Totally under bugeted for wedding ceremony! :(

susie22

I tought it was going to be a donation at the church of 300-400$ for the ceremony. Im just finding out now that they have fees of 600-800$ and with use of the organ is 200$!   Also, they have certain wedding times, 12, 2 and 6 and none of those times go with the start time of the reception we only budgeted a couple hundred.  We thought of the idea of having a priest at our venue (@ the Lanam club), but we are not sure what to do for music, do you usually have a dj or band for an hour for the enterance music? If either are the case do you guys know any good bands/dj's that are used for the ceremony? and also the  estimated cost?

 It would be so nice to have it outside at our venue, because its so beautiful but our wedding is late oct. And would bep retty cold. We could d it inside as well but would have to talk to them about it.a Not sure what to do . Call me stupid but i had no idea the ceremony would be that expencive!  We are trying to budget this and now I feel like the budget is out of control! Please help!

CCBelle

I'm getting the impression that you want to get married in a Catholic church, and if that is the case you need to work within their confines.  They will all have required "donations" and certain windows that they will perform ceremonies.  I don't think those prices seem outrageous, but you may be able to shop around for a "cheaper" church.  And $200 for a musician doens't seem pricy to me at all.

Also, if you are using a Catholic priest, they will not marry you outside of the church except in extreme conditions.  And price wouldn't be an extreme condition.

GL!

MeaghanandMichael

I actually think this sounds very reasonable. To get married at the church I wanted to get married at it was $2000.00 dollars, never mind organist fees. Now that seemed a bit outrageous at the time, but when I think it was barely 5% of my venue cost, it really was not outrageous at all. Think of all the money you are willing to spend on other wedding things, and I hardly think giving money to the church is a toughie.The church has to pay its electric and heating bills just like every one else, and I think the prices you mentioned are more than fair.

EKobrenski

I agree, those prices sounds about right, or even cheap.  Although it's a church, they do have to pay a janitor to clean, electricity, air conditioning, communion wafers, etc.  I don't think the priest's time is directly linked to the cost, but you do have at least 3 meetings with them.  Also, consider whether you want a cantor or not on top of the organist. 

If you let us know what you have booked/not booked, we can help you cut that $1000 out from somewhere else. 

AlexaGrant

Eek!  I had no idea getting married in the Catholic Church costs thousands of dollars!  Anyone know if this is true in North Shore area as well?  I've heard $200-$650 so far - are there hidden fees? Like, do they tell you it will be $200 then it ends up being closer to $1000?

susie22

We are going to talk with the church and find out the total price. It makes it more difficult because I want to get married at the church my parents did but we are in a different town,aparently we would need to ask the church in our area and let them know that  we want to get married at a different church and they need to OK it . But we arent a member of any parish so hopefully its just a matter of going to the church we want and being a part of theirs and then getting married there. there are just so many rules with the catholic church. 1000 just sounds a lot to us because we are paying for the wedding on our own, no one could help us out financialy and I would feel too guilty even asking. :P

CCBelle

<div align="left">In Response to <a href="http://forums.weddings.com/Sites/Weddings/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_massachusetts-boston_totally-under-bugeted-wedding-ceremony?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local Wedding BoardsForum:89Discussion:6740cd99-2905-4b62-9871-20f03d5c7ea8Post:e388d3a7-0833-4825-8ae6-7f2abdd7cafa">Re: Totally under bugeted for wedding ceremony! :(</a>:
[QUOTE]I agree, those prices sounds about right, or even cheap.  Although it's a church, they do have to pay a janitor to clean, electricity, air conditioning, communion wafers, etc.  I don't think the priest's time is directly linked to the cost, but you do have at least 3 meetings with them.  Also, consider whether you want a cantor or not on top of the organist.  <strong>If you let us know what you have booked/not booked, we can help you cut that $1000 out from somewhere else. </strong>
Posted by EKobrenski[/QUOTE]</div>
Ditto

Galaxy8227

We're getting married in Norwood in our hometown church and the suggested offering is $300.  I thought that was high at first but now hearing from you girls it sounds like it's not too bad

EKobrenski

In Response to <a href="http://forums.weddings.com/Sites/Weddings/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_massachusetts-boston_totally-under-bugeted-wedding-ceremony?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local Wedding BoardsForum:89Discussion:6740cd99-2905-4b62-9871-20f03d5c7ea8Post:0144ac08-06c7-4bbb-9030-f25fd4b49dc7">Re: Totally under bugeted for wedding ceremony! :(</a>:
[QUOTE]Eek!  I had no idea getting married in the Catholic Church costs thousands of dollars!  Anyone know if this is true in North Shore area as well?  I've heard $200-$650 so far - are there hidden fees? Like, do they tell you it will be $200 then it ends up being closer to $1000?
Posted by AlexaGrant[/QUOTE]

Mine is in Lawrence and it costs $400 for the church and $150 for the organ (whether you use it or not) for a non parishoner.  The other church I looked at was $800 for non parishoner. 

I know my parents church would have charged us the parishoner fee, but the one I got was way prettier.  I would HOPE beign a church there are no hidden fees.  They actually laughed at me when I asked if I needed to put a deposit down. 

susie22

which church in lawrence? the church that was 800 was in andover but the one I want to get married in (the one my parents were married in) is in lawrence, st mary's  on haverhil st.

EKobrenski

yup it's St Mary's, I think it's on Hampshire St though.  FI and I went to CCHS, so all our school masses and our baccalaureate were there.

My parents were married there too, btw.

susie22

oh yea oops , wrong street ! I am not sure now if I want it there or at the reception site, the lanam club its a real nice venue, and we may be able to use the piano for the ceremony and cocktail hr music. Then we wouldnt have to pay for any transportation :P save $$ right there !

Blueyed228

The price they gave you sounds right.  My church asked for $650.  I thought that was totally reasonable.  If you are already a member of a church and pay your yearly dues, then the donation is sometimes smaller, but since we are not members, we had expected to pay more.  Good luck, and listen to the married girls, they can help you find ways to make it work.

motbx3

The fees for my daughter's wedding in November of 2008 was $100 donation for the priest/church, $200 for each musician (we had 3) $200 for the vocalist, $15 to each alter server for a total of $930.  Another daughter got married down the Cape in 2007 and her fees were $250 to church, $15 for each alter server and $100 for the "coordinator"  For at total of $380.  We had a Harp/Flute for her ceremony and for cocktail hour in addition to that.  My youngest daughter is getting married this June.  The donation to the church is $175 and $20 for each server.  The music director hasn't gotten back to her yet, so we aren't sure how much it will be for the organ and for the trumpeteer.  I'm guess $200 a piece.   That will bring it to just over $600.  So I think your church is within range....

woodie

Hi!

Just chiming in as another St. Mary's grad. My sister (who is also a St. Mary's grad)  was married at St. Mary's and had her reception at the Lanam club.  It was a wonderful wedding !  Good luck! 

K

EKobrenski

In Response to <a href="http://forums.weddings.com/Sites/Weddings/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_massachusetts-boston_totally-under-bugeted-wedding-ceremony?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local Wedding BoardsForum:89Discussion:6740cd99-2905-4b62-9871-20f03d5c7ea8Post:202c7a11-9d59-4768-b5ae-d29742d74c72">Re: Totally under bugeted for wedding ceremony! :(</a>:
[QUOTE]oh yea oops , wrong street ! I am not sure now if I want it there or at the reception site, the lanam club its a real nice venue, and we may be able to use the piano for the ceremony and cocktail hr music. Then we wouldnt have to pay for any transportation :P save $$ right there ! :)
Posted by susie22[/QUOTE]

We considered that since my venue has a really pretty garden.   We looked into a rent-a-priest and he was $500 (not including the rehearsal).  One thing I would ask is if you need to rent microphones or if they are provided....GL!

Oh, transportation does add up, and then remember that your photog and videographer will need extra time, potentially. What I ended up doing for transportation was renting a trolley from Salem, which is pretty, but can still hold all the drunkies, er, out of towners lol. So I have my transportation and guest transportation for the cost of a limo. 

EKobrenski

In Response to <a href="http://forums.weddings.com/Sites/Weddings/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_massachusetts-boston_totally-under-bugeted-wedding-ceremony?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local Wedding BoardsForum:89Discussion:6740cd99-2905-4b62-9871-20f03d5c7ea8Post:6bd61546-82d1-453b-a837-205cda73bc8e">Re: Totally under bugeted for wedding ceremony! :(</a>:
[QUOTE]Hi! Just chiming in as another St. Mary's grad. My sister (who is also a St. Mary's grad)  was married at St. Mary's and had her reception at the Lanam club.  It was a wonderful wedding !  Good luck!  K
Posted by woodie[/QUOTE]

Um, I have been dying to see pics of a wedding there!  Would that be something you are willing to share? 

susie22

haha yea a trolly is a cool idea, I dont think we would need microphones though because  it will only be about 50 or so. The rent a priest we are looking into said 400, but  also have to pay for travel.  Thankfully FI's brother is a photographer and all we need to do it pay for his air fare :P I wanted to get a DJ but people keep saying to just rent a Pa system and play your own playlist, it would save money but i'm not sure if its a good idea... there wil be only 50 people and not tooo many people dancing.

EKobrenski

One other thing to consider (and one of the reasons we went with the church) is that if you don't get married in the church, you may have some issues down the road when (if) when you want to have your children baptized.  It's all about what's important to you though. Def a hard decision.

susie22

ooo never thought of that. Would they really have an issue if you didn't get married in a church! ?

EKobrenski

I guess it is sometimes.  It depends on the priest.

It also didn't hurt that my parents are religious and paying for most of it lol.

ShaboAE

Most venues charge $500-1000 to have the ceremony on-site, so I don't think the church is being too outrageous.

If you want to check out a reasonable DJ, try Metro Mass entertainment. Steve is really awesome and tries to work around your budget. Most DJs (from what I've found) are over $1k for 4 hours. Wouldn't it be nice to make $250+ per hour? He doesn't have many reviews from what I could find, but I know people who used him for their weddings and they just raved about him.

[Deleted User]

The other thing to look into with having the ceremony at your venue - a lot of venues charge a fee of Round $1000 to use the grounds for a ceremony - which puts the ceremony at about the same price if not more than what you would be paying the church.