Met with the church

Jean6912 · June 2011

Hey knotties,

My fiancé and I met with the priest today and I think my jaw dropped when he told us the price to get married in the church. The "donation" for the church is $500, the singer and organist costs $300, then pre-cana is $200, each alter server needs to be tipped $5-6, and then a tip for the custodian. So altogether it comes to roughly $1,020 to get married in the catholic church, holy crap and this doesn't include ceremony accessories or the marriage license. Wow, thought I should share the craziness of the RCC.

midgetthemighty · June 2011

That's pretty expensive. At least you know now!

SSaltzman87 · June 2011

Wow, that's insane.

MMRoberts11 · June 2011

Dang! What do you think you'll do now?

sprtychick10 · June 2011

Wow. What's the plan now? Are your FI and you members of this church?

diamondx423 · June 2011

That's pretty standard, as far as I've heard. I still don't know how much our church costs, hoping its around $1000

DrPB2b13 · June 2011

WOW that's expensive! Is that the church you are a member of, or is it just one you wanted to get married in?

michellep1 · June 2011

That is insane! I don't meant to insult your church in any way with this, but those costs are ridiculous. My church has a "suggested donation" of $150 and thats it. Pre-cana is free and I have nevvvver heard of tipping altar boys and the custodian! Altar boy is a voluntary position and isn't the custodian someone on the church's salary? Why would you tip them in relation to your wedding? If they're providing some sort of service please correct me, but otherwise that doesn't make any sense to me.

I'm sure I'll have to pay for the musicians, so I can't speak to that, but I really think the rest is a little crazy. If you're not set on that church, maybe you can look at other ones in the area and compare prices? Again, I really don't mean to put down your church in any way, I'm sure every church has different policies, but that really seems excessive.

KrisKenny · June 2011

I am so lucky with my church. I've been a lifelong member, so the ceremony fee is waived for the church, my Pastor is not taking any money, I don't have to pay the custodian (which normally we would have to), and the organist is only $75 (which my mother thinks he'll give my check back).

Maybe you can become a memebr (if your not already) and the prices would drop a bit? It's something to look into. I know at my church, if your not a member, there is the fee for the building usage, the Pastor, and the Custodian.

Hope it goes well for you.

DrPB2b13 · June 2011

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_june-2012-weddings_met-church?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20Club%20BoardsForum:3ae4d68d-f10a-4dec-8810-da13c14a7b86Discussion:5bd36b3a-7886-4076-a33f-0c7b61769fb3Post:626abd14-025e-48ab-b33e-6c0c7d826bde">Re: Met with the church</a>:
[QUOTE]Altar boy is a voluntary position and <strong>isn't the custodian someone on the church's salary? Why would you tip them in relation to your wedding</strong>? If they're providing some sort of service please correct me, but otherwise that doesn't make any sense to me
Posted by michellep1[/QUOTE]

The thought that comes to my mind is that the custodian may have extra cleaning to do after the ceremony, cleaning up confetti, flower petals, etc., should you choose to have them. However, if you're not doing any of those things, it seems kind of crazy, because otherwise you'd think he'd be getting tipped after every church service, by all of the members.

I also think charging for the pre-cana is a little nuts too; shouldn't that be included in the site fee, considering it's a requirement to be able to get married there in the first place?

Danidawn20 · June 2011

Wow, I think that is riduculous. I am getting married in the Roman Catholic Church too, but our sugessted donation amount is "$75", the musican suggested amount s "$50" and that is it. The Pre Cana is free for us, and as long as we clean up afterwards, we don't have to pay anymore that what I listed, If we don't clean than there is an additional like $30 charge.

Are you members of yout church? Both Fi and I are members of ours, so maybe that is why we don't have alot to pay at all.

kimeiten · June 2011

I'm getting married in the Catholic church, and that's about what we have budgeted. I don't think it's that far out of the ordinary, at least for my region anyway.

ecox12 · June 2011

Ugh I hear you! It's actually my fiance's church, and I was going to start doing RCIA in August, but I was surprised when I heard all the pricing. $75 for pre cana, $175 for engaged encounter, NFP is free for the introduction, but then we're required to take classes afterwards that we have to pay. On top of that we have to "tip" the priest $100, $150 for an organist, $100 for a vocalist, and $100 for any other instruments...I told my fiance everyone's singing acapella and clapping for the beat!

sunnydays630 · June 2011

I was also shocked to hear that our Lutheran church will be $850! I think that is starting to be the norm, unfortunately...

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