Fees for weddings and the cost of a funeral service are to rise dramatically under plans backed by the Church of England
Church officials voted in favour of increasing wedding fees by about 40 per cent and the cost of a funeral service by more than half. The support for the price increases comes despite warnings from members of the General Synod that poorer couples could be priced out of a Church of England wedding. The price hikes have been approved after there was a 4 per cent rise in the number of weddings in the CoE in 2010. The church will now charge £415 from January next year, including the cost of banns, up from the current £296. Meanwhile the cost of a funeral service in church will also rise from £102 to £160, equal to a 57 per cent rise.
The new fees include the costs of lighting and administration for the first time but do not take into account other charges such as heating, vergers and services such as organists and bell ringers.
Any ‘business’ has to charge according to the actual costs. The only problem in this case is that a very large percentage of the ‘Christian’ population now enters a church only during a wedding and a funeral. If these functions seem too costly than even these ‘attendences’ will be cut…
I suppose the only alternative is to have a ‘Nikah’ in the Mosque… still free of charge.