Offici..what?!

View Quoted Comment Okay, that is very affordable. I could work with that

We looked at officiants, saw that all of them were $500-$1000 and our eyes bugged out, especially since we wanted no religious aspects whatsoever in it. My husband's uncle got ordained online for free and officiated. We got him a nice gift as a thank you.

View Quoted Comment That was super sweet of him. Yes, $500 is wayyy too much.

Our officiant is $510, including travel and a custom-written ceremony (Burlington, VT area)

View Quoted Comment $510 is a bit too much for me. Thanks fir weighing in.

Expensive! We were shocked. Of course we got married in Napa which was expensive anyway but we’re like $400-$800 for 20 darn minutes??? I know there’s prep work too, not just the day of but come on. With a ton of hunting we found an amazing non-religious officiant for $250.

Hi all, I’m completely new to all this and FH and I are ridiculous cheapskates, lol. My brother is an ordained minister as his daily profession. I was able to secure his services at the cost of 3 days/nights of his choice - babysitting my 2 nieces and nephew. We’re counting our blessing where we can get them.

View Quoted Comment That's definitely a steal in Napa. Good for you!

View Quoted Comment That's definitely a bargain!!! Good for you

I originally wanted to spend about $150-$300, and it seemed like that was the going rate for an officiant to do the bare minimum.

But a friend referred us to our officiant, who specializes in personalized ceremonies. I had major sticker shock when she told us her price was in the $750 range, with an additional $200 to do the rehearsal dinner (which we ended up not having).

The more we thought about it, though, the more we considered it to be a good investment. She met with us in person once, then over Zoom a few times for several hours, and put together a beautiful ceremony for us that no one else will have. We also did a lot of exercises together around why we want to be married, what marriages means to each of us, etc.

When we had to downsize our wedding, the ceremony became even more of a focal point, and we got so many compliments on it. People laughed, cried, and got to see us in a different light; it was very memorable. Hiring her was one of the best wedding decisions we made!

View Quoted Comment Hi Eri. Thanks fir weighing in. Sounds like you were a highly satisfied customer

I am paying $300 for mine and she is coming from about an hour away and she helps with creating the ceremony script that fits us as a couple.

View Quoted Comment Okay $300 is too much for me. Thanks for weighing in.

View Quoted Comment What do you what amount do you feel is acceptable for an officiant (given their major role in your wedding)?

View Quoted Comment Yep! Sometimes the officiant gets the back burner treatment.

Our officiant is a minister and has never charged for a wedding or a funeral.

View Quoted Comment Hi Ashley! What a blessing! Did he stay to eat at the reception or do you plan on including him for the reception?

View Quoted Comment In the area we’re getting married, that was the cheapest.

View Quoted Comment Okay, well my cheapskate butt would dance right to the courthouse 😂😂😂lol

View Quoted Comment

I agree about the importance of the officiant and how it sometimes gets overlooked. We made sure that our rabbi was available to officiate our wedding when deciding on a date/venue. So our officiant was technically the very first 'vendor' that we booked!