[rodgersorgan] Re: Weddings

My church also had "set" fees when I arrived years ago.  They were based on 
other churches in the neighborhood - problem was, our church was far and away 
the largest church around.  Our weddings rivaled those in downtown Atlanta, 
even though we were way out in the burbs.   I finally started refusing to book 
weddings if anything else drew my interest on a given Saturday, and I told the 
prospective brides they were on their own to book another organist.  Well that 
solved it!  The brides were screaming that substitute organists were charging 
2 or 3 times our fee, and string quartets were into four figures.   The 
wedding directors got on the bandwagon and realized that they were also getting 
stiffed, so we forced our pastor's hand.  Fees would go to the Atlanta 
"big-church" level, or the pastor could do all the work himself!  One strong 
word of 
advice is to have the church collect the fees and distribute the pay on a 
regular 
basis.   We lump everybody's fee into one and require it a month before the 
wedding.  It is wonderful not to have to chase down the check after each event.
Unlike many organists, I actually enjoy playing weddings.  Usually I have 
free reign to play what I want, how I want. There are the occasional brides who 
want top-40 hits played during the ceremony, but they are often easily 
redirected into choosing something more tasteful.   We have two excellent 
organs on 
campus, and weddings seem to bring out the best in each of them... I even 
attend 
the rehearsals on Friday night (something that chaps all the other organists 
in the community).  I have played over 800 weddings since coming to this 
church 15 years ago - many have suggested that I write a book!   

Tom Alderman
Roswell UMC (Roswell, GA.)  



 


!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Find new MIDI music and Guides to Rodgers Organs at www.frogmusic.com

To post send messages to: rodgersorgan@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

To unsubscribe or change mail delivery (digest, vacation)
go to www.frogmusic.com/rodgersmem.html

Other related posts: