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Rip off charges for humanist ceremony in ROI

OscarCat77

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Duffryman

OscarCat77 wrote: »

I do want to pay for the ceremony but I think €550 to say a few words and sign a form is too much €200 tops I was hoping to pay I don’t think I am being unrealistic here

How much will you be paying a band, 'to play a few tunes and sing a few songs'?

How much will you be paying somebody to make a cake, 'to crack a few eggs and mix in some flour and put some icing on top'?

How much will you be paying somebody for photos or video, 'to stand with a camera and hit the button a few times'?

etc. etc. etc.

baby and crumble

TCM wrote: »

Qualified. Lol. As usual a scam and rip off.

Grand so. Get some bloke from down the road who's never done public speaking in his life to do your ceremony, without knowledge of the legal aspects, no idea how to read a room, how to put people at ease, how to project his voice in a room with no mics, to understand where to stand so he doesn't get in the way of photos, to not stumble over his script...

:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

seamus

TCM wrote: »

Qualified. Lol. As usual a scam and rip off.

If you want to get married in Ireland, it costs €200.

Everything above that is frills that you're choosing to add yourself, so you can't really complain about scams and rip offs. Don't do it if you don't want to pay it.

schemingbohemia

I lost count of the number of people at our humanist celebrant officiated wedding who told us how great the ceremony was, how personal it was and how warm and welcoming our celebrant was. Our celebrant travelled a bit to meet us, gave us examples of what other people had done with their weddings in terms of readings and songs and gave us a great flavour of how it would go.
She was also a very lovely woman who was well aware that many of the attendees would be quite churchy people and slightly tailored the celebration in that regard, recognising that there would be people of faith there and had a moments reflection (where they could get a sneaky prayer in if they wanted).
In the grand scheme of things the cost of her attendance was minimal, we asked in advance if she'd like to stay for the meal but she declined, and the work she put in to make the celebration run smoothly was well worth the money.

OscarCat77

maximoose wrote: »

Paying €500 including travel for our Humanist celebrant, seems pretty standard

Yeah that seems to be the theme!

osarusan

OscarCat77 wrote: »

I do want to pay for the ceremony but I think €550 to say a few words and sign a form is too much €200 tops I was hoping to pay I don’t think I am being unrealistic here

It does sound like you are being unrealistic though - unrealistic in that your idea of how much it 'should' cost is way off what seems to be the standard in reality.

D.Q

The value of that 500 quid really depends on how long the marriage lasts.

bucketybuck

OscarCat77 wrote: »

I do want to pay for the ceremony but I think €550 to say a few words and sign a form is too much €200 tops I was hoping to pay I don’t think I am being unrealistic here

Everybody thinks the things they have to pay for are too expensive.

Why do have to pay callout fees to a plumber, sure all he did was fix a tap?
Why do I have to pay the garage an hours labour, sure all he did was fix a broken wire?
Why do I have to pay that much for a toy, sure it only cost x to make?
Why do I have to pay, I can't do it myself but it still should be cheaper than that for me...

You think it is too expensive but frankly, who are you to dictate what they should or shouldn't charge? They have stated their prices, use them or don't but it is their right to decide what they are selling their time for.

They charge €500, you think it should be €200? Damn sure if that was realistic then somebody could make a killing in that market simply by providing a similar option at €350, I would get in there and make a fortune while you still can.

1874

OscarCat77 wrote: »

You see I don’t want to do my vows in some HSE office and the have some weird fake ceremony on the day it’s a joke th whole is thing!!!

Its all a joke really,its the legal bit that counts, legally, the rest is a ceremony.
I dont remember how much it cost for the registrar, done on a Friday, afterwards, I did think, maybe could have had a humanist celebration, but I thought the ceremony was ok.

seamus wrote: »

Depends on the church. If someone is very tight with the local parish, they may get it for nothing.

Most churches will suggest a "donation" to the church as a gift on your wedding. If you bring in a priest from outside the parish you may be "asked" to make a separate "donation" to his parish.

€500 all-in is around standard.

tight with the local parish?!

you make it sound like a mafia organisation, oh hang on. BYOP charges

Magdalena Unsightly Sludge wrote: »

You're not being unreasonable. The whole thing is a racket - the HSE makes it difficult to be able to do the ceremony, you can't just rock up to the HSE and register as a celebrant/solemniser. So the Humanists pretty much have a closed market and charge what they want.

Sure some people want to be pretty involved in the ceremony and will want all that back and forth. And for them, €600 is fine. But for anybody who just wants a standard ceremony there should be a cheaper option available.

A priest will be about half the price. Or just do the registry office thing and have someone say a few words on the day.

Its all a business, pastafarians would do it for free beer and a plate of carbonara,

In reality, if they need to turn up for 30-45 minutes, the rest of the day is a write off, maybe they could squeeze 2 ceremonies in in one day, if they could book them in or get booked, all the prep stuff they do as standard but theres not much else they can do, at 500 though, they can buy their own drinks!

Prospector1989

We're having a spiritualist ceremony. Celebrant/Solemniser is costing us €475 including travel expenses. We've met him once so far and is very responsive to any queries my fiancée has regarding the ceremony. Advice on things to include or omit for the ceremony. Haven't gotten married yet but already worth what we've paid and much more.

Mrs OBumble

ChrissieH wrote: »

On the other hand, every priest in the country is just automatically granted legal power to marry people - a reflection of how Ireland and the church are so intertwined - and being a priest is their full-time job, so whether it's "right" for them to be given €100+ for performing a wedding, given that they didn't have to invest any money to train specifically like humanist celebrants do,

Ahh, nope.

They have to be recognised as ministers in their church. For Catholics, that's seven years in the seminary. Other churches have different approaches. Catholic priests are (usually) full time assigned to church work, and paid an annual stipend (well less than 20k on average). But it's different for other churches, eg I know of one Orthodox priest who was delivering pizzas for a while: the local community couldn't afford to pay him enough to live on and he didn't have good enough English to get a better job. Interfaith ministers are different again - just to enrol in their course costs you the best part of £9000 and they'd definitely be paying for themselves. Pastafarian ordination costs a lot less, but I don't think they're recognised as ministers here - yet!

And they all have to go through appropriate civil procedures to get on the register of solomizers, it doesn't come automatically with ordination / appointment / whatever.

uck51js9zml2yt

Seve OB wrote: »

I thought the whole point of being a civil servant was to have a cushy number.
I'm sure you will be hard pushed to find any of them who want to be "allowed" to work weekends

That didn't take long....you obviously know nothing about the jobs we do....which at times involve weekends.