Last minute sticker price shocks!! What was yours?

Wow that does seem like a big bill. Most churches accept a donation.

Wow, that is a lot for a church. Does that Incl. Anything? Flowers? Pre Cana? Choir? My church would have been a $200 “suggested donation” that’s also tax deductible.


I haven’t had many sticker shock moments but two I did have was the send off add on at my venue (warm soft pretzel and a water bottle for each guest at the end of the night) it would have been $4 pp attending which doesn’t sound like much but totaled that’s $480 for pretzels maybe 20 people will eat. Then we were looking at a shuttle service, the deposit alone was $400, if we wanted it to make two trips it would have been $3k! We’re doing Uber gift cards

The church bill was a shock and it actually made me a little angry at first because they ONLY charge for the use of the building for weddings. If I were to throw a birthday party there they would not charge me for the same rooms. Considerably it was less than that though lol. It was piecemeal. $100 for the sanctuary, $250 for the community room, $100/ hour for sound and lights (we ended up getting this for free because my photographer knew how to work them), $200 for a musician, $150 for wedding planning if we wanted the lead pastor to officiate, etc. My husband and I ended up speaking to the executive pastor and explaining our "we wanna get hitched but have no money" situation and he agreed that if we did not decorate the sanctuary and had our reception off site (we had been planning on that anyway) that we could use the sanctuary for free given we are church members.

Venues in general were a sticker shock. We thought about renting an enclosed shelter house for our wedding and reception and they wanted $500 for the dang afternoon!

I think everything else was pretty on par with what we had imagined, though.

My coworker is also getting married in a church that charges $1500, and has VERY specific requirements and restrictions (must use 2 string musicians, preferred list for photographers that are all *super* expensive). It’s a little appalling how much it is considering it less than an hour ceremony and they’re members.


For me, everything is shocking. I’m super detailed and have a spreadsheet that tracked everything and man does it add up! And I just found out from our photographer that we’re going to need a license to shoot in the park it’s not much, but an extra expense to add on top of everything

View Quoted Comment Uber gift cards? Wow what an awesome idea!!! Thank you for sharing...transportation is adding up quick!

View Quoted Comment Yes!! We found out we cannot have alter flower s only arrangements in the set vases..so we have to redo our floral contract.. the photographers cannot be on the bottom floor..only top and can't be on the sides...we only have 30 minutes for pictures afterwards..cannot pick our music and no one is allowed to cheer after the service 😑

View Quoted Comment Yes we found out about the "permit" for photos when we had our engagement photos done..$250...uhg

View Quoted Comment They also do vouchers where you can say either “I want to pay for transport from A to B or you can say “I will put $X towards their ride to anywhere in xyz time frame” we have maybe 15 Hotel rooms booked but we know a bunch will have their own DDs so we’ll probably do the voucher part and put $20 or so towards their ride from the venue to the hotel (it’s typically a $13 ride, I googled it). This way 1. They can go whenever they want 2. If people can’t hold their liquor I’m not responsible for the clean up fees 3. They don’t HAVE to go to the hotel with it and 4. It’s cheaper than the deposit for transportation

Cake. I went to a dozen bakeries and legit it was $600 as the average cost. Luckily I found a cheaper bakery but that's always going to be so ridiculous thinking about how it's just cake

View Quoted Comment No cheering after the service? That’s insane. I mean, so are the other stipulations but dang! You’d think with how much you’re paying they’d have some flexibility

View Quoted Comment Isn’t it crazy? We’re looking at cake bakers now too and I’m shocked at how so many are $6-8 for a slice of cake! I think we’re going to go with a smaller two tier and mini-cupcakes instead to save some money

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THIS is why we are not getting married in a church. The amount of restrictions (don't get me started on judgement) are ridiculous. Good luck to all y'all having church ceremonies...I have heard some awful, terrible stories...

View Quoted Comment Right?? So we're not telling our guests about that part. We have to have particular parts in the programs ...but we are not going to have a huddle of 100 people to tell them "no one can be happy" LOL