Why are officiants so expensive? (virginia wedding)

We found ours on Thumbtack for under $200

View Quoted Comment Why would you have your friend pay that out of pocket? Why not pay for it and get your money back later? It's only a lot to ask if they have to put up the money, which I don't understand why they would

Wowza. We're in Florida and requested quite a few quotes. Most were around $150 and not a single one exceeded $200.

View Quoted Comment I do think actually being legally married is the most important thing.

View Quoted Comment Right, true. It's still a lot of responsibility for a friend to make sure that everything is filed properly.

Ours is costing $400 and that includes the rehearsal and ceremony. I'm in Charleston, SC.

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Have you talked to your friend about it? How do they feel? Have they done it before? Maybe it's easier than it sounds, or maybe it's easy for them if they've done it before. Good luck. I hope things work out for you

I'm in Central NJ and we got price quotes ranging from $300 to $800. Luckily, NJ allows for individuals ordained online to legally perform the ceremony, so FH's uncle got ordained and will be conducting our ceremony.

I’m Hindu, our priest didn’t have a set fee as it’s a donation. I had 2 religious ceremonies (night before and wedding day). We paid $700+ hotel etc.

I'm also in VA and our officiant was one of the last things we booked because we were exactly in your spot. We ended up finding someone we liked for $350 (it's an extra $150 for her to come to the rehearsal, which we opted out of). We did a lot of hunting on this site, and started looking for people in the bigger cities even though they're around an hour away. We also got recommended someone who was $750 for the ceremony only who wanted to do a nice, long, personal service, which isn't what we want at all - we really just want the bare minimum. Not sure if all cities/counties are like this, but in my city even if you want to go to the courthouse to get married, you have to call someone and coordinate with them to marry you, and the city website lists 5 or so people and their phone numbers. We were able to find 2 of them that had websites, and I think they're generally going to be cheaper. They might not have as much experience in front of big groups, but it's at least another place to look!

Our Rabbi in Utah has a $1000 honorarium that goes to the temple (essentially a required donation). This is also the most affordable in the area.

Ummm I'm in Virginia, my officiant is $50 plus a small travel fee. They should not be charging over $50 that's the rate in Virginia to officiate a wedding. They bypass that a lot of times by charging outrageous travel fees. I'm located in NOVA, if you're close to me I'd be happy to pass along her information.

Ahh that’s crazy🤭 My fiancés grandfather is marrying us so we don’t run into this problem

Goodness me. That's way too expensive! Luckily I'm doing a courthouse ceremony so the ceremony fee is only $35. I'm cheap... I can't afford more than what I budgeted for

I'm in VA and I will be having my pastor perform the ceremony (we will be paying him around $150). What my FH and I did though is we actually went to the courthouse last year and got married, so the officiant is "technically" performing a vow renewal for us. SOOOO if you wanted a friend to do your wedding, you could go to the courthouse and get "legally" married before your ceremony, then have a friend perform your ceremony

I'm also in VA and I've seen A LOT of people complain about the fact that it's so expensive for a friend to get the 1 time license thing. Some people have opted to just go to the courthouse the week before or day before and get married there and then have a friend perform the "ceremony" in front of the wedding and no one even knows they got "married" a week ago.

I'm not sure where you're located but there is a facebook group for brides from Richmond and there is a ton of people who are ordained (or whatever the word is that makes you legally be able to perform marriages) who will just come sign your license with you and I've seen that price from $50-$100. So I'd suggest checking for facebook groups in your area that have vendors on them. Also maybe call the court and ask if they have any contacts who they recommend perform ceremonies.

You don't go to church? Did you grow up in church? When you are apart of a church that officiant usually does your ceremony. At that point you would only give them like $100 as a thank you!

My judge officiant in Wisconsin in 500. I thought that was the going rate. It's pricey but he is going to be great.

Wow that is pricey. Luckily I come from a very religious family and most of my uncles/aunts and some cousins and even my brother in law are ministers. So I selected one of my Uncles. So I’ll give him a thank you monetary gift. Not sure home much yet.

View Quoted Comment I've brought it up to him, and he said he would look into it! Even if he doesn't want to do the ceremony,he's a bridesman.