Want a Church for Ceremony, in Omaha

Does she have a parish that she belongs to? I only have experience with Catholic Churches who ask for a donation, and it’s usually $****, in our area.

Seems about right. My girls are getting married in the Catholic Church and by the time you pay the fee, tip the servers, cantors, musician/singers, and make a donation it will be at least $1,000. By comparison, if they got married at their venues, the fees would be a couple hundred more before tax and gratuity. Chicago suburbs area.

We're getting married in our Methodist church, and the church cost right around $1,300 if I remember correctly. It covers the clean up fee, officiant fee, wedding coordinator fee, musician fee, and the rental of the space fee.

It would have been cheaper for us to get married at our reception venue (not by much), but getting married in our church was worth it to us.

Wow. I had no idea.

I rented an unitarian church in MA for only $500 which also include the space for rehearsal the night before, bridal suite (and pretty much the entire church). If I want the organist to play (there is a pipe organ) than that cost additional $200

Yes, it's normal. There are expenses involved in maintaining a church and salaries for the personnel on site that day. There is also, obviously, prep for the ceremony before the day. Usually, that all comes in at more than 1000.00

Most Unitarian churches are not going to give you the specifically religious feel you're looking for (I was raised Unitarian, just for the record....) because the congregations are not based in Christianity (except for about 10% of them.....). You might find a stained glass window, but in my home church, they're of dinosaurs, not Jesus. (One notable exception is in NYC; there is a Tiffany window of Jesus and the disciples. There is a movable curtain in front of it, for those occasions when Jesus isn't invited....)

But this begs a question; if you're not members of a church, why does she want a church backdrop? Most good officiants can create religious ceremonies in reception venues (which, by the way, often cost at least 1000.......) if religious content is important to your families

Most churches are less $$ for members but that assumes you are tithing to support that church year round.

Daughter does attend an Episcopal church in her town, but it's not big enough to hold her approximate 160 guests. That's one reason they are getting married in Omaha, instead of their town. I think she can get the Episcopal rate, because of belonging to another in the same denomination. That was the $1500 cost. (Even higher for non-members.) We (her parents) attend church in another state. So yes, the religious aspect is important to all of us. And important to groom's mother, too.

Wow! The Catholic Church I work at is $500 for parishioners and $800 for non parishioners. IMO, charging over $1,000 for a church is wrong.

It depends on the church. Ours is $250 for a non-member..free for members.

Priest is $250 either way.

Our cathedral is $1500 right off the bat..doesn't matter if you're a member or not.

We are getting married in a Catholic church and with everything it is only $600.00.

For our church the money goes to pay for those who had to work at the wedding, to set up and clean up and electricity and air or heat.

It's definitely worth looking into the reciprocity of any church you investigate. Good luck!

If we wanted to use our church for a ceremony it was a $500 donation to the church. But we aren't using our church

We ended up not getting married in the church for our own reasons, but the church we were looking at was about $800 for parishioners. That did not include the fee for the musicians, the priest or tipping the altar attendants. I think the non-parishioner fee is $1300.

I know one of the most popular churches in my city is about $2500 just for the church. When my parents got married there in 1985 it was $200.

@Diana - to be clear, the catholic church by us is $500, but you still make a donation and tip everyone involved so it adds up.

Our church is free for members, but there's a fee for non-members, I think its around $1000. Plus a donation for the clergy and paying the organist.