Is it common...

[evilcookie]

...for a church to charge around $800 for the use of the sanctuary & minister? I have two phenomenal churches that I would love to use for my wedding, and I'm not a member of either...I'm also not from this area, so I have no family connections to any churches. I thought this was a little steep. Is that price about average?

[sweetvenus]

If you're not a member, most of the churches around here cost around that much or more (some were up to $2000+).

[EarlyBird]

yes, the church around here charges 1000 even if you are a member.. crazy right

[evilcookie]

That's ridiculous. I don't understand why they need that much money. You'd think with it being a matrimonial ceremony in the eyes of God that they could be a little less greedy. :irked:

[SomethingBlue26]

Our church charges 800.00 for members and 1000.00 for non members. We even have to hire someone to play live music. no recorded music allowed.

[f77g4]

Wow - my church and officiant are costing me nothing! Although they said a donation to the church would be appreciated but not necessary. This is because she feels that this is what the church is for! I'm so glad I don't have to pay that much, otherwise I think I'd be looking elsewhere.

[Kay]

Ridiculous! God is definitely a part of our lives and our ceremony ~ but I would NOT pay this for a church! WOW We are using the Best Man's dad (who is a minister and a good family friend) to marry us at an outdoor state park ~ price for the park from 8am to 10pm is $65 and we will get the minister a $50 restaurant gift certificate. $800 or $1000 for church MEMBERS??!! No way! No wonder so many people, even those with faith, are choosing to have weddings elsewhere. Yikes!

[tha_mrs]

I am not paying anything. just making a donation to the church.

[caligal85]

The fee, depending on the church, could cover things like being open on a non-day. Some buildings take a lot to heat/cool, especially sanctuaries. They are generally only used maybe once or twice a week and a lot of them of them have separate thermostats so that the heating/cooling is turned off. Also, there's electricity plus any dues the church might have to pay their denomination for your marriage. This isn't always the case but in some instances it is.

[r_beau]

That seems just outrageous. I wouldn't do it.

Yes, I could see the point of a small fee to cover such things as electricity and staff that need to be there on that day. But pretty sure they don't get a $15,000+ bill a month for electricity (if that's why they wanna charge you $500 of that, for power).

Again, ridiculous. Marriage is supposed to be about love; not the money they can make off it.

[Kay]

I just want to say ~ I understand a small fee ~ but even our local hotel only charges $145 for use of their HUGE banquet room and dance floor. A church, ripping people off for a wedding, is insane. Our Country Club will allow us to reserve the entire place for FREE even. Geez...

[janet 78]

My family's church charges almost $2000 for non-members to use their sanctuary/minister for weddings. I was shocked when my mom mentioned this to me when I first started planning. :bbeek:

[Jacklynn]

I really think it depends on location (what part of the country you are from) and also the size of the church, and lastly what people continue to pay. Some churches have a lot of people wanting to get married there (especially if it is a beautiful church) so in order to ensure that no one backs out maybe they have to have a cost high enough that people won't back out? I'm not saying I think $800 is a fair price by any means just trying to think of an explaination.

That being said, I only paid $250 for use of the church to which I was not a member of that church (I am a member of another church) and we brought in our own pastor that we wanted to marry us. We also were from a very small area that if you tried to charge $800 people who just get married elsewhere. I wouldn't have paid $800, I would have gotten married outside if that were the case. I did want to get married in a church but to me God would have been just as much a part of my wedding/marriage whether it was in a church or not.

[ChristineLS]

What type of churches are these? Like, are the Catholic ones charging and the Protestant not, or vice versa?

[janet 78]

The church I mentioned is Protestant.

[MrsDM]

Our church (more FH parent's church), would have cost us $200 for pre-marital counseling, $300 for clean up after the wedding and whatever we want to give our Pastor. We fell in love with a chapel in the area which happens to be at a Military Academy. The rental fee for that is $1000, $250 refundable deposit (in addition to the $1000) plus the $200 for our Pastor to officiate the ceremony and his gift. So, our decision to pay higher amounts was our decision.

At least we get $250 back when all is said and done...

[SerendipityCrafts]

Wow. I didn't think any churches would charge one of their own or perhaps I have just never heard of it before.

Wow - my church and officiant are costing me nothing! Although they said a donation to the church would be appreciated but not necessary. This is because she feels that this is what the church is for! I'm so glad I don't have to pay that much, otherwise I think I'd be looking elsewhere.

We gave our minister some presents and some cash so that he could buy himself a nice book or whatever.

We didn't have to pay a thing for the church or the hall (we had our reception at the church as well). We made a donation to the church but no one made mention of doing so beforehand.

[f77g4]

Wow. I didn't think any churches would charge one of their own or perhaps I have just never heard of it before.



We gave our minister some presents and some cash so that he could buy himself a nice book or whatever.

We didn't have to pay a thing for the church or the hall (we had our reception at the church as well). We made a donation to the church but no one made mention of doing so beforehand.

Must be a Canadian thing eh? We definately plan on giving some sort of donation though.

[wedbyjean]

The fee (or no fee) greatly depends on the individual church in question. I've seen them range $500 and up, and others just ask for a donation.

Typically the fee covers the use of the sanctuary and rooms for getting dressed, for the custodian, organist &/or sound tech, and the pastor.

Some churches request fees that simply covers these costs. Sometimes those that charge higher tend to look upon a church as a house of worship first and formost, and not just a pretty place to get married.

[Voiceofreason]

The great thing is freedom of choice. The church has posted a fee and you can choose to pay it if you want to hold your ceremony there otherwise you have freedom of choice to hold it at a venue of your choosing that fits in your budget.

There is one Catholic church in my home city that has a very busy wedding schedule since it has the longest aisle and lots of brides want the big long grand walk. The church charges accordingly. On Saturdays there can be up to four weddings. The priest shouldn't have to be a prisoner to wedding conducting wedding services all day every Saturday without adequate compensation.

[Whitewater]

You guys are lucky that even though you're non-members, your church will let you use their space, even if it is a high amount to pay!!!

I was raised Catholic, baptized, and my Catholic-in-good-standing status has never been taken away from my by the Catholic Church. Therefore (and more particularly back then, when I hadn't consciously made a break from the Catholic Church) I was eligible, technically, to worship in whatever Catholic Church I want to go to, and that included getting married.

BUT -- the churches in my area flatly refused to allow me/us to even set FOOT in their churches because I wasn't a member of their congregation. We tried a half-dozen churches and got the same response each time.

The first time I got married I had to use the only Lowest Common Denominator church around -- a chapel in a historic national park, it was a military fort and its chapel was there to provide a place of worship for the soldiers, from the very early 1800's to about the mid 1950's.

And even then, they charged us $300!

My own church didn't have an actual 'church', we met in a gym, and there was no way I was getting married in a gym!

This time around we're avoiding the whole question entirely and getting married outdoors. God will still be present, and we won't have to put up with being judged and scorned by God's supposed earthly representatives because we're not a member of *their* congregations.

I may say that the desire to get married outdoors this time around was pretty much solely influenced by how I was treated by 'the Godly' the first time. Which is sad.


Whitewater

[vicky_vicky]

In my country we pay something to the church as a gift and the common is 50-100 euros. This expense is the best man's.

[wpv82]

we don't plan on getting married at a church. sorry, but good luck to ya.

[girlggc]

Personally, I wouldn't know. I'm having my ceremony at a country club with a JP.

[wannabeNurse2]

The church I was going to rent would of cost us $160, but we had to find our own officiant. Officiants run about $350-$500 around here. Plus we'd have to find our own musicians. So I skipped all of that. I had my friend get ordained online(yes it's legal in my state).Ill pay the "minister" $100 for the service. We rented out a beautiful park shelter for $55. I dumped all of the money I saved into renting chairs for the ceremony. :bblol:

[Mrs. Pantoja]

Our church is charging $850! It included the minister, use of the sanctuary and reception area, a "bride room" (just a classroom, we will get ready at a hotel), sound tech for the ceremony, custom lighting on the stage backdrops, a coordinator for the day and the use of banquet tables and chairs.

I thought it was pricey but it is our attending church and I would not have it any other way!

[latanyak85]

I guess it all depends. If your a member that might not be that bad. Right?

[dizy1j62881]

We looked into a church that was beautiful. My fiancee teaches CPR and had taught a class there the week before and when we went to see about using the church we were told it is a 1000 fee for using the church alone. Didn't include paying for the sound tech person or minister. Which were an additional 500 for the 2. Plus I have good friend that is minister and I was going to have him marry us but I couln't at that church. It HAS to be their pastor and he has to approve everything. If he didn't like colors he had the right to change it or say no. If he didn't like the way we were walking down the isle he could say no. We had to run all our planning thourgh him including what we wanted read, music we played, and who read what or when. He wouldn't let us write our own vows or choose other things in our ceremony. We were flabergasted because it was OUR wedding and he wanted to have total control over it. We decided against due to the "rules" that need to be followed and what not. We found a nice location closer to home over looking a lake instead of a yucky brown river like that church did....

[Kay]

Okay, I just wanted to throw-in one good thing about a church. My FF's mom took me on a tour of their church Christmas Eve night, after candlelight ceremonies, and told me members (they are) can use the HUGE reception hall, plus the white tables, the white padded chairs, the white linens, the silverware, the cloth napkins, and the FULL kitchen, and have it decorated however they want ~ for a SMALL fee (which probably means like $100 in my town) - and that fee INCLUDES a Church Volunteer Reception Committee of people who show-up and setup everything for you and afterwards, they clean-up everything for you ~ and you get to use ANY donated decorations from previous weddings/receptions/parties held at the church ~ for free ~ which INCLUDES a chocolate fountain, topiaries, white lights all along the ceilings with silver stars, etc... The place is fabulous!! So, there are some churches that try to help people out.

[bluejay]

A friend of mine getting married in march is paying the church $600.00 to have their ceremony there. My mouth dropped when I heard her say that amount!

[msmegz]

Wow, the prices you girls are talking about shocks me! The church and pastor for me are free, although we are making a donation. I guess I just assumed it was like that everywhere. Haha. I guess that's ONE good thing about being from a super small town.