Church Wedding Surprise Costs

Hey, we all hate to be surprised..it's that auto mechanic/dentist/plumber moment, lol! And I suspect it happens to many couples at many different times.

But you still want everything in writing, and they honestly should be more consistent with the costs they describe to couples. Maybe that could be your fiancé's next project !

FH and I are paying $300 as the donation to the church (none of it goes to the priest), and then the organist and cantor are both another $150 each. Your price seems fair!

Every church is different but please get a contract! We have a full contract with our church and a letter from our pastor that states that he isn't charging a separate fee to perform the ceremony! Is your reception there as well, if so, you are making out like a bandit with that price! Good luck!

Ha- Our wedding wasn't even held inside our church and we had to pay $400 just to have the pastor come to our ceremony venue to marry us. So I think you're getting off pretty standard. Plus the organist is cheaper than our ceremony musicians, which were $500.

@Boddy - not true. we belong to a huge church. still pricey. I think to rent the church was like... $900 or something insane.

We are getting married in the church where my fiancee grew up and the priest marrying us has presided over every major family event for the past twenty years. I was (pleasantly) surprised when my FMIL indicated that the church has a standard wedding contract on file that they use for every wedding. It puts both parties on notice of respective rights, responsibilities, and expectations - and like Celia mentioned, provides consistency!

We are paying $300 to use the church and for the Priest to officiate our wedding and do the rehearsal. We are also paying $225 for the organist.

We are paying $200 for the church suggested donation (includes the priest, no separate fee) and $225 for the organist.

That's really good. We keep going back and forth with our church. They want $800 for use of the church and $300 for music. The venue wants $550 for use of ceremony room and officiant wants $500 so its still minimum around $1100! Your getting a great deal. I always thought you paid for the music and gave donation to church of around $200-400. I was shocked when they told us how much for church ceremony!

New here-hi everyone!

Getting a little jealous reading what some of y'all are paying. We're paying $1500. We are getting married in a (very popular, university chapel) Catholic Church. Our fees include our pre-Cana retreat (not sure how much that'd be separately anyway), and flowers for the church. There are other less pricy options, but we wanted to be married somewhere meaningful to us and felt this was the most important thing to us.

From what I know, Catholic Churches in the area (suburban Philadelphia) run in the mid-high 100s ($500-800) to $**** if they're more popular (the basilica being the $2000 and $1200 being another downtown church). They also do have some other/required expenses that come later, which thankfully our wedding coordinator (from the church-wish I had one IRL) was very upfront about when we booked. The priest's fee (how it was explained to us) is a customary donation--according to our guide $150-300 and is ordinarily separate. Some churches may also require the use and payment of their musicians (typically around $200-300 for an organist--so that sounds right) and additional musicians would be extra. Reading it, the itemization of costs sounds about right.

HOWEVER, I'd be miffed if I knew/thought other people paid any different too! Especially with all you've given to the church.

If it becomes a burden, perhaps they could wave the fee for the church so you could still marry there and pay the priest, musicians etc. since you donate in other ways? I would definitely sit down to discuss with all parties! Don't feel bad!

To play the church's advocate for one second, maybe a bride or groom who didn't cut a check a second ago may be unintentionally fudging some numbers in their mind? Maybe a newlywed happily on the other side might forget? I already do that without knowing.

Also if the priests fee is a "donation"/gift it may depend on the couple and what they feel called to give? Sort of sounds "set" for your church.

I'd suggest getting a contract if only so you can go on booking other vendors without worrying about extra fees or the potential someone could roll in our your date because of a clerical error or uncertainties about fees? Our contract included other stipulations about what we could do in the church and other "good to knows" that just help guide planning that sort of seem missing from the conversations you've had.

I'll say prayers for this time (since you've expressed that you're religious) that you'd find peace, wisdom, understanding throughout and that God would work all things according to his purpose.