On Saturday, December 6, 2014 2:15:12 PM UTC-5, Dave Smith wrote:
> On 2014-12-06 1:59 PM, sf wrote:
> > On Sat, 06 Dec 2014 13:35:03 -0500, Dave Smith
> > > wrote:
> >
> >> On 2014-12-06 12:54 PM, notbob wrote:
> >>
> >>>> For one thing, it's cheaper.
> >>>
> >>> But, it is certainly NOT cheap!
> >>>
> >>> When my mom past on, this past July, the basic cremation, w/ no
> >>> services, ran jes a hair under $2K. There may be some rfc regulars
> >>> for whom $2K is "cheap". Unfortunately, I'm not one of them.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> On a related note.....
> >> I am wondering about the cost for church weddings in the US. My wife
> >> and I were married in the church that her family had attended for years.
> >> Well, she and her father. Her mother did not attend church. It seems to
> >> me that at the time I was expected to pay the minister $25 for his
> >> services.... it was over 40 years ago.
> >>
> >> My niece is getting married in California next year. Her fiance and his
> >> family were life long members of a church in the area and it was going
> >> to cost them $3000 for the church. He was furious about that and found
> >> another church where they charge only<?> $3000. That seems like an
> >> outrageous expense to rent a facility for an hour or two.
> >>
> >>
> >
> > Weddings are crazy expensive these days. It's not uncommon to spend
> > $30,000. I was married here 42 years ago.
> > http://sfwedding.org/make-a-reservation/
> > The entire cost of the wedding, which included my (beautiful beaded)
> > dress from a high end store, fabric for bridesmaids + flower girl
> > dresses, reception food & drink + church/minister/organist expenses
> > was (wait for it) $1500. My maid of honor was engaged to a florist at
> > the time, so all the flowers & bouquets were her gift to me.
> >
>
>
> Wow. They do charge that much. My brother and SiL were shocked that a
> church would charge a member for the use of the church, and even more so
> that it was so much.
>
> Our ceremony was in the family's church and the reception was at the
> inlaw's house.

Keep in mind that the church has to prepare for the wedding
i. e. cleaning, perhaps setting up a special altar, flower banks, rehearsal etc, arranging for music....it could be a package deal in that the organist gets a cut of it and so on. Somebody has to clean up afterward too. There is prob. an extra fee if anyone dares to throw rice.

If a couple really wants to just tie a legal knot without impressing the whole world, there's always city hall or a clergyman's study. It's gotten way out of hand, what with chocolate fountains, photo booths and other tawdry aspects.