For those of you who got married in a Catholic church on LI. (Kings Park: to rent, condo)

[Rachael84]

My fiance and I are set to get married in a Catholic church next weekend. The church just sent us something in the mail that says we owe them $700??? Is this even normal?! We thought it would be like $300 tops. The musician fee alone is $250. I told them we only just heard about this now, but they claim all the exact pricing was in a book they gave us when we booked it. We read through it all (even though they claim we didn't), and it said NOTHING about that much money. If we read it to be that much, we would have chosen another place for the ceremony. The woman was going back and forth saying it's a donation, it's a fee, just back and forth. And she also said it was due a month ago when no one told us anything. I told her we just bought a house and we're paying for that and the wedding ourselves, and how we can't give anymore than $300. She actually had the nerve to say "You can pay for your own limo and reception hall, but yet you can't give enough money to the church?" See, this is why I can't stand churches and religions.

Does this seem fishy to you? My good friend got married in PA and only had to spend $50. For it to be that much more here is absurd. What did you pay the church when you got married here?

I'm very worried, because she told me we may not be able to get married there if we don't pay $700. I'm waiting to speak to the business manager about this.

[rocafeller05]

Do you attend this church on a regular basis? If not, you should suck it up and pay the $700. Compare that to renting a place for a ceremony. You would pay the $700 without any questions.

[56 Fighter]

Originally Posted by Rachael84

My fiance and I are set to get married in a Catholic church next weekend. The church just sent us something in the mail that says we owe them $700??? Is this even normal?! We thought it would be like $300 tops. The musician fee alone is $250. I told them we only just heard about this now, but they claim all the exact pricing was in a book they gave us when we booked it. We read through it all (even though they claim we didn't), and it said NOTHING about that much money. If we read it to be that much, we would have chosen another place for the ceremony. The woman was going back and forth saying it's a donation, it's a fee, just back and forth. And she also said it was due a month ago when no one told us anything. I told her we just bought a house and we're paying for that and the wedding ourselves, and how we can't give anymore than $300. She actually had the nerve to say "You can pay for your own limo and reception hall, but yet you can't give enough money to the church?" See, this is why I can't stand churches and religions.

Does this seem fishy to you? My good friend got married in PA and only had to spend $50. For it to be that much more here is absurd. What did you pay the church when you got married here?

I'm very worried, because she told me we may not be able to get married there if we don't pay $700. I'm waiting to speak to the business manager about this.

$700 is too much... 300-400 is about normal.

I know someone who just went through the pre-wedding "therapy" or whatever it's called and the person told him and his wife that condoms cause cancer

[S.I.B.]

I think I gave a $200 "donation"...which we were made aware of the day we went in to schedule a date.

what church is pulling this nonsense?

[Rachael84]

St. Joseph's in Kings Park. I had no idea it would be this much. I even told them about how it's been hard on us paying for our new house and wedding, and how we barely getting by...they don't seem to care. My fiance is caving in and saying that he'll pay it himself, but I told him not to. I'd rather have a civil union or whatever, than pay $700 to use a church for an hour. Mod cut: language

[Rachael84]

Originally Posted by rocafeller05

Do you attend this church on a regular basis? If not, you should suck it up and pay the $700. Compare that to renting a place for a ceremony. You would pay the $700 without any questions.

Not since I moved, but I went there growing up and got my communion and confirmation there.

[AnthonyNYC]

I have heard this from a few co-workers as well. They were recently married and had to pay close to the same amount. Needless to say they were pissed because they found out about this after the fact. They thought the same as you, they talked to a few people and were advised to make a "donation" of $300. The church insisted on $800 or so and still called it a donation and this was after the ceremony. To them it just felt like a scam, if they were told up they would have felt differently.

[pdcnret]

$700 is a bit high, but not extraordinarily so. The usual fee is about $500 and it's split three ways: the priest gets a portion, the singer gets a portion and the organist gets a portion. The fee is usually discussed when the wedding is booked. It's not a donation to the church -- you're paying a fee for the use of the church and for the people who perform the services for you.

By the way, the same fee structure applies to funerals also.

[lialleycat]

I think I paid close to $500, but that was quite a few years ago. It was like $200 for the music and a $300 donation to the church. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the more popular churches were asking for a $700 "donation".

Though you should have been made aware of this earlier, I doubt the church will back down. They will see the donation to G-d as being the best and highest use of the money you'll spend for your wedding and would rather you get rid of something else to pay them. You might have to suck it up and charge it or something because it's too late to find another location. Either that or see if you can pay half now and half later?

[Rachael84]

Ummm, no...If it's a fee, then we would need to sign a contract and details about paying it would be discussed at first. The church said NOTHING to us about what the fee would be ALL the times we've been there.