[rodgersorgan] Re: Weddings
- From: Topa12283@xxxxxxx
- To: rodgersorgan@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 24 Jul 2003 00:08:55 EDT
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.)
!
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