For the cable-bridge coupling model, the dynamic tension of cables is an important parameter to study the vibration characteristics of the model. Based on this concept, two calculation methods about dynamic tension of cables were introduced in great detail, and the influences of these two calculation methods on the vibration characteristics of cable-bridge coupling model were systematically investigated. Firstly, the vibration equation of the cable was derived based on the variational principle for Hamiltonian, and the vibration equation of the bridge deck was obtained by Newton’s law. Then, the vibration equation of the cable and bridge deck was transformed into ordinary differential vibration equation by the Galerkin method. In addition, the differences of the coefficients in the ordinary differential vibration equation obtained by these two calculation methods about dynamic tension were compared, and a parameter analysis was listed. Finally, the resonance mode of the cable-bridge coupling model was analyzed by a multiple scales method, and an example analysis was listed. The results of parameter analysis show that there are obvious differences in the linear coefficient and nonlinear coefficient of the ordinary differential vibration equation obtained by these two calculation methods. The results of example analysis show that, for the cable-bridge coupling model with 1 : 1 resonance, the amplitude of the model would not be different because of the two calculation methods about dynamic tension, but the amplitude of the cable would be affected by the calculation method significantly. It can be found that the research conclusions here can be helpful to the perfection of theoretical modeling and has certain guiding value for practical engineering.