Cost of Wedding Officiant

300 is our donation to the church for our wedding.

Mine is $425 in Hershey, PA.

Get a pro. A pro that charges more than 50 bucks.

Mine is $250 here in Indianapolis. ETA, for both rehearsal and ceremony

Free because he uncle is doing it. I know they say keep it to the pros ... it was not costs for me .. it was the personalizing and truly being a dream to us... his uncle is the life of the party type of guy so it will be fun

$150 in NC. We did 4 premarital sessions for $25 each, which was another $100.

Mine is our church pastor (but at our venue) with a suggested donation of $300-350 but people who can't afford it can pay less. Since it is a donation to the church I am guessing it is tax deductible also! I live in an extremely expensive area so I was pleased with the cost considering we meet three times, she goes to our rehearsal (prob 25 mins from the church) and to our ceremony.

'this other guy who is all about earth spirituality and he's $50'

Oh no!

Interesting that in the U.S you can have a friend or relative marry you, to be legally married, in Australia you must have a Civil Marriage Celebrant or Religious Celebrant.

Our minister refused payment.

All about "earth and spirituality"? And he charges $50 to do what? Talk about his version of earth and spirituality? The only people who charge $50 are those who can't get $100, and if you can't, as a "professional" fill your calendar with $100 couples, you'll try to fill it with $50 couples.

Nobody cares what an officiant thinks about birds and plants and rock and things, and they don't care if he thinks we die, go to heaven, or are reincarnated. What couples need to be concerned with, when it comes to an officiant, have nothing to do with the officiant's personal spiritual or humanist beliefs. They need to think about the public speaking ability of their officiant -- and that means more than the life of the party seeing a microphone and saying, "Yeah...an audience and a microphone! I'm good to go!". It means that the officiant doesn't go on never-ending rabbit trails that eat up the ceremony time. It means that the officiant doesn't decide to bring up a personal memory, embarrassing to either party, to get a few laughs. It means that he has the ability to not only write a moving script, but to deliver it in a tone and tempo that resonates with the couple and their guests. It means a lot, but what it doesn't mean is "he's into earth and spirituality". Yeah, me too...but you don't want me doing anything beyond your flowers.

Don't skimp on the officiant. Don't cut corners. If you want them to attend a rehearsal, then be prepared to pay extra (and if an officiant just throws that in for free, beware. Nobody works for free if they're in demand).

For a good one in NJ you will pay about $700. You need to see videos of their services to determine the quality and personalization you are going to get. Also, you need to make sure they are qualified and that you marriage will end up being valid.

My mom is an officiant so she is going to do our ceremony for free as part of our wedding gift.

I live in PA. I have an officiant from a well known organization (journeys of the heart) I am paying $650 for the package, not including rehearsal. She has sent us a copy of the ceremony and it is beautiful! Our venue is still having us walk through the Thursday before but our officiant will meet with us again that day.

Weddingbee? They are great. I have been referring them for years and visa versa. You're in great hands.

I cannot imagine an officiant marrying their own child.

@ Natalie; they still have to be either ordained online (which literally takes no credentialing) or appointed a marriage commissioner (in a few states). In NYC,they also have to register, and many states have other layers of legality. It's not as easy as having your cousin show up and marry you. Nor should it be.

500 for ours. It would be an extra 100 for rehearsal but we're not having one.

Wow my FH and I didn't have to pay anything

In the Midwest, I found most are around $400. One quote was for $80; but they were just starting out/only 10 weddings done. Our officiant we recommended to us & is around $250.

No one good works for free.

We're being married by the captain of the boat we're sailing on and he's $300