Love Offering

I think a donation is definitely appropriate, but not having used any of this stuff, I really don't know what amount would be appropriate. Our officiant is a minister and a friend; we paid for his flight to Vegas as our thank-you for doing the ceremony, which was about $400. But that didn't include a venue or music.

I am paying $300 for my minister, the money goes to the church he preaches at, and we aren't having a DJ or musician so I'm not quite sure how much you could give them. I would guess 200-300 would be appropriate, but I am so cheap it's crazy lol

I dont have to pay anything for our churches services ethier, we plan on donating $100.

Since every area is different, try pricing some of these vendors in your area. See what local officiants and professional musicians charge, and then use that as a guide.

You might want to consider your overall wedding budget and the size of your wedding.If you can only afford to give your pastor $50, I am sure he would understand and be happy for the small donation to the church. But if you are doing a large wedding with a budget of $20,000 you might want to be a bit more generous.

You can also consider whether he has provided any other services like pre-marital couseling which might (depending on your opinion) warant a larger donation.

If the musician are with the church (I mean, volunteers doing it because they are church members) they could be included with the donation to the church or be given a gift instead of cash.

I gave our minister $100 and a cute notebook. She is retired, but she's been a family friend. I kept debating what to give her and made a post on here. Everyone kept telling me $250 and up, but my church isn't like that. My brother was married by our church minister as well, and it's always free. So they just gave him money as well. I didn't want to insult her by giving her more than $100. And she sent me a thank you card for my "generous gift!"