Is my Rabbi ripping us off?

cdoyle1122

We are having an interfaith wedding and we met with a great rabbi this morning. He is willing to incorporate my Irish Catholic background with his Judaism. However, when it came time for the $$$, he wanted $1225 and that was the discount price for agreeing to do it today! Are we getting hosed? I feel like we should keep looking.

emily.skazer

I don't believe that cheaper is better, especially with something as important as my wedding. If I'm going to drop $500 for a tablecloth hanging on four poles (i.e. chuppah), I'm prepared to spend at least as much on a rabbi. As I said before in a previous post to you before, I don't think the fee is high, IF he is providing a lot of services. My FI and I have met a few rabbis in Connecticut who offered to perform our interfaith wedding, but only a couple offered the type of services that merited their fees - the rest were interested in doing our ceremony, but little else. So far, we've met only one has the real experience with my FI's side and the type of Judaism that his family practices. Paul originally is from Israel and his parents are from Ethiopia. This rabbi we thought was very expensive, but we learned he will meet with us as much as we want and wherever we want. He speaks Hebrew and called Israel while we met with him so he could speak to Paul's parents about their expectations. He then called Ethiopia and spoke with Paul's grandmother in her native Amharic (!), We haven't made any decision yet, but I'm sold. Em