Why does it cost money to get married in a Catholic church?

[Diane84]

I have heard that when a couple gets married in a Catholic church, there is a fee they must pay for using the church building, and that this cost may be lower or higher depending on whether or not they are members of the parish. Is this true? If so, please explain the reason behind it.

It seems to me that marriage is a sacrament, just like Mass and baptism are sacraments, and one should not be required to pay money to receive them. I realize that there are costs to keeping up a church, but aren’t these met by the donations from the Sunday collection?

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

Marriage is a sacrament and cannot be bought and sold. However, there are costs associated with getting married and it is not unjust to expect a couple to pay for those associated costs. The costs a parish incurs for a wedding – such as building maintenance, special decorations, staff – may not all be covered out of the collection plate because these are events that generally occur outside the regularly-scheduled Masses.

Parishes usually do have a separate pay scale for registered members versus non-members because it is assumed that the registered members regularly contribute to the upkeep of the parish while non-members do not. This is especially true for parishes that are also historical landmarks that some couples prefer to their parish church because they like the romance of being married at a glamorous locale. If a couple chooses to marry at a church that is not the one that they usually attend, it is not unfair to expect them to pay more for the use of the building than couples who regularly contribute to the church’s budget.