Being Charged Extra for the Rehearsal?!

MrsShiro

Hi everyone!  I have an odd question.  I asked my officiant about doing a rehearsal (as we had not yet discussed it) and she said she was available, but it was an extra cost.  I really don't know what to make of that.

Is it because we're not having it in a church?  Is this normal?  Why isn't it included in what we're already paying her?  Are we justified in being a tad miffed by this or are we off-base and this is normal?  Anyone know? 

And and all inout is greatly appreciated! 

Thank you!!!

Lauren

Loopyseven

Do you have a contract with your officiant?  Does it say anything about a rehearsal?  If it's just a random officiant, I do not think it is that strange to have the rehearsal be extra.  Our officiant was H's theology teacher/priest in HS and became a mentor figure to him, so I don't know what's "normal" as I did zero research into officiants.

[Deleted User]

We're also hiring an officiant for our non-church wedding and we had to pay an extra $100 to have her do our rehearsal.  When I was looking at different officiant's websites that was pretty standard, so I do think that it's somewhat normal.  

bmoruzzi

We had a JOP.  She told me upfront it was an extra $20 for the rehersal.  

acaponi87

My rehearsal is costing me another $125 I believe. Pretty normal.

annakb8

Normal. My ceremony was very simple though, so we had a phone rehearsal. Basically they just went over the order of everything with me. And I wrote (i.e. copy and pasted what I wanted) the text of the ceremony so I knew how everything would go.

mkrupar

That's normal. Think about it. If your wedding is on a Saturday and you want a rehearsal on Friday night, what happens if someone wants to use them on Friday night? You have to pay for their time. Otherwise they'll book a paying client over your "free" rehearsal.

[Deleted User]

Completely normal!  We are paying about $100 for our officiant to come to the venue and run the rehearsal.  However, he's also doing one in person meeting and unlimited phone/emails for preparation in the content of the ceremony.

amymaysa

Every JOP I looked at charged for a rehersal.

levanlaere

Mine is charging $75.

Cortney1982

I would want to be paid for my time if I had to go the the rehearsal.  Dinner is nice but not as nice when it's not your peeps your eating with, it is business.

calibud8

rehearsals are extra here too...including the venue!

graysquirrel

It is normal in my area, too. Some officiants will include that in their package price-- for example, we looked into using a minister and his fee included pre-marital, rehearsal, etc. The JOP we booked charged one price for the event and extra for the rehearsal. In fact, he said that he usually didn't do rehearsals because he has been doing this for so long that he didn't need to, and he was right!

MrsShiro

Thank you all so very much!  No, we don't have a formaly contract, though her deposit has been paid and all of that.  But she never mentioned either way, so we were just surprised.  Now we know this is normal.  THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!