Wedding Officiant

[AngelinLove]

Ahhh... i am trying to find a wedding officiant, and since neither me nor my FH attend church I guess we will haev to hire someone we don't know. The problem that I am running into is that all of the ministers and officiants that I have found that do this are like $400.00+. I had not budgeted for that much...I guess I did not realize that they would cost that much..is this the going rate or something. Do you ladies have any ideas for me that could help me find someone that is less expensive?

[usahgrad]

Check local churches even though you don't go to them. Our officiant is from the church next door to us and he's only charging $35...the rest that I found charged about $75 to $100.

[bnd94]

We are having a JP do it. I don't know how much he is going to charge us yet. I know the same JP married my friend and his wife and wouldn't take any money. But then again he is a friend of ours. He may want to charge us since we are making him go on a 3 hour hike! LOL! :D

[Jenn060306]

We're required to do a $300.00 dontation to the church for ours. My FMiL was re-married this summer by a minister outside the church and it was about $150.

[usahgrad]

I love "required donations"...what a load of :censored: that is!

Sorry, side note...

[WhiskeyGirl]

Our JP only charged us about $175 this past summer when we got married. $400 seems awfully steep to me, if I were you I would definately check around!

[rainbowtreat]

I am using a JP as well. He is a freind of my sister and her husband. I aske dmy sister what he would charge and she didn't think anything. If he doesn't then I will tip him but I can't see him cahrging much more then $75 nd that seems steep for me. Seeing he said the ceramony will last about 15 mins. And we can do what we want as long as it is in those 15 mins.

[WebLady]

We paid our minister $200. From what I have seen around here, the going rate for the 'honorarium fee' is about $150-$300. So, $400 does seem a bit steep to me, especially for what like a couple of hours max?!

I did a search online and found several wedding officates with $300-$400 fees. :bbsurprised: I would look around at some smaller churches in your area. Or check out the JOP like mentione above.

Here is some other related info I found that might be helpful ...

"Who can perform a marriage ceremony?

Usually the state laws provide any recognized member of the clergy (such as a Priest, Minister, Rabbi, Imam, Cantor, Ethical Culture Leader, etc.), or a judge, a court clerk, and justices of the peace have authority to perform a marriage. However in some states even the clergy must be first certified or licensed.

Some states have laws that permit other persons to apply for authority to perform marriage ceremonies. For example, California law permits anyone to apply for permission to become a Deputy Commissioner of Marriages -- the grant of authority is valid for one day -- and thus officiate at the wedding of family or friends on that one day.

:goodluck:

[CindySue]

Well, I lucked out because my officiant is also one of my closest friends. Hes an ordained minister and VERY unorthadox, but I love him anyway. Him and Brian hit it off too.
Ive heard about what WebLady posted and I have also read where close friends were ordained (vis internet) to preform the ceremony and I think the license is only like $40.

[LaceyinPgh]

OUr minister is also my cousin so he isn't cahrging us anything or requiring a donatino. But since he is driving 90 minutes Sean and I decided to invite him to the reception and to give him $100. But our church requires $50 for the lady to come and open it, $50 to save the date, $50 for their sound guy to come in and "supervise" even though we aren't using any of their sound equipment, and $100 for the janitor to clean up since according to the secertary I am being too picky and making them remove everything from the alter and stage. (**** straight I am being picky I don't want their stupid drum set and plastic ficcus trees in my wedding pictures.) Besides the stage has to be cleared for the musicians.

[Shawna Bride]

We're having a Judge marry us, and it is going to set us back $500.... lotsa moula huh?

[WebLady]

We're having a Judge marry us, and it is going to set us back $500.... lotsa moula huh?

:bbeek: :w00t: :o WOW, that seems like a lot, especially for 'just' a Judge. How long with this guy be there? Will the fee include anything else?

I can see why some things cost what they do but this seems a bit much to me. I thought the $200 we gave our minister was a little much. Maybe I just don't understand what all they do.

:goodluck:

[CindySue]

Do you have anyone that might could recommend a minister? Family or someone that attends church? Around here, if you want a JP to do it it costs $25 in the office, and $45 for after hours. Some are a little more, but this is the cheapest I know of. I really didnt realize that this could be so expensive!!!!

[LizabethDavis]

Wow. Maybe it's a regional thing, but it sounds like a lot of you are getting ripped off in this department. I am a Notary Public in Maine and I am only allowed to charge like $25.00. A public position like that is not suppose to charge an arm and a leg.

[CindySue]

Wow. Maybe it's a regional thing, but it sounds like a lot of you are getting ripped off in this department. I am a Notary Public in Maine and I am only allowed to charge like $25.00. A public position like that is not suppose to charge an arm and a leg.

See, here a notary cant do weddings.

[usahgrad]

(**** straight I am being picky I don't want their stupid drum set and plastic ficcus trees in my wedding pictures.)

Go LACEY! I wouldn't want a plastic ficus tree in my wedding pics either...silly secretary!

As for everyone else, a few of these prices do sound steep. I'm only paying $35, although we will be tipping him since the price is so low.

[Shawna Bride]

I'm in Canada, so maybe that makes a difference??

[WhiskeyGirl]

I'm in Canada, so maybe that makes a difference??

I don't know! I'm in Canada too and I still find that awfully steep!! I was just talking to my DH and he said he thought I was wrong and that it only cost us $125. Maybe there's a difference between Ontario and Alberta....But I wouldn't think there should be! But who knows really!

[AngelinLove]

I don't know... I am going to ask my FMIL if she has any ideas, since she actually attends church...and see how that goes. Other then that I guess I will just have to pay what I have to pay...it's kind of a wedding neccesity, huh? LOL

[Shawna Bride]

I know we are spending way too much money on this, but we are a inter-faith couple (Jewish and Christian) and this judge specialiizes in those marriages. He interviewed us for 2 hours about our relationship, why we love eachother, how we met, what's important to us, values and all that. He's creating a personalized wedding ceremony that is significant to both religions and both of us. I just really didn't want an impersonal wedding ceremony, and I wanted to incorporate both religions.

[WebLady]

I know we are spending way too much money on this, but we are a inter-faith couple (Jewish and Christian) and this judge specialiizes in those marriages. He interviewed us for 2 hours about our relationship, why we love eachother, how we met, what's important to us, values and all that. He's creating a personalized wedding ceremony that is significant to both religions and both of us. I just really didn't want an impersonal wedding ceremony, and I wanted to incorporate both religions.
Well, it sounds like your getting what you want then. Best wishes and good luck! :D :hug:

[WhiskeyGirl]

I know we are spending way too much money on this, but we are a inter-faith couple (Jewish and Christian) and this judge specialiizes in those marriages. He interviewed us for 2 hours about our relationship, why we love eachother, how we met, what's important to us, values and all that. He's creating a personalized wedding ceremony that is significant to both religions and both of us. I just really didn't want an impersonal wedding ceremony, and I wanted to incorporate both religions.

That's very important and I'm happy to hear that you are getting exactly what you want!!

Our officiant spoke German for only $125 (he doesn't even know how to speak german on a regular day! Lmao!! And not for the whole ceremony just for a few sentences!) and was willing to include anything we wanted in our ceremony! But we are both very against organized religion so ours was a very short and to point ceremony! It was al about love for us, not about God or anything else!! I was happy when we met with him, he also interviewed us but only for about an hour, being that we didn't want any religious affiliation, and it was like he knew us through our whole courtship!! He was great!! Anywho, now I'm rambling! I'll shuddup! lol

[WebLady]

I loved our minister ... there was alot about the "traditional" ceremony that I didn't want. I didn't want to have the word 'Obey' in there, and no 'Bless this union with children', no 'Thee and Thou', we did want to have our faith represented but we defiantly didn't want the ceremony to be like a sermon! Then there were some things that I did want. So DH and I (well, mostly me ;)) talked about it with him and he did everything wonderfully! It couldn't have been better! I think it helped that he was our age too.

Ok, I am done ... sorry ;)

:goodluck: everyone :D

[CarlosHoney]

My FFIL is ordained through http://www.universalministries.com/ and he performed Carlo's cousin's wedding. Did a good job, too!

If you know someone who is into that sort of thing, or would do it as a wedding gift, or just is the kind of person who would love to add that to their resume, heck, why not?!

Just make sure that they file with the state/province and follow up on any laws of the area. I know that here in TX, all FFIL had to do was file with the state. He's dong our wedding as well.

[RebeccaW]

We are doing the Justice of the Peace. And he is charging us $75 at first i thought that that was expensive but hey i guess its not that bad compared to $400 thats CRAZY:bbeek: i personally wouldnt pay over $100 espeically since its like 15 mins long. we were able to write our own ceremony as long as it said husband and wife in it:p AND the place iam having the wedding at which is like a communitty center. is $150 but if u clean up after words u get $75 of it back!!! WOO HOO:biggrin:

[martysgurl]

When we thought about getting a JP to marry us it was close to $300 for a evening Friday wedding. It was cheaper if done during the afternoon on a week day.
We are getting married in a catholic church. I've been told its $175.00. Used to be Donation only. I Have a friend who married in another religion and it cost her $500. I almost died !

[officiant-fica]

Try the yellow pages. I knoe is sounds dumb, but where better to start? Or you can do a Local Yahoo search. Also check weddingministers.com (http://weddingministers.com)

[DeliaDelicious]

I live in Michigan too, and we're looking for officiants. I don't know if you've called everyone on this list, but there are some we've seen personally who will do it for a donation only. I will look back through our list and see if I can find who it was specifically for you.

[gwenshack]

This thread is five years old. ;) Please feel free to add to more current threads. Thanks!