the chances are probably extremely slim that we will be able to borrow.


 
Have you considered that your guests may gift you up to €100 each? If you invite 100 adults, you may expect €5k-10k in gifts etc. This is not, of course, a reliable calculation but someting to think about.


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## BeachBride

Berni said:


> If you're not able to find the money now to save, where is it going to come from to pay back the loan?



We find the money to pay bills, but everytime we get spare money something happens to demolish an extra money.



vandriver said:


> What is the breakdown of your costs to arrive at 5k?(Because I know my wedding didn't cost anywhere near that amount)



2 weeks in the Carribean plus clotehs and rings fdor us both and then a minister and licence fee.



mercman said:


> Without casting any aspersions on your wedding plans, and I do agree that all women would love to have an all singing, all dancing wedding with strings and bows etc. But the important question is quite simple -- are the two of you happy ? If so, a small ceremony should suffice -- get married and enjoy the rest of your life. Personal happiness is the order of the day !! If you want to fill family and friends with drink, let them treat you.



Really don't want to get married over here for loads of reasons!



Slim said:


> Have you considered that your guests may gift you up to €100 each? If you invite 100 adults, you may expect €5k-10k in gifts etc. This is not, of course, a reliable calculation but someting to think about.



There won't be any guests.

Thank you everyone for your replies. I'm not being short, I'm rushing out the door right now to a doctor's appointment for my baby. All comments welcome!


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## Billo

BeachBride said:


> 2 weeks in the Carribean !



I thought you said that you were both unemployed.

We were both employed and did not get anywhere near the Caribbean, but I suppose that we had a mortgage and bills to pay back.


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## dereko1969

So you're basically looking for advice on how to fund a 2 week holiday in the Caribbean? 
Do you really think that's advisable? Would you not rather have that money available for spending on your child?


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## Curlysue76

I think you'd be mad to get a loan to fund a 2 week holiday to the Caribbean. Do a small registry wedding here and go on a small trip with your child. €25 a week may not sound like a lot to be paying back each week but i really think you'd be better saving it for your child and your future. 

Children get more expensive as they get older, i don't know how old your child is, but i can guarantee that €25 every week will come in handy for school stuff, pocket money, phone credit and all the rest that goes with having the little treasures.


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## Ezdezat

Please don't take this personal, because its not intended to be, but going to the Caribbean while on social welfare sounds like a crazy idea. 

Myself & my gf can't afford to get married, and we're both in what would be considered to be good jobs. 

The fact I'm also indirectly paying towards the countries massive social welfare costs, through the extortionate amount of taxes I pay, also springs to mind here. 

Do you really need a piece of paper or a ring to be happy?


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## vandriver

You can get married in the registry office for €200!


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## BeachBride

I don't remember asking for opinions regarding our intentions! Just advice on borrowing €5k while unemployed. Thank you to the one person who suggested Credit Union.


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## Eeyore

BeachBride said:


> I don't remember asking for opinions regarding our intentions!



But you did say this...


BeachBride said:


> I'd appreciate people's thoughts and suggestions, even if your thoughts are 'you're crazy'!


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## Woodie

I know it's your life and hopefully this partnership is for life, but it would be crazy in my opinion with a household income of 17K to blow 5 grand on a 2 week event at this point in your life.   If you want and need to get married then suggest a low key affair closer to home (great value nama hotels too) with a resolve do the Caribbean thing when you get back on your feet properly.  It's not about being mean or mean spirited, it's common sense your already hard life will be made no better.   As for borrowing under these experiences your gut feeling should tell you the answer, very, very hard and there is no such thing as cheap credit anymore.


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## BeachBride

Eeyore said:


> But you did say this...



Can't argue with that I guess! Still, I didn't expect such vehement opinions.


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## emeralds

Do you have a credit union account and a record of regular savings? If not then I don't think you would be offered a loan.


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## 44brendan

In fairness your'e entitled to your dreams and it sounds very romantic. Realistically, apart from family and friends, I can't see any institute lending you this money. passing around the hat or sponsorship might be an option. Don'y let the absence of funds spoil the occasion


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## Mrmr

Would you consider a registry office here, then 5 nights in an Irish hotel?
The whole thing would cost you less than 1,000.
You might want to consider scaling back your wants, and you will enjoy yourself immensely if you can get in the right frame of mind.


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## BeachBride

Lol, I know how 'fortnight in the Caribbean' sounds but getting married over here in Ireland would be a bigger hurdle than getting €5k together. I'd be fine with scaling back the amount of days we go for but himself isn't into spending over a grand on a 20+ hour flight and not spending a bit of time before flying home. 

I don't have a Credit Union account but my OH does. We use his then instead of having one each. Our last loan was for €1,500 which we got for baby expenses before our little one was born. That's almost paid back now so we'll talk to them about the possibility of a 5k, 5 year loan . We do have a good record of saving and of repaying. We won't be wanting the money til next year.


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## Billo

BeachBride,

I do'nt think you (or himself) will listen to any opinions , vehement or otherwise.

You have made your mind up already.


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## BeachBride

Well now to be fair you've offered advice on a question that I didn't ask. I asked what would be the best option to borrow €5k over 5 years, not what is your opinion of our wedding plans.

If I were asking for advice on which part of Paris would be most suitable for me to move to as I've been offered a job in the French capital and you advised me to move to Gemany instead it would be unreasonable to expect me to follow that advice.


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## Curlysue76

I guess people, myself included, think that you'd be making a mistake spending so much on a 2 week holiday when it would take you 5 yrs to pay it back. 

The credit union prob would be your best bet of a loan. Just keep paying off what you owe and then save as much as you can on a weekly basis to show them that you can afford to repay the loan. 

Best of luck with the loan if you decide to go that way and have the best wedding and holiday ever. Make lots of lovely memories to keep you going for the yrs you'll be paying it off.


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## TommyB

One important thing to factor in is your future income. If you remain on welfare I think you should budget for having 10% less income in about two years time. That will kill any chance you have of paying back your loan. Of course I can expect you'd be giving out blue murder about how you can't afford to feed yourself due to these cuts and your debs. Too many people had that approach. You have to consider the future always and budget for risk.


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## SarahMc

Another one who thinks if you are living cheek to jowl, its crazy to take on a loan of that size for a holiday.

If you are determined to be a 'BeachBride' you could consider cheaper options in Europe, Spain, Greece etc?
Your original question has been answered, bar friends or family, your only option is Credit Union, and even that is a slim chance.


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## PaddyBloggit

Bottom line is that you can't afford such an expensive outlay based on your income.

Scale back your plans, save in the CU in the meantime and then look to borrow a smaller and more manageable amout.


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## Jim2007

BeachBride said:


> Well now to be fair you've offered advice on a question that I didn't ask. I asked what would be the best option to borrow €5k over 5 years, not what is your opinion of our wedding plans.
> 
> If I were asking for advice on which part of Paris would be most suitable for me to move to as I've been offered a job in the French capital and you advised me to move to Gemany instead it would be unreasonable to expect me to follow that advice.



Actually a far better analogy would be that you're standing there with an empty shotgun asking our advice on where to buy cheap cartridges!  So you should not be at all surprised if people try to disarm you.

If this recession continues, then it is likely that your income will go down not up and that it will happen just around the time you'll be needing to make additional outlays for something such as you kids schooling for instance...or some other such emergency.


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## extopia

Ezdezat said:


> Myself & my gf can't afford to get married, and we're both in what would be considered to be good jobs.
> 
> The fact I'm also indirectly paying towards the countries massive social welfare costs, through the extortionate amount of taxes I pay, also springs to mind here.



You can surely afford to get married. It doesn't cost much. (Wedding parties are of course a different affair).

Your second point is irrelevant. Everyone pays taxes.


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## Bronte

mercman said:


> , and I do agree that *all* women would love to have an all singing, all dancing wedding with strings and bows etc.


 
Can't let this pass. It's not true.


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## Bronte

BeachBride said:


> Can't argue with that I guess! Still, I didn't expect such vehement opinions.


 
Maybe just maybe, on a money website, that tries to inform people on their best finanical options, maybe, you ought to actually hear and head the advice of people who have been there done that and seen people in your predicament over the years.  

Why can't you get married in a low key registry office?


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## Bronte

Ezdezat said:


> Myself & my gf can't afford to get married, and we're both in what would be considered to be good jobs.


 
Nonsense.


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## Luternau

BeachBride said:


> Well I guess the best way to fund a wedding is actually to save for it but my partner and I are both unemployed at the moment and I honestly don't think we will be able to save.
> So I seriously think the best way to finance our wedding is to borrow.
> !



When I read this the other evening I guessed it would get lots of comment. 

You answered your own dilemma in the first line-the best way is to save and if you cant save for it, its a non runner. You also mentioned in a later post that you have a young child - which makes it even more unlikely that you will get a loan from a bank, or even a credit union or could afford to pay one back. (thats how the bank will view it) 

You dont need to borrow this amount of money-you want to. 
You dont need to go to the Carribeen to get married-you want to. 

Is there any chance of either of you returning to work soon that would assist your circumstances? If not, you need to think again about your plans. However, let the banks be the final arbitrar on this-submit your application and let them decide the merits of advancing you the money you need for this.


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## delgirl

mercman said:


> ... and I do agree that *all* women would love to have an all singing, all dancing wedding with strings and bows etc.


 


Bronte said:


> Can't let this pass. It's not true.


Would have to agree with Bronte on this one - we got married in a registry office and had only close family for a meal afterwards. The money we didn't use on the wedding was used as a deposit on our first house, which over the years has allowed us to become mortgage-free homeowners.

A friend of mine, whose husband and herself were on modest salaries, arranged a wedding abroad during the boom. They got married in Oz, flew 14 immediate family members to Oz and paid for hotel accommodation, meals, entertainment, etc.. Then because the rest of the 'clan' in Ireland had to be entertained as well, they held a blessing in Dublin and invited over 200 guests to the service and reception with dinner and dancing etc.

The 'do' cost them a small fortune, which they are still paying off *7 years later*! They now have two children, live in local authority housing and the two extravagant weddings are all forgotten, save the monthly payments for the debt, which she now admits reminds her how very foolish she was. She would give anything to turn the clock back so she could have been able to have money for her children now.

Each to their own, but I'd be very reluctant to take on debt while unemployed to fund a wedding. Maybe OP could postpone until the employment situation improves?


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## wbbs

Agree with above, had 4 people at my wedding, 5 for meal, invited priest out of politeness and he came!  Wasn't expecting that!


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## Billo

25% over budget. Shocking.


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## wbbs

It was more the trying to make conversation problem than the extra cost


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## Janet

BeachBride said:


> It seems as soon as we get a bit of money together _some_thing happens to rip a chunk out of our savings.



Situation one: you save for your wedding, emergency happens and you need to  use part of your wedding savings to cover emergency so wedding postponed (again).  But, emergency dealt with and life goes on.

Situation two: you take out loan for wedding, emergency happens - how do you pay for emergency?  Can't save much because spare income is already spoken for in repaying the loan so you don't have an emergency fund (which, if you read money saving type website, you will know it is essential to have).  Maybe you have to borrow money to deal with emergency, where from?  Anyway, say you do manage to borrow it from somewhere.  So, emergency dealt with and life goes on with you now having two separate amounts to pay back each month.  And what happens the next time an emergency comes up?

I know you decided that you were just asking for advice on where to borrow money while unemployed but you really need to try to get out of this mindset.  I was stuck in it for many years, and have ended up taking even longer to get out of debt than I should have because of it.  It's also amazing how I would use credit to pay for some emergency and realise a year or two later that it really wasn't an emergency after all - your priorities do change when you accept your true financial situation.  I'd suggest opening another credit union account and starting to save for your wedding there.  Make it off limits for really anything but dire emergencies and see how far along you get.  At the same time, even though it will take you longer to achieve your goals, save the same amount in your existing CU account to have as your emergency fund.  Or save 1,000 for emergency fund, then start saving for wedding, for example.

By the way, you've said a couple of times that getting married in Ireland would be too much hassle (or something like that).  You should start another thread on why that is - I bet you people here would be able to come up with lots of creative solutions.  Like, if it's because of family, just go and get married in the registry office and then get some photos done with a Carribean background - still lots cheaper than going there.   I suggest that only because I have a friend who did go to Jamaica to get married (to avoid the costs of a huge family wedding as well as avoiding the necessity of inviting hundreds of relatives she had no interest in seeing) and most of her photos, gorgeous though they were, were so idyllic that they really did look fake at first glance.


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## Brendan Burgess

> get some photos done with a Carribean background - still lots cheaper than going there.


I saw that suggestion in the handy hints column of Viz. magazine once.  Where can you get this photography service in Dublin?

You could probably go on a round the world (photographic) tour.


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## flattea2

On a 5k loan over 5 years you will pay back approximately 6660 over the course of the 5 years at approx 111 a month.

If you save 111 a month you will have 5k saved in 45 months ie less than 4 years. You will also have avoided the interest cost (1.6k) plus access to funds for a rainy day.

Make an effort to bump that 111 to 200 a month and you will have the wedding paid for in just over 2 years. Or just bump up a little to 150 would give you 5k in 33 months.

Wedding and Financial decisions are separate processes involving different emotions. You make decide the emotional benefits of getting married now and taking this loan are worth it rather than wait.

The financials say wait, the emotions may say get married now. Only you can decide which is more important.

Edit:
Just read the op again, I'm curious when you say this though:
" I honestly don't think we will be able to save."

So what makes you think you can pay the loan back then? I'm not picking at you, but if you say you can't save it what makes you think you can repay borrowing it considering borrowing will be a bigger monthly outlay than saving?


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## Leo

flattea2 said:


> So what makes you think you can pay the loan back then?



I think that's the key issue here. If you can't afford the repayments, will the marriage survive the pressure of ever increasing debts? Will you be back in a few years seeking advice on how to get a divorce on the cheap?


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## BeachBride

I didn't want to give away too much personal info in case it made us identifiable but at this stage, feck it. The idea was to visit some of his family while we were there. He's originally from Martinique and he doesn't exactly get back very often. We'd like our child to meet some more of that side of the family.


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## Brendan Burgess

So you are asking a Credit Union to lend €5,000 to 


 two unemployed people
who have no savings
who are unable to save
one of whom is not from this country
to go on a holiday to the Caribbean
to get married while they are there?


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## Ezdezat

Bronte said:


> Nonsense.



Ok we can afford to get married. Let me rephrase - we have other things more pressing to pay for than a 5k holiday in the Caribbean, or a wedding party. The OP asked for opinions and mine is if she is unemployed and with no other income, she can't afford it. That was the point.


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## Ezdezat

extopia said:


> You can surely afford to get married. It doesn't cost much. (Wedding parties are of course a different affair).
> 
> Your second point is irrelevant. Everyone pays taxes.



On the first point see my last post.

On the second, not entirely. Everyone pays taxes, a huge chunk of which funds a social welfare system, which is there to allow people an income with which to live, pay for necessities, etc. Again my point is that I think the OP should use her income for more practical uses. 

Apologies to Beachbride if my original post wasn't clear. It wasn't meant as a personal attack, I just think that borrowing 5k over 5 years in her position isn't a good idea. She did ask for opinions....


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## TommyB

Only in Ireland could two unemployed persons be seriously considering a €5k holiday to the other side of the world.


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## Boyd

This thread is a joke. There is zero hope of any institution lending you 5k in these circumstances.


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## MrEarl

TommyB said:


> Only in Ireland could two unemployed persons be seriously considering a €5k holiday to the other side of the world.



I agree.

Infact, I'd go a step further and suggest people would be more willing to assist with helping to raise the €5k, if the funds were being used to help the couple relocate to a new country to start again ... try and find work etc.

Regards

Mr. Earl.


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## browtal

*Loan for Wedding*

I recall that in 1990 when Ireland played in Italy in the World Cup and a great number of Irish Fans travelled to see the matches. 

It was funny to see so many return home before the final round because they had to return to work, while the unemployed stayed on to see the matches.

I wonder who suffered. I hate to think as a tax payer that I am supporting these people with little common sense.
I have worked without break all my life and now am seeing the Government stealing from my Pension Pot and cutting back on the services that I should have available to me.
Browtal


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## Gerry Canning

BeachBride; 

I wish you both well , BUT please do not borrow for the wedding. With being unemployed the repaying of k5 for years on the wedding would hang very heavily on you both.
Ask you both this; If you cannot save today for a future wedding ,how can you figure you can repay after?


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## Dermot

I would also wish you both well but I have a question mark in my head about the maturity of your thinking.  
There is not a hope of any institution lending you 5k and it would also be for your own good. 
Adjust your expectations to what you can afford and not what you think you can afford.


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