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We paid $350 for an officiant who did 1 pre-ceremony meeting and attended our rehearsal in addition to conducting our ceremony. She was also available via email for consultation.
we're paying $750 for our officiant in NYC. But he's creating a custom-ceremony, so it includes a few hour meeting, the writing of the ceremony (and any revisions we make), the rehearsal and the ceremony itself.
I wasn wondering the samething! We're having a friend do it but I still think we should pay her... it is such an awkward question.
That sounds reasonable. We paid $300 for a judge with no meetings beforehand, and this was over 4 years ago.
We're paying $300 in the Baltimore suburbs. This includes a meeting beforehand and the rehearsal.
The prices we've been getting here in Iowa are $350 for an officient and $200 for a judge (outside of the courthouse.)
You can always get a friend to become an officient over the internet! :D
I'm paying $600 for our Rabbi (whose a friend of my cousin's no less!) but because she lives in NYC but our wedding is about 2.5 hours upstate, there is some travel fees included...$400 sounds pretty reasonable to me...
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That's sounds normal. We're paying $500 which included 1 meeting, rehearsal, a fair bit of email back and forth on the ceremony wording, and obvsiouly the ceremony itself.
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We're paying $250 for our officiant in Milwaukee. We had one meeting, will have a rehearsal and ceremony of course. We actually did a lot of the work assembling our ceremony ourselves based on TONS of examples of stuff he sent us which for the price we are paying I was more than happy to do.
We're paying $250. He'll be at the rehearsal and then at the ceremony. I honestly don't know much more than that since my FI is taking care of this part. I just asked that I be involved with the script for the ceremony so it doesn't turn out too religious or too Wedding Crasher-ish with the readings :)
Celebrants in Northern NJ charge from about $400 to $1000 for custom ceremonies, including rehearsal, meetings, etc. A lot of work goes into writing the ceremony, meetings, materials, travel time, research, etc, etc. If you are looking for your officiant to write your ceremony, I don't think it's unresaonable - if you're just looking for a very simple ceremony, that you wrote or they have prewritten, I don't think under $300 is unreasonable - but we put a lot of time and care into our ceremonies.
Also, just a note - check the laws in PA before going the friend ordained over the internet route - PA is especially strict when it comes to their who can preform a wedding ceremony laws.
ours is $1175 for the church, priest, organist, choir
I think I still have to give the priest another $ for donation like $100
Our ceremony will cost us $375 here in San Diego, CA. It may be different where you live. But he based it on our ceremony size and the venue. The fancier the venue, the more he would charge.
I believe our officiant (Center City Philadelphia area) was $325, which included one meeting with him, and the ceremony. We used his template to create our own version, and added our own readings, etc, and then sent it off to him. He embelished a little, and made it even better.
Thank you for the input - it seems like I will be paying an average amount, but it also seems like I'm getting more meetings for the price.
Initially, when I first started wedding planning, I went on The Knot and looked at their budgeter - they said to estimate $200 for the officiant "donation" so maybe that's why I thought that $400 was high - but now it seems like $200 is an extremely low/unlikely fee estimate for officiant service based on the fact that most people are paying above $300.
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We're paying $250 and that covers rehearsal. Our wedding is in a major city. We found the officiant on wedding wire or some sight similar.
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Our pastor never gave us a price, we are just going to give a donation. We are having 3 meetings, the rehearsal and ceremony. The pre-weding meetings were only like 20 minutes long. We're going to give a donation of like $100-150.
We are paying our officiant $350. Her price includes the crafting of our absolutely beautiful ceremony (I just got a copy via email!) and a rehearsal.
officiants are like 1000. I give them a sob story and bc they are men of God, and my wedding is on a weekday (you ll save 50% of costs) they offer like 300-400, one in Los Angeles, said he d take wtev we could give him, and we offered 250 and he took it! So haggle, beg, appeal to God you ll get it!
um lets talk about how church's are 2500 plus and one in san francisco is 4500 for the sister chapel!
@Chreee123 - TheKnot bases the officiant "donation" on 10% of your budget, which isn't a great way to estimate it at all.
I'm Paying 75 dollars for the judge to do it here in Dallas, TX-- if the judge works at the courthouse you are doing it at and you are having a small ceremony (about 15 people) apparently you get a better "deal" ha!
We are paying $400 for our officiant to perform a customized ceremony. She will also be present for our rehearsal.
mines free. but the going rate in our area was no more than 150.00. maybe it depends on location...
It also depends on the kind of officiant you get. Justice of the Peace or Judges who perform a standard ceremony will probably be more inexpensive than freelance officiants who write and perform custom ceremonies. If you get married in a church or have a relationship with a minister / pastor / priest, they may do it for a less amount or a donation. It very much depends on what you are looking for and what is in your market.
We're paying $750 for our officiant - it is about an hour drive for her, and we will not be having a rehearsal - and that is the low end of what she charges. But the ceremony was really, really important to me, and I know she is going to create something awesome for me.
we're paying $400 for our rabbi. that's a little bit much i think for around here, but he's the one i want!
Looks like it varies a lot on where you live and whether it's a professional officiant or the minister where you attend church (usually donation based).
We're paying $250 here in FL for our officiant to customize our ceremony and attend the rehearsal. He didn't say anything about a certain number of meetings, but we covered a lot in our initial meeting and it sounds like we can do the rest over the phone/email. It was only $200 if he didn't attend the rehearsal - I feel like we're getting a good deal after reading this!
This is a good post. I was curious as to what to budget for the officiant.
It can definitely change depending on the time spent, the distance traveled, the number of guests, the lenght of the ceremony, whether or not there is rehearsal, etc.
Here in New York City I usually start at $300 and work higher depending on the needs, but they usually include unlimitted communication.
I guess $400 is right; the key is always to shop around and check review sites, etc to arrive to the best officiant possible. More expensive doesn't necesrily mean better service.
Best of Luck!
Alexandra
In Chi I have talked to all price brackets. Here is what it included:
The last one is doing it for the right reasons. The first few really felt impersonal for such an intimate ceremony. Obviously we are going with the last one. We will probably give them $400-800. Depending on how much I can convince FI to give them!!
$200 Jackson Hole Judge Officiant
We were married for free by the mayor of the city we live in. We tried to make a "donation" but he told he wasn't allowed to accept anything.
Wow, we got off pretty lucky! The officiant we contacted doesn't want anything! He said that is just part of his job, we will do 4-6 one hour meetings before the ceremony. The beautiful church he is with is only 100 dollars! We plan on giving the Pastor something, I feel bad him doing it all for free.
In British Columbia Canada, we are going to pay $100 dollars for his service. That inculded a meeting before hand. If we needed him for a rehershal, it would be $25 dollars more.
Prices on here are really expensive, wow
Our celebrant/officiant was $350 in St. Louis. This was for two face-face meetings, creation of our personal ceremony, multiple e-mail's, rehearsal, and day of. She also gave us a printed copy of our personal ceremony in a frame as a wedding gift.
in WA - $250 for weekend. $100 for evening. $50 for immediately after the work day (ie at court house)
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Hi Hive,
So I just talked with an officiant that I think we will go with...however, his fee is $400 which seems pretty expensive to me - it covers 3 meetings and the ceremony which I guess adds up to a decent amount of time, but still...$400?!
I'm trying to get an idea of what officiants usually cost...is that expensive or normal? How much are you paying for your officiant?
Thank you!