Ceremony church rental fee

The church where I used to serve charged members about 500.00, which was for the janitor, the organist, etc. Most people, I would think, would also give a donation to the pastor.

In my area, (I was in Westchester), typical fees for members range from 200-700.00.

Whoah! what happened to the original pastor? I would look into that before giving them all that money.

according to my FMIL, here in Poland it averages 600zl, which is $200 US.

The church that I am using is costing us $275.00 which is really cheap and rare. I got really lucky.

Whoa that's crazy I would look into it honestly because that's a large unexpected sum. My parish charged us $250 plus $150 for the organist so we paid $400 total.

Ours is a little over $900, it included cleaning fee, lighting, tech., the pastor's time, organist, etc.

Edit: Ours is the members-rate, for non-members it's around $1,200. It's at a pretty popular and historic church in downtown Pittsburgh, I don't know what other churches in the area cost.

My suspicion is that the first pastor didn't actually know what he was saying. These fees would usually be handled by the church administrator/office assistant, and not the Pastor. Is there someone in that kind of role at your church that you can discuss this with? Maybe they will be willing to cut you a break or set-up a payment plan post-wedding if needed in case you can't come up with the money beforehand.

We are paying $1600 plus a donation, plus the church's musician fee. We aren't members though. Members pay $600 (plus, plus) I believe.

Since I am a lifetime member of our church our ceremony is free of charge. We have a $50 janitorial fee and that's it. If I were you I'd discuss this further with the Pastor and explain what you were previously told and see if you can work it out. Best of luck

The fee for my church will be $500 and we are members. This pays for the priest, all musicians, and other various cost, ie clean church and do fresh flowers.

Ours will be at a catholic church. I've heard of churches being about $1,000 in larger cities.

Depends on what church, because of catholic marriage prep our fee is over $1000

Mine is $400, plus $125 for the wedding coordinator.

What kind of papers did you sign when the date was set?

wondering how they can suddenly charge you a few after already making a agreement with you that it would be free.

this is one big reason why I moved my wedding from my hometown to where I live now. pastor wasn't cooperating, and he would tell me one thing then after checking with the church board it would change. seemed like no big deal to him, but I'm sure I don't have to tell you that going from kitchen use to no kitchen use alone could ruin everything!

to answer your question, my profile pic is from the chapel we are renting and it worked out to about 135 for about 3 hours. but that's without any kind of cleanup fees for kitchen use. we're keeping it simple and just having cake and drink reception followed by a after party for whoever wants to or can come.

good luck!

We're dealing with this too!

we originally put down a deposit for an expected $850 fee for "members" but then we heard that it was free for members over +5 yrs in the church (like FH) but when we met with the pastor I mentioned financials and he said, "We'll deal with it later" -.-

We aren't getting married in our church, so our fee for the cathedral is $600 plus another $100-ish for the candelabras to be set up and lit. Our legal ceremony is going to be at our church, but because we aren't making a big "to-do" about that (no guests except parents and BFF's), the only fee we have is what we are giving our pastor for his time.

We didn't sign anything originally, which is out of character for me. But I guess I had my guard down talking to the PASTOR!! haha When I called the Pastor over a year ago and asked him to perform the ceremony, he said that one of the perks of being a member is that you get to use the church for free. Since then, we have been to 5 premarriage counseling sessions and thought that there would be no rental fee. Then we met with the Asst. Pastor today who is in charge of the lighting, sound, and other logistics and he gave me the paper work. That is where it said $300 rental fee, and other fees!! I think I am just going to call the Pastor and see what he says. My fiancé said that when we write the check he is going to write "Thou shall not lie" in the memo! haha (He was obviously joking). It just came as a shock this morning, so of course my first words were "I'm going to ask the girls on WeddingWire what they paid!!"

I will be paying $1100 for a non denominational chapel at local state college. It was part of a convent and amazingly beautiful. Fee is 950 plus $150 for insurance. Only 1 wedding per day also.

I never knew people paid this much money for the ceremony!! It is so short. Our ceremony will only be 30 minutes!

Ours was $300 for the church plus $175 for the soloist and $75 for the pianist. The church fee included the coordinator and fee for the priest.

Did you not have a signed contract? I'm guessing you didn't but I would talk to them and explain that you already reserved the church and you were not told you had a fee and see if you can argue it a bit. Anyways to answer your question I am paying $250 hr to rent the sanctuary and reception area I paid for two hours so $500 and she is nice enough to throw an extra hour in free.