The Cost of Church Weddings?

– Yes, church weddings cost money.  It used to be (many years ago) that you could get married in your local church for free.  Nowadays, however, you have to pay. Unless you are Roman Catholic – and then you are asked to pay a donation as much as you can afford.

The cost of Church Weddings in Anglican churches (Church in Wales / Church of England)

There is a required legal fee for marrying in a church. In 2022* it costs £560 if you marry away from where you live and £512 if you marry in your home parish.

This is set by the Church of England nationally and is the same for every church.

This basic legal fee includes the cost of the vicar, the church, calling your banns, a banns certificate, lighting and all administration. (After your wedding, when it has been registered at the relevant register office, you will also pay the register office £11 for your marriage certificate – the certificate is no longer issued by churches).

This required fee has ancient origins and ensures your church can maintain essential services like weddings, christenings, funerals and all kinds of other ministries for you and your community.

Optional extras for church weddings

The statutory wedding fee doesn’t include extras you may choose or decline, such as:-

• The support of a verger, who ensures the church is warm, clean and tidy for your wedding and can help with handing out Orders of Service and hymn books etc. They can assist with disability access if needed by your guests and guide people to find their seats, toilets or crèche if there is one. They can be indispensable in larger churches, freeing up the vicar to give their full attention to you and the wedding service.
• Additional heating in the church. The vicar will let you know if this applies to your wedding.
• Having an organist, choir or bell-ringers – these extra staff will all need to be booked in advance. Sometimes, the church may ask for a deposit to secure these bookings.
• Bear in mind that if your wedding is filmed, musicians like the organist can request an increase in their fee to take into account professional performing rights (read more about filming a wedding here). Check with the church what the local arrangements are.
• Church flowers – some churches have a local flower arranger who can help you with the flower displays in church.
• Extra copies of the marriage certificate.

You do not have to have any of these extras, but many couples are keen to have at least some. If you choose them, they will cost extra. The costs for each will be at your church’s local rate.

Is a Church Wedding Affordable?

Talk to your vicar early on about the total cost of your wedding. It is good practice for the church to provide you with an itemised quote before your wedding so that you can see exactly what you will be paying for.

Once the final church bill has been agreed, some couples are still keen to offer a donation to the church. Donations may help to cover things like administration and the upkeep of the building. While these gifts are very kind, you needn’t feel under any obligation.

If you’re struggling to afford your wedding costs, or finding yourself in financial difficulties, it is worth mentioning this to your vicar as they might be able to suggest ways to help. If you need to borrow to pay for your wedding, why not consider using a local credit union?

2023 Weddings

The figure for marrying as of March 2023 breaks down as follows if you marry in the parish where you both live (£539):

• Marriage service in church: £505
• Publication of banns of marriage: £34

If one of you lives in another parish (£590):

• Marriage service in church: £505
• Publication of banns of marriage in the church where you are getting married and one of you lives: £34
• Publication of banns of marriage in the church where the other person lives: £34
• Banns certificate from the other parish: £17

If both of you live in different parishes from each other and other than the one you are getting married in (£641):

• Marriage service in church: £505
• Publication of banns of marriage in the church where you are getting married: £34
• Publication of banns of marriage in the different parishes where you live: £34 x 2
• Banns certificates from the two other parishes: £17 x 2

This basic legal fee includes the cost of the vicar, the church, calling your banns, a banns certificate, lighting and all administration. (After your wedding, when it has been registered at the relevant register office, you will also pay the register office for your marriage certificate – the certificate is no longer issued by churches).

The thing to remember when looking at Church Weddings, for me at least, is if you are religious or not.  If you are not you will find it a pain having to attend the church services for 6 months prior to your wedding date.  Some vicars are ok with the occasional missing Sunday, others are not.

Wiltshire Country Wedding

The Cost of Church Weddings – The Extras!

Extra costs include things like paying for a videographer.  Well, not exactly the videographer but the license for the videographer to video the church service.  You may find that some churches just include these costs anyway, even if you don’t have a videographer, whilst others have it as a separate item.

Other things include Organist (expect to pay £30-£50), Bell Ringing (expect to pay around £100), Verger (expect to pay £20-£30) and extra heating (expect to pay £50-£70)

Voluntary costs – general church running costs; you can expect to pay £300 although this is totally voluntary.  Churches take a lot of money to keep in good order; usually more than the general congregation gives in each Sunday service so every chance for the church to get a little bit extra.

So, generally, for the bells and whistles, you can expect to pay around £700 for a Church of Wales / Church of England Wedding.

More information on the cost of church weddings in the Church of England can be found here.  Church in Wales tends to follow the same guidelines.

The cost of Church Weddings in Roman Catholic

The Roman Catholic (RC) churches don’t charge you.  Getting married in an RC Church is a sacrament and the RC doesn’t feel that people should pay for the sacrament.  They do ask for a donation to the running costs of the church, though, usually around £150.

As one RC church website puts it “There is, however, a long-standing custom of free will offerings made by the faithful on the occasion of certain sacraments. These offerings reflect both gratitude to God and appreciation of the ministry of priests”.

Stills Photography and church weddings

NO church vicar or priest etc should charge you extra for stills photography; that’s only for video.  What a small group do is to ban photography (but strangely not video!) or only allow a very small number of photographs.

It’s best to chat with your vicar/priest about photography. I’m personally more than happy to chat to them myself or meet in person if we can before the wedding to ensure that you get the wedding you want, the priest/vicar can ensure the sanctity of the sacrament of marriage, and I can get the photographs you would like.  Sometimes though, it’s no go despite all of that.