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Priest Gift?

lilbeanybbylilbeanybby member
First Comment
in Catholic Weddings
Is there a rule of thumb of how much of a gift we are suppose to give? Minus the cost of the church?? Please help b/c I have no clue!
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Re: Priest Gift?

  • Calypso1977Calypso1977 member
    First Anniversary 5 Love Its First Answer Combo Breaker
    we gave ours $100.  the church fee is irrelevant.
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  • mommapizanomommapizano member
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    We are giving $250 but we are getting married in Sonoma which is an expensive area so we took that into consideration. I have seen anywhere from $100-$300 typically suggested. 
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  • itzMSitzMS member
    First Answer First Anniversary 5 Love Its First Comment
    We did $50 gift card and $50 worth of his favorite wine.

    You can ask his secretary about some of his favorites (restaurants, theatre, etc) so you can personalize your gift.
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  • agapecarrieagapecarrie member
    First Anniversary 5 Love Its Combo Breaker First Comment
    What people give a priest for sacraments is actually an "offering", not simply a thank you gift, and it is appropriate to actually give money. (cash or check). Depending on how the church does budgets, this could possibly be simply his only discretionary income, or he may need to pay rectory bills with it. 

    If you want to give personalized gift on top of it, that is nice, but please don't short the priest the offering. An offering for an intention on a regular scheduled daily mass is $5-$15. For an extra mass outside of his normal schedule where he is present for the rehearsal the night before, several hours for the day of, meets with you for at least liturgical purposes, as well as writes a homily, should be substantially more. $100 is a good starting point. 
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  • professorscienceprofessorscience member
    First Comment First Anniversary 5 Love Its Name Dropper
    Not to sound blunt, but factoring the cost of renting the church for your ceremony into your gift for the priest is like subtracting the cost of gas from a baby shower gift.
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  • lilbeanybbylilbeanybby member
    First Comment

    So the "offering" should range from $100-$300 correct?

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  • cjdoster16cjdoster16 member
    5 Love Its First Comment
    That sounds about right. My church was awesome and spelled everything out in the contract, so I was "required" to give a "donation" of $200 for the priest (who we are also not using for the ceremony, but will be using for the preparation). I haven't figured out what we will give the priest who will preside (my FI's cousin who is also in the military and out of state, thus why he is only available for the ceremony), though that gift will probably be more personal since he is family.
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  • amaryann210amaryann210 member
    5 Love Its First Comment Name Dropper
    Our church asked for $100 for the priest and $100 for the church.  We also had another priest who is a friend of H's from childhood and gave him $100 as well.
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  • ootmother2ootmother2 member
    First Anniversary 5 Love Its First Answer Name Dropper

    The priest refused a donation and the deacon (bride's uncle) said he wanted just one thing.

    A silver picture frame with their wedding photo, the same as ever other couple in the family he has married.

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  • HisGirlFriday13HisGirlFriday13 member
    First Comment First Anniversary First Answer 5 Love Its
    We gave him a $100 gift certificate to his favourite local Catholic book/religious items store and $100 in gift cards to a local grocery store (in various denominations) for him to give out during the upcoming holiday season to people in our parish who might need it.

    We didn't have to pay a facility fee -- we got married in a parish near my hometown, and because the monsignor wasn't performing our Mass, he didn't charge us a church fee. But my parents made a $150 donation to the church after the wedding anyway.

    So all told, we gave the church $450, which was almost as much as we paid our DJ, photographer, and florist -- and that seemed about right to us. The priest and church were obviously the most important part of the day anyway :)
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    I'm gonna go with 'not my circus, not my monkeys.'
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  • melbelleupmelbelleup member
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    Okay, I'm confused....
    This is my church's fees:
    The stipend set by the guidelines of the parish is $500. This fee includes the presider, organist, wedding coordinator and servers. Non-parishioners must pay a total stipend of $750, which also includes use of the church building.

    Then we gift on top of this. I was thinking a gift of $100 on top of that. Would this be enough? Or should I gift more?
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  • itzMSitzMS member
    First Answer First Anniversary 5 Love Its First Comment
    melbelleup said:

    Okay, I'm confused....
    This is my church's fees:
    The
    stipend set by the guidelines of the parish is $500. This fee includes
    the presider, organist, wedding coordinator and servers.
    Non-parishioners must pay a total stipend of $750, which also includes
    use of the church building.

    Then we gift on top of this. I was thinking a gift of $100 on top of that. Would this be enough? Or should I gift more?

    My church fees were also $500.

    So yes on top of that we did $100 in gifts to the priest and $50 for the pianist.
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