Catholic Ceremony Costs in Phoenix?

$1300 is alot! I'd do my research - I have a friend that had a catholic wedding in Phoenix and I do not think it cost that much...

(I am having a Lutheran ceremony myself and it is NOT $1300!)

Thanks futuremrslow, do you by chance know where they got married?

I've been asking a lot of Catholic churches for their pricing, but it's exhausting and I am hitting a lot of road blocks (for example, what church are you currently a member of?). I am a little embarrassed to tell them we are members of a local Catholic church and have it get back to that local church that I am looking around for more affordable alternatives.

It does sound very excessive! We are paying $450 in Queens, NY.

At a lot of Catholic churches, the fee for getting married covers the organist/pianist, the cantor, the parish wedding coordinator, the altar servers and use of the church. It may also cover some counseling sessions. Cooling churches is expensive. Cleaning churches is expensive. All those costs need to be recouped somehow.

Mine is going to be $800 in California. Our fees include the cost of our marriage prep, the fees for the wedding coordinator, the priests fee, and the facility fee. $1300 does seem a little high though. Is the church you are looking at Catherdal or do they require more extensive marriage prep?

@Bibi, thanks for the number, that helps, maybe I should go get married in Queens LOL

@Going to the chapel, I understand that, but they are open regardless because they hold confession every Saturday (the only day you can do a ceremony, they don't have them on Sundays) and every church has those expenses, why does it seem to be more expensive in the Catholic church?

@wheelingtowheeler This includes part of the marriage prep, there is another $300 fee on top of the marriage prep, so the cost is more realistically $1600. It does also include the wedding coordinator, the priest, and the facility, but my fiancee says it is expected to give a tip/donation on top of that.
I don't understand why my sister was able to pay nothing for all the same things (as well as marriage prep) and then $300 as a tip/donation at our Lutheran church and then Catholic churches seem to be asking for so much in comparisont? Also, both the chapels are similar in size (the Lutheran one she got married at and the Catholic one my fiancee and I are looking to get married at).

Mine was $600 for the church, $400 for the musicians (pianist and cantor), then a $300 donation for the priest. So it was $1300 total! Plus $20 for an altar server, and a small fee for a marriage prep book. This was in Houston, Tx.

Was/is your sisters a member of the church she got married in? that could explain part of the $$ difference.

I paid more than what you were quotes for a large gothic style chapel but it included wedding director, assistant, organist, security officer for traffic and keeping out non-guests, professional audio, janitorial staff & flowers.

I feel like a lot of other churches in this area charge at least $1K for non-members. So I don't know if the amount seems so far off. It does cost $ to run the building.

@Allison That is a lot of money, but that is nice that they included all that in the cost!

@BohoRN2017 We are members of the church, the non-member cost is $1800. I acknowledge that it costs $ to run any building, I am not asking for a free ceremony, and even if it was free I would give a donation. I am just completely sticker-shocked by how much it costs to get married Catholic.

You are comparing the cost to what your sister paid. Have you compared the cost to other Lutheran Churches in Phoenix? Grace Lutheran: wedding & rehearsal $500; organist $150; wedding coordinator $250; sound $75; custodian $150; pastor $250.

View Quoted Comment To be honest, I had not, and you bring up a valid point. Maybe it's just that expensive these days at any church in Phoenix.
I'd still be curious if I could find another Catholic church that could fit in our budget a bit better, but if I can't, that's ok, I know it's important to the fiancee

Our Catholic Church is $1000 which does not include organist, cantor, or priest. But it’s also a very desirable church at Notre Dame. I think my local hometown parish is much cheaper for weddings!

It seems a bit high to me as well, our Catholic Church in North Carolina was about $850 including marriage prep, flowers for the altar, organist, alter servers, and of course a tip for our priest. The only thing we did not have to pay for is our cantor and violinist. We do attend a smaller parish,

My mom got married at brophy and she said it was expensive too but was unsure of the price

Because my fiance’s family is a member of the church, the only cost is $200-500 donation and then a mandatory $300 music fee. Non-members have to pay a mandatory $1,000 for the church then $300 for the music.

We are having a DW and the cost for the church is $600 in St. Pete FL. If we had done it at our local church we are members at, it would have been free with probably a donation of our choice.