One hundered and sixty quid to play the organ for an hour??! Is that the going rate??

[kittyletteItBe]

Or is my church organist ripping me off??

I seriously cant afford that.

Bllody hell, looks like Ill have to trawl the internet for a CD of hymns

some goes to the church doesn't it? what's it for?

Mines included in the price of the church.

ask QoQ, she is an organist

this is from some church organist website:

The following rates are fairly typical:

For playing the organ, rehearsing and directing a choir - £120.
The important word here is "rehearsing". If a choir is present, but the organist doesn't have any extra work to do because of this, or run a special rehearsal before the service, the fee should be the same as for just playing.

For only playing in a major church - £100.
For only playing in a small church - £60.

Occasionally, some attempt is made to distinguish between "professional" and "amateur" organists. But these terms are not well defined and generally ignored. This matter is further complicated as many church councils set the organist's fees without reference to the organist, or his or her professional status, and the organist is happy to accept this.

It is also important that both you and your organist have some understanding and agreement about how long the ceremony is likely to last. Many organists are happy to allot 90 minutes (some only 60 minutes) to your service, and they may well then take other bookings which depend upon them leaving promptly. If the start of the wedding service is delayed by over an hour, and the organist then leaves after the first hymn, some dissatisfaction may be felt. It could be VERY useful to have discussed such things early in negotiations - and possibly make arrangements for overtime payments.

If the church has an appointed organist who plays for most services, it is usual for him or her to play for weddings. If granted permission, you should be able to bring your own organist, but then BOTH organists may expect a fee. This may not seem fair, but many organist/church contracts include such arrangements.

Many wedding ceremonies are videoed, and can lead to further expense as (pursuant to the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988) the organist's fee should be increased (often doubled). Once again, this is not universally applied - but the possibility needs to be taken into account during planning.

If you choose to have a choir present, a fee

Theres a seperate fee to the church though.

Really fed up I wanted an organist

there was a thread from an organist recently about fees, I think the average was £60 for a wedding. are you sure your quote is just for the organist?

you pay for rehearsing(the organists own time), you pay for possibly the wedding rehearsal, you pay for the service
sounds cheap to me, but then i know what is involved when a musician is hired

Yes - pretty much for weddings.

It's recommended (by the RSCM) circa £80 for "straight" wedding, £120 for recorded and £160 for videoed - sadly a lot of people say "oh we're not having it recorded/videoed" as they're not having an "official" one - but then granny gets her camcorder out, the grooms brother has his mobile phone on the go, and some bloke at the back will have his digi camera - with recording facility going throughout too (I know I've been caught out).

None of it goes to the church - all to the organist.

MP - those are the older recommended rates

Yes she just rang me then,

160 for service plus ten minutes before as people ebter the church...

and no cheques she said.

ooo - cheeky b*gger (the organist that is) not accepting cheques)

My church fees are nearly £500 but includes the organist and some flowers. not sure how much she charges seperatly but it is more if you want a choir. The church pays the organist not us.

at Tune a Day... oh the memories!

lol SP - do it - going rate for funerals is about £50-60 (I get £55), plus I get a (much lower than average) payment of £120 a month for playing at the church

If it is right as QOQ says then Ill have to just use a CD player.

Blurghh

Are you near manchetser QoQ??

This is one of the advantages of being a regular church member!

kitty where abouts are you?

Do you know if he one of those that charges you even if you get someone else to play (some do - and it's another thing that's "common" - though thankfully not very common). If not it may be worth looking around for someone else - as not everyone charges full whack -

Depends on a few factors. If there's a choir then there should be a DoM fee, if it's videoed you should pay double.

We get £95 per wedding, assuming no choir and no video. If it was choir and organ I think it would be about £170.

There's another interesting thing which is that if you take your own organist then you may still have to pay the resident organist as it is their right to have the fee!!!!

MP - what advantage is that? Even our church members pay me for weddings and funerals

No choir at all!