Catholic Weddings?

Question

I'm trying to get a budget for my wedding. The first thing I need to take into consideration is the donation cost and ceremony expenses.

In general, how much is a donation for the use of a Catholic Church for a wedding? If it's different for every Church (which I'm sure it is) Just please give me the amount you know.

In addition, how did any Catholic brides decorate the church. As far as I know, I thought you were not allowed to decorate the church. Besides a few flower arrangements for the Alter. Do I even need those?

I don't plan on doing any extra decorating of the church. I think it's a horrible idea to put tulle and bows on a Holy place. Churches are beautiful enough without that.

Anyway. Please give me any and all information regarding the cost of a Catholic Ceremony.

Also, please include the price of your pre-cana classes and material. Please keep that seperate from the ceremony costs though.

Thanks for the Help!

Answer 1

A $300-500 donation is what Is given at my parish.

In regards to decorations, that depends on the church. Some allow you to bring in alll you want, but they must stay at the church, others allow you to only decorate with a couple on the altar and a few others here and there, which can be transferred to your reception location.
I think less is more!! But a couple at the altar, another two near the first pew, where parents usually sit, and hang small arrangements along the first 5 alternating pews. Therefore these costs will vary

Pre Cana classes are generally $ 100 the couple.

Total: $400-600 plus decoration of your choice

Answer 2

Where I live, the donation is on a sliding scale. $50 is recommended for parishoners, but if they can't pay that much, it can be less. I can't imagine anyone not being able to cough up $50, but whatever. Out-of-parish folks have a recommended donation of $75.

On top of this, it is usually customary to give the priest another donation just after the ceremony; this is double the usual Mass stipend, so $20. The priest doesn't keep this money; he's not allowed to. It goes to the church.

Engagement Encounter classes (Friday night - Sunday a.m. retreat) cost $250 per couple, which includes housing and meals. I don't believe there is any cost for the other materials, but if you do the Couple-to-Couple League classes, that's another $175.

Our parish is a historic building, so they are very strict on decorations. You can only bring in flowers. You have to use the church's candelabras, etc. No aisle runners are allowed, and only certain people are allowed to play the organ, which is rather valuable. No pew bows or anything like that is allowed, either.

Your parish, of course, may have different standards, and your diocese may do the pre-Cana thing differently as well.

Answer 3

My wife and I got married in a Catholic church in 2004. Our church was quite affordable. I believe the church asked for $100, most are higher. The priest did not make us go to Pre-Cana, I still do not know why. We also had to pay the organist $50 or $75, don't exactly remember.

I agree with the others, ask your church what they do and don't allow in the way of flowers or decorations.

Be sure to give an envelope (with cash of course) to the priest, altar boys, organist, singer etc.

On a different subject: Check with the church if they will allow you to throw rice or birdseed, some will not. Also check with the church about acceptable music in church, some can be very strict. When my sister got married, she was not allowed to play the traditional "Here Comes the Bride". Again, I don't know why except to say that it is not acceptable church music. When my wife and I got married, I don't remember any restrictions on music.

Answer 4

In my country, the cost of the ceremony depends on the church. There are churches who ask for big donations. The cost of the decoration of the church is already included in the donation cost but if you like extravagant decoration then you must arrange it with the church administration with additional charges, of course. I suggest you look for a church that is not too big for a more intimate and solemn ceremony.

Answer 5

I'm budgeting for a actholic church wedding as well. The "donation" according to my church:

Parishioners- $150.00
~Non-parishioners-$300.00
~Deposit-$50.00
~Marriage preparation Marterials-$20.00
~ Parishes Marriage Preparation Program -$60.00 /couple
OR
~ Engaged Encounter(retreat)-$175.00/couple

SACRAMENTAL RECORDS:
~Recent baptismal certificate/s (issued within the last 6 months) You may obtain these at the parish you were baptized.
~First communion and confirmation certificate/s
~ You will also need to provide the Church with a copy of your Civil Marriage Certificate

~The minimum age for marriage is ninteen years of age.(It is recommended that the couple know each other at least one(1) year before the Validation Ceremony)

SACRAMANTAL REQUIREMENTS:

~A catholic should have received all three Sacraments of Initiation ( Baptism, Holy Communion, and Confirmation) prior to marriage in the Catholic Church. If a catholic lacks one of these sacraments, the church will work with you to receive that sacrament. However, it is understood that al this will be done BEFORE the wedding.

~Non-Catholics may marry a Catholic in the Catholic Church:
1) If they are NOT hostile to the Catholic Religion,
2)if they will allow their spouse to continue practicing their faith and be open to having their children baptized and reared as Catholics,
3) and if they have NOT been married previously (either civilly or by a Church)
~The exeption is if the the prior marriage has been annulled.

*I hoped I helped. Budgeting is a big part of planning a wedding, if you need help budgeting, your parish should be able to help out. They should have a list of sources and might even be able to void the "donation fee"
Best of luck

Answer 6

I paid $650 for my catholic church deposit. I was told by Lot's of people that I spent too much.. It is true, you cannot really decorate the church. I had four large floral pieces on the alter, my unity candle was decorated, also going down the isle's I had tall candles with flowers surrounding them. The church also had the alter server that we had to tip $20. They also offered two singers, quartet, xylophone,organ that we paid and tipped separately. Wedding's are expensive, but if your lucky you only do it once. The pre- wedding catholic classes cost $250 for the weekly classes, everything else was free. Good luck, and Congratulations!!!

Answer 7

It totally does depend on the parish. Phone the secretary and find out.
At ours, 200 covers the priest for the ceremony as well as the premarital classes.
For our wedding, we just had a few flower arrangements and pewbows on the first few family pews. Our church is full of icons and beauty, so nothing more was needed.

Answer 8

I was married at the Basilica of St. Josaphat in Milwaukee 6 years ago.

From what I recall, the expenses were as follows:

Church rental (member rate): $300
Organist: $150
Cantor: $110
Donation to the Priest: $50
Donaton to the Alter Attendant (Decon? Sorry, I'm not Catholic myself): $20
Violinist for Ava Maria: free (they let us bring in a family member for that one)

We had no decorations in the chruch. I don't even think we had flowers on the alter (I could be wrong on that one). The Basilica is a gorgeous church all on its own. Once of the nicest I have been to anywhere in the world.

The classes were fairly cheap if I recall. We had to take the class for couples of different religions. I think it ran $20.

Good Luck and congrats!

Answer 9

Our church's stipend was $200, but we also gave our priest $250 for his services.

As far as decorations, I had flowers on the alter and candles on the 1st 6 pews. It was beautiful when they were lit.

The pre-cana was $100 per couple.

I hope this helps.

Answer 10

A $350 donation was suggested at my church 8 years ago.

Plus you HAD to supply alter flowers, (the cost was $35 each I needed 2) and they had to stay there for all of the weekend Masses.

Then there is the church organist. He had right of first refusal--which means you had to pay him $350 for him to play at your wedding. If he was willing to play at your wedding, but you didn't want him you still had to pay him. If he was unavailable you didn't have to pay him.

Then there are the alter servers $5 a piece, but mine didn't show up, so we didn't have to pay them.

We took Engaged Encounter it cost at least $300 for both of us for the whole weekend, but it included food & accomdations.
This might seem like a lot, but when your parish is important to you you know the $$$ is going to a good cause.