Church Fees?

Ok so thought the Church was all organised until this week when I had to call the church Warden.

Long story short but our Vicar has retired and left no records behind of any weddings next year. We have paid the deposit to secure the date but there is no record of this either.
It's all getting a bit stressful as even though we have had a meeting with the Vicar that has retired who I knew well, we have been told that we now have to go and have a meeting with the Canon as there are no records that we have been given permission. They want to check that this is a rea marriage as there have been problems with this in the Diocese (we live in Northamptonshire so proves it happens everywhere.)
Also no-one seems to know what the costs are for next year! They told us to go to the church and look on the notice board that only has last years prices and we were told that they would be increasing.
Do any of you lovely ladies have any idea what the cost of a marriage is in Church next year. Also if you don't mind telling me what are the other costs of having the bells etc?

Thanks in advance.

 

As far as I am aware the fees are different for each church, the village I use to live in the church there had much lower fees than others in the local area which is why it had a lot of weddings despite only serving a very small community.

With regard to the bell ringing the same applies, some bells need more than one person to ring them, my church has three bells and they can be rung by one person (me!) we did charge £30 for bell ringing of which I got £10 and the rest went to the church fund. However I have moved and I don't know what they charge now but I imagine it must be more.

 

Oh you poor thing!! I don't know about church fees but just wanted to send you virtual hugs & hope you get it all sotred. Did you get a receipt for your deposit? xxx

 

Hi there my dad happens to be a vicar for the Church of England, firstly I would like to answer part of your question regarding bell ringing.

This really does vary from each church to another in the same way you may pay for the organist. These prices can range from a lower rate from under £100 up to sometimes £600.

Things that would have a factor would be the number of bells and then the number of staff required to ring them.

Next I would like to answer your question regarding fees of churches, generally each church sets their fees individually. Things that will be taken into account will be;
1. The size of the church
2. The heating & lighting
3. Other services provided, ie. bells, organist, choirs

The church fees are realised every year in January, there is a set amount of how much the fees can be increased by, each year and that is no more than £30. If you were given a price previously I hope you will be rest assured it won't increase too dramatically.

If you need any further assistance please don't hesitate to get in touch.

I hope I have been of some help & put you at ease slightly.
Best of luck and good wishes in your wedding preparations

Jessica
Love & Marriage Weddings

www.loveandmarriageweddings.cim

 

Thank you all so much, from what you are all saying it sounds like I have been spun a couple of stories as we were told that all churches charge the same. I'm positive it will all be sorted in the long run I'm just trying to get the budget finalised.

 

Fingers crossed it gets sorted for you chick, sounds like a bit of a faff, but I'm sure in the long run it'll all work out fine x

 

the legal costs for a church of england wedding are the same no matterwhere you marry.
have a look at the cofe website.

this year's fees are: £260. banns are £22 per parish (if you get married in a different parish or you both live in different parishes you have to pay for each parish as they have to be read out both places) and the banns certificate is £12.

you can have extras added on, which you can choose to have or not - the recommended one is the organist, which should be £60ish. you can have bells, choir, flowers etc, but your church will advise that when you approach.

all you have to pay are the fees i've typed out.

bloody nightmare you've got there though.

 

next year's provisional fees have been published -
here

looks like they're increasing by a couple of pounds.