Advice please for my wedding this Sunday....How much do you

[DebJ]

pay the minister? The last time I got married was 1975; I can't even remember what we paid then, not that such would be relevant.
We are in Pennsylvania, so anyone in Pa, Md, Del out there with an idea? Or anyone anywhere? We don't belong to a church. We are being married by an old friend of my fiances who is a minister.

[cally]

1. Estimate how many hours the minister

took to prepare, rehearse, and preside at the wedding. Multiply that by what a professional makes in your area.

[DebJ]

2. thanks for the suggestion.

[Doctor Smith]

3. You should ask him.

He will suggest an amount, based on how much work he does, and how elaborate the ceremony is.

[2Design]

4. pay what you can don't go overboard

They get paid good from collections donors and others....

Some people over do this.....If you can only afford a little, so be it.

Maybe do a search on internet on "paying ministers for weddings".

[Lydia Leftcoast]

5. Ask other people who have been married in that church recently

There tends to be a "going rate."

There is usually no absolute requirement to pay the minister (my father, a Lutheran pastor, was "stiffed" by newly marrid couples a few times), except that s/he does spend a lot of time with the couple. You MUST pay the janitor and any musicians or singers who are paid employees of the church, since they are, in effect, working overtime for you.

[DebJ]

6. Thanks. Actually I'm putting together a CD for the music

though. I couldn't handle not paying him anything.

[tcfrogs]

7. I want to say three bills

According to my wife's family tradition (and others I suppose), it was up the best man to pay the minister. I told my best man about it (in 2000), and I gave him $300 to fork over to the minister.

That seemed to be satisfactory, according to what I'd heard from my now in-laws.

Of course, that may vary from state to state, denomination by denomination.