How did you pay your vendors?

StephyD · January 5, 2011

Hi!

I'm wondering how everyone is paying their vendors on their wedding day. Most of them ask for a deposit via PayPal and for the balance in cash or travelers' cheques to be paid on the wedding day.

I don't feel confortable traveling to Mexico with a few thousand dollars to pay our vendors. I thought about paying them before we leave on PayPal, but then I'm scared they would just take the money and not show up on our wedding day.

What did you do?

Destination Scout · January 14, 2011

Most banks have a service for automatic deposits to Mexico banks. Wells Fargo calls it Express Send. I send my banker the bank account information. Wells Fargo takes about 10 days to verify the account. I have to go into the bank for the first transaction to each of the vendors, but after that I can initiate the payment on line. It works a lot like Paypal except the fees are much lower. My bank only charges $1.50 per transaction. Paypal charges international vendors 6% so your vendors probably wouldn't like it if you paid the bulk of the money with Paypal. That being said, if you speak to your bank before you leave you can find out whether they will increase your debit card limit temporarily. My banker lets me call him right before I walk up to the ATM. He then increases my limit. I call him back and he brings it back down right away.