paying priest for letter of freedom

offalyman

Hi all,

Just a quick question regarding paying the priest for a letter of freedom. I'm assuming there is a charge on this but my question is how much if any? I don't want to make myself look cheap. The priest in question will be traveling to my wedding and he will be getting a few bob and his accommodation payed for on the day. Is this enough.

Cheers

seamus

There should be no charge for the letter of freedom. You don't even need to talk to a priest. Ring up the parish office and they can send one out to you.

Priests will rarely charge for performing a ceremony but you usually pay for all of the priests costs and give him a tab on the bar if he fancies a tipple.

Often priests have taken a vow of poverty so they do not want payment for their services.

smelltheglove

I think I paid a €5 documentation charge, could have been for one of the certificates or the letter, not sure which, but minimal charge anyway.

purerandom

did this a few weeks ago, spent 20 mins with the priest and then i had to pass the documents onto the priest that is marrying us. no charge whatsoever.

bigbadcon

I know my priest so I gave him a bottle of whiskey for doing all of the documentation

The priest of the better halfs side were looking for €5 though for letter of freedom

BC

You won't make yourself look cheap - they'll tell you quite clearly what the charge is if there is one! It depends on the parish but some do charge an administration fee. I got charged nothing in my own parish, 5 euro in 1 parish and 20 euro in another.

For the pre-nup enquiry, I don't know of any priest who charges (mine isn't) but i have been told by others that their priest has charged around 30 euro.

offalyman

Finally got around to talking to my priest yesterday and got hit with a e20 per cert charge and a lecture about the cost of new carpets in the church :rolleyes:. I really have no problems paying for services like this but I'd be fairly sure that it ended up in his back pocket and not in the parish funds. He also got a very nice present of a bottle of 12 year old jameson. ah well

lucy2010

I remember when we were getting married. Our church was closed for renovations so we had to get married in the 1 500m away ( different parish technically) We both had to get letters of release as it was not our parish & were charged £40 EACH for the pleasure ... & that was 10 years ago. Ever felt you've been had !

DvB

We had to pay a fee of €150 for the church we're having the ceremony in(OH's parish) & i had to pay €5 for my confirmation cert (seperate parish) but wasnt charged for my baptism cert (another parish again), neither of us were charged for the pre nuptial enquiry which in my case was yet another parish again. We'll be giving the priest who's actually carrying out the ceremony a few bob as well on the day as well, AFAIC thats that in terms of payment for the church end of things... it seems that theres no fixed charge for the churches paperwork, it appears to depend entirely on the parish in question which is a tad unfortunate if you're dealing with a parish that looks for a bit more than others, however in the greater scheme of things the fees being requested in terms of the overall cost of your wedding are likely to be minimal so unlikely to break the bank.

offalyman

DvB wrote: »

however in the greater scheme of things the fees being requested in terms of the overall cost of your wedding are likely to be minimal so unlikely to break the bank.

Couldn't agree with you more its just the fact that its not transparent is my problem. I have no problems paying my dues and I feel I get many benefits from my church but to pay E80 for 3 certs and a Pre Nup enquire I thought was a bit much

Toots

Does anyone know if it's acceptable not to have the priest at the meal? I hadn't planned on it, neither had my parents, seeing as we don't know him and we're already forking out about €200 for him to marry us. My H2B's mother wasn't happy when she found out we're not inviting him though.

seamus

I think it's perfectly acceptable if he's just doing a job and he otherwise doesn't know the couple. Gone are the olden days where the priest was number 3 in the wedding pecking order after the bride and groom.

It would be expected though, so it might be worth saying it to the priest directly - cite restricted numbers or somesuch. If no-one knows the priest, then he won't be missed.

DvB

We allowed for the priest to attend the reception & when we actually invited him he politely declined but said he would pop along later in the evening for a glass of wine, when i mentioned this to a few friends who have married recently they had similar stories, the only priest who did attend the full reception was one who was already a friend of the family. From what i can gather it is polite to ask but not written in stone as a must so i wouldnt worry too much, at the end of the day its your wedding & your choice.

lizabbey7

hi all, I am getting married in a few months, we have all the paper work done and are ready to go, there has been no mention of money at all so I presume the admin side is free, but what I am wondering is how much we give the priest as payment?? whats the norm??

Whynop

Parishes don't run on air. €500 to €1,000 is the going rate for a wedding. If you have no intention of ever showing your face at your parish again, €200 should suffice. Also, inviting the priest to the wedding dinner is standard protocol. If he doesn't know you, he'll probably decline or maybe just stick around for one drink: priests say Mass most mornings and are early birds.