How much does a church wedding cost?

Add up what a church wedding actually costs from your own church's fee schedule: the sanctuary, the clergy honorarium, the organist and any soloist, the sound and custodial staff, premarital counselling, and what you spend decorating a room that is already decorated. The parish office will give you these figures if you ask for them in one go, which is the part worth doing before you pick a date.

§ 01 Your numbers

Change anything. The answer updates as you type.

Sanctuary or building fee (dollars)

What the congregation charges for the use of the room, the date and the office time around it. This is the number people mean when they say 'what the church costs', and it is usually a fraction of the real total.

Ask the office for the written schedule rather than a figure over the phone, because the schedule is where the other lines are listed. Ask at the same time which rate applies to you: many congregations charge members one amount and non-members a higher one, and if either of you is joining, the timing of that can matter to the bill. The default here is ours and editable.

Clergy honorarium (dollars)

The payment to the person who officiates. It is often described as a gift rather than a fee, which is exactly why it is easy to leave out of a budget.

Some churches print a suggested amount on the schedule, some leave it to you, and some fold it into the building fee for members. Where it is left to you, asking the office what couples usually give is a normal question and the office is used to answering it. It is frequently handed over as a cheque or an envelope on the day rather than invoiced, so it will not appear on any statement you are tracking.

Organist, pianist and soloist (dollars)

Musicians are their own payments, and there can be more than one of them: an organist or pianist for the processional, and a soloist or small ensemble if you want one.

Many congregations require you to use their staff organist, or to pay that organist a bench fee even if you bring your own player, because the instrument is theirs and the position is a paid staff role. Rehearsal time is sometimes billed on top of the ceremony itself. If you are planning specific music, name the pieces early, because a change of instrument or key changes who you need.

Sound desk, custodian and other staff (dollars)

The people who unlock the building, run the microphones, and clean the room afterwards. Small lines individually, and the ones left out of budgets almost universally.

A sanctuary with a sound system usually has somebody who is allowed to operate it, and a wedding outside normal hours means somebody is being paid to be there. Some schedules call this a facility attendant or a sexton fee. If your ceremony is being streamed or recorded, ask whether that is the same person or another one.

Premarital counselling or preparation (dollars)

Many churches require a preparation course or a set of sessions with the clergy member before they will marry you, and some charge for the materials or the inventory questionnaire.

The money here is usually small. The calendar is not: a required course can run several weeks, and it decides how early you have to book rather than how much you pay. Ask what is required and how long it takes in the same conversation as the fees, because it is the constraint that most often moves a date.

Flowers, candles and decoration (dollars)

A sanctuary arrives already decorated, which is one of the genuine savings of marrying in one. What you add on top is a choice.

Ask what the building's rules are before you buy anything: open flame is restricted in many sanctuaries, some prohibit anything attached to the pews or the altar, and a few ask that seasonal decorations already in the room stay where they are. Couples marrying near a major feast day sometimes inherit a fully decorated room and spend nothing here.

Marriage license fee (dollars)

Charged by your county rather than by the church, and required either way. Your county clerk publishes it on a fee schedule. It is here so the total is the total, and it is the one line on this page that a church cannot tell you.

Estimated cost

$1,910

Sanctuary or building fee$500
Clergy honorarium$300
Organist, pianist and soloist$350
Sound desk, custodian and other staff$200
Premarital counselling or preparation$100
Flowers, candles and decoration$400
Marriage license (county)$60
Total$1,910

See next steps →

Recommended next steps

Some links below are affiliate links. If you buy through them, Calcatrice may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. We only suggest tools that fit your result, and a company can't pay to show up here.

$800 to $2,500 is a non-member building fee, an organist and soloist, staffed sound, and flowers you chose rather than inherited. Get every line on the church's own schedule in writing, and decide who carries which envelope on the day.

PlanningWedding budget tracker↗Seven payees, several of them paid in cash.InsuranceWedding & vendor insurance↗Often required by the congregation once outside vendors are involved.

What this assumes, and where it could be wrong

Every one of these is a place the number could be off. They are here because you should be able to check our working, not because we are hedging.

EVERY FIGURE HERE IS YOUR CHURCH'S, AND IT IS ON A SCHEDULE YOU CAN ASK FOR.

This page estimates nothing. A congregation sets its own wedding fees and the parish office keeps them on a sheet it hands to couples. Ask for the sheet rather than a number, and ask for it early, because it lists lines you would not have thought to ask about individually. The defaults in the form are ours, they are placeholders so the page has something to draw, and replacing them with the sheet turns this from an estimate into an exact total.

The member rate and the non-member rate are often two different numbers, and the gap can be the largest single item here.

Many congregations charge a lower fee, or waive the building fee entirely, for couples who belong to it, and a higher one for couples who do not. Some define membership by a period of attendance or giving rather than by a signature. If either of you has a home congregation, ask about its rate before assuming the prettier building nearby is comparable, and ask what the church counts as membership rather than guessing.

Several lines are handed over rather than invoiced, and that is why they go missing from budgets. The clergy honorarium, the organist and the sound or custodial staff are frequently paid as envelopes or cheques on the wedding day itself. They never appear on a statement, a card bill or a deposit receipt, so a couple tracking spending through their bank sees a total that is lower than what they paid. Write these down when you agree them, and decide who is carrying the envelopes on the day.

The church's rules can cost more than the church's fees. Restrictions on photography during the ceremony, on open flame, on what may be attached to pews, on aisle runners, on confetti and on when the building must be cleared can each change what you book elsewhere. A vendor who has to work around a rule they learned about on the day charges for it. Ask for the rules in writing at the same time as the fees.

This total is the ceremony, and it stops at the church door. The reception, the catering, the photographer, attire and rings are separate budgets and larger ones. What a church wedding changes about them is mainly the room: a sanctuary arrives with its own architecture, seating and often its own flowers, so the decoration line above tends to be smaller than the equivalent line at a blank venue.

Frequently asked questions

How much does a church wedding cost?

Ask your church for its written wedding fee schedule and add the lines: the sanctuary or building fee, the clergy honorarium, the organist and any soloist, the sound desk and custodial staff, and any charge for the required preparation course. Add the county marriage license, which the church does not charge and cannot waive. Put those figures in the form above and the total is exact rather than estimated. There is no national church wedding fee to quote, because each congregation sets its own.

Is the clergy honorarium included in the church fee?

Sometimes, and it is worth asking directly rather than assuming. Some congregations fold the officiant's payment into the building fee, particularly for members. Others list it separately with a suggested amount, and others leave the amount entirely to the couple. Where it is left to you, ask the office what couples usually give: it is a routine question there. Because it is usually handed over as an envelope on the day, it is one of the easiest lines to leave out of a budget and then pay anyway.

Why do churches charge non-members more for a wedding?

A building fee covers heat, light, insurance, wear and the staff time around the event, and members already contribute to those through regular giving. A non-member has not, so the schedule charges the difference. Some congregations also reserve dates for members first. The practical consequence is that the same wedding can cost two quite different amounts depending on which church you approach, so if either of you has a home congregation, get its rate before comparing anything else.

Do I have to use the church's organist?

Frequently yes, and where you may bring your own player you are often still asked to pay the staff organist a bench fee. The instrument belongs to the congregation, it is expensive and particular, and the organist position is a paid staff role rather than a booking. Ask early if you have specific music in mind, because whether the piece works on that instrument, and whether a rehearsal is billed on top of the ceremony, are both decided before you can price the line above.

Related calculators

Wedding officiantYour numbers

One question, two payees. The honorarium goes to the pastor; the building-use fee goes to the church, on a schedule the pastor does not set. Ask for both figures.

Open the calculator→

Courthouse weddingYour numbers

A courthouse wedding is three fees, not one. The license is permission, the ceremony is billed separately, and the certified copies are the part people forget.

Open the calculator→