Officiator Prices

BelovedAunt

Hi guys, I'm just wondering what the typical prices are for officiators are. The one we're thinking of is €600, which I think is quite steep.

Also, it seems we have to pay the deposit before meeting her, which I find strange. Thanks.

stargazer 68

They vary wildly. A HSE Registrar can cost you 100 - 400 depending on how far they have to travel. Our Humanist was 550.

splinter65

Dovies wrote: »

They vary wildly. A HSE Registrar can cost you 100 - 400 depending on how far they have to travel. Our Humanist was 550.

HSE registrars have to apply the civil service mileage rates. Of course if you just show up at their office at the time arranged there’ll be no mileage at all.

SarahS2013

Our humanist is 575

MissElle

Our humanist was 475 (Dublin wedding)

Jezabelle28

Our Spiritualist is €450 !

splinter65

If the celebrant has to travel I would assume it will be more.

SarahS2013

splinter65 wrote: »

If the celebrant has to travel I would assume it will be more.

You'd assume so. However our ceremony is Dublin City Centre and our Humanist is Dublin based. And he's still one of the most expensive @ 575

Seriously considering becoming a celebrant and quitting my day job!

splinter65

SarahS2013 wrote: »

You'd assume so. However our ceremony is Dublin City Centre and our Humanist is Dublin based. And he's still one of the most expensive @ 575

Seriously considering becoming a celebrant and quitting my day job!

How many meetings will you be having with him pre wedding day? How much preparation will he need to do?

lazygal

We had three meetings with our humanist celebrant before the day and a fair bit of emailing back and forth.
TBH if you're not using the HSE celebrant in the office everything else is an option extra. Private celebrants can charge what they like, they're in business. Money well spent for us.

splinter65

lazygal wrote: »

We had three meetings with our humanist celebrant before the day and a fair bit of emailing back and forth.
TBH if you're not using the HSE celebrant in the office everything else is an option extra. Private celebrants can charge what they like, they're in business. Money well spent for us.

This is it really. If you expect the celebrant to spend nearly 10 hours working on your wedding including the wedding itself , traveling time, meeting you before hand and their own preparation, then around €600 would seem fair.

SarahS2013

splinter65 wrote: »

This is it really. If you expect the celebrant to spend nearly 10 hours working on your wedding including the wedding itself , traveling time, meeting you before hand and their own preparation, then around €600 would seem fair.

This isn't my expectation at all guys, in fact I think you've missed my point entirely.

There are previous posts where people were saying the higher prices are usually down to travel time etc. I was simply saying that my price was at the higher end of those quoted and travel wasn't necessary. That's all.

BelovedAunt

Thanks guys. Is it fairly typical to have to pay a deposit before the first meeting? I would have assumed that you could meet the person first before deciding to pay for their services.

splinter65

BelovedAunt wrote: »

Thanks guys. Is it fairly typical to have to pay a deposit before the first meeting? I would have assumed that you could meet the person first before deciding to pay for their services.

How much deposit is it? Is it refundable if you turn up for the initial meeting and decide not to go ahead?
It could be an effort to dissuade time wasters.

SarahS2013

We paid our deposit after meeting him - €50

MiliMe

Our Humanist Celebrant is 575 (75 euro deposit).
Tho I did see something somewhere lately that some Spiritual Celebrants now have been granted the legal rights to marry.

Yellowboglady

MiliMe wrote: »

Our Humanist Celebrant is 575 (75 euro deposit).
Tho I did see something somewhere lately that some Spiritual Celebrants now have been granted the legal rights to marry.

Spiritualist celebrants have been granted those rights for several years now. We were married by a celebrant from the Spiritualist Union a few years ago and it cost €400

MiliMe

Yellowboglady wrote: »

Spiritualist celebrants have been granted those rights for several years now. We were married by a celebrant from the Spiritualist Union a few years ago and it cost €400

Ah ok. My bad. The guy I was speaking yo said that he hadn't been given the rights yet. Maybe it was just whoever he trained with.

1perriwinkle

There is a register of solemnisers i.e. People who can legally marry couples. This includes priests, humanists, spiritualists and HSE people. Aside from that there are independent celebrants e.g. the Irish Celebrants Association. (they are trained people who will carry out your wedding ceremony), but you have to do the legal part separately yourselves.