Church donation for ceremony

It depends on the church. I got married in a Catholic church that required me to put my donation in a check and turn it in to them before the wedding day. I would suggest checking with your church on how they want it done.

I have a genuine question. Is it not a donation if they tell you to do it? Is it a set amount? Do all churches do this?


Obviously I don't gi to church 😂

We are having it a catholic church, my fiance is catholic, and it was explained that they ask for a "donation". They didn't give us a set amount, so it is up to us. Some churches have a required fee from what I've seen.

View Quoted Comment I don’t get it either honestly 😂 but since my husband and I met through the church’s young adult group, it meant a lot to us to get married there. It also kind of helped that my in-laws said “we will pay that” 😬😬😬

View Quoted Comment Mandatory Donations, mandatory premarital counseling. I think the church is really in on the whole wedding buisness 😂

View Quoted Comment Honestly I wish they had done mandatory weekly premarital counseling instead of a one time 8 hour lecture session and a “compatibility test” in which our answers were reviewed by another couple! 😂 Many older couples I’ve talked to that got married in the Catholic church were like “wow they’ve really changed things….”

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No thank you

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Most churches will have a set fee or "offering" for the use of the church. I belong to a Catholic parish where I am active. The offering for the use of the church for a wedding is $600 for parishioners and $1200 for non-parishioners. (There are actually couples who "church shop".) What you must realize is the church has expenses to keep open for the wedding ceremony: heating/air conditioning, lighting, set up and clean up, and music. Our very gifted experienced organist/vocalist of 20 years who has been playing the organ at church all her adult life (over 40 years) and has certification in music liturgy gets $300 whether you use her that day or not - she's still available to consult about music. If the priest is paid a salary from the parish, there's that. He not only performs the ceremony but meets with the couple and keeps track and files all the necessary documents and certifications - Pre-Cana and such. Payment is expected by the rehearsal date. It has happened that checks have bounced and the morning of the wedding, the priest had to contact the family and request cash before allowing the wedding to take place. You say what you like about church but it does cost money to run it for the benefit of all.

Like other people mentioned, it depends on the church (I am Catholic, like other replies!).

For marriage prep, we had already paid a fee to the church for having a wedding there, which I assume was the donation amount. We paid this through Venmo. For the musicians, we paid set amounts and wrote a separate check for the singer, organist, and trumpeter and provided these in envelopes to the wedding coordinator during the rehearsal. For our celebrating priest / our officiant, we wrote him a check and put it in a handwritten card to him (but that's because he's known me for decades, and has been a friend), but if it was any other priest at the parish, we'd likely have given it to our coordinator in an envelope with a short thank you card with the rest of the musician checks.