Priest Accommodations?

muppet686

Hello all! My fiance and I live in a pretty remote area relative to our families, so we're getting married at a church near my family to make it easier for our nearest and dearest to attend. My family lives about a 5 hour drive away from my home. We are doing all our marriage prep with the wonderful priest at my parish, and he has volunteered to travel to be the celebrant at our wedding. We just confirmed a date this past weekend and got the stamp of approval from the priest in the parish we'll be married in to bring our own priest with us.

So here is my question, what kind of accommodations are appropriate to offer to our priest given that he will have to travel 5 hours each way to participate? Clearly we're inviting him to the reception/rehearsal dinner, but should we also pay for a hotel room, offer him a ride, or anything else along those lines? I'm so excited to have my priest there and want to make things as easy as possible for him!

SusieSunshine2

Offering to pay for his hotel room would be a very nice gesture. Our priest traveled 8 hours for our wedding and stayed with his local community here. He was at our reception and we gave him a gift as well.

amartell

We payed for our priest's airline tickets and for his hotel room (he was my uncle). I agree that offering to pay for his hotel room and/or gas money would be a nice gesture.

vltwyman

The parish we are getting married at offered to house our visiting Priest friend. Our Priest friend is apart of the Legionaries of Christ and they take a vow of poverty, so the only way he can come is if we pay his way.
But ask him if/what kind of accommodations he needs help finding. He might already have a place to stay, have friends in the area, or the funds to do so, but if your budget allows it I would offer to help in some way since he is going out of his normal duties to be apart of your wedding. I cannot imagine he would ask for anything outrageous. Good Luck!

Calypso1977

i would offer to pay his travel expenses (room, gas, etc.).  if the parish offers to put him up, i would give a very generous donation to the parish beyond whatever the church fee is.

chelseamb11

Our priest travelled, but not quite as far (only about 1 1/2 hours).  We offered to pay for his hotel but he ended up staying in the rectory of the church we got married at.  We also gave him a little bit more for a cash gift because of the gas.

muppet686

Thank you all for your advice! I feel like I have a better sense of how to approach my priest now!