It’s reported today that the Church of England is raising its prices for weddings, not by the rate of inflation or the RPI but by 100%. In fairness it is also incorporating some of the extras which, like cheap seats on Ryanair, couples often found themselves paying for on top of the basic price, but it’s still a whacking increase.
It’s hard to understand the logic. At a time when fewer and fewer people are getting married and fewer and fewer of those are getting married in church, raising the price seems a strange path to take.
However, what the Church isn’t saying is that in return for the increased fees couples will pay they will definitely be able to have a photos and a video recorded of their ceremony. It appears that that decision will still remain up to the Vicar or the Parochial Church Council.
Of course everybody knows some horror stories about the ways cameramen behave and we’ve seen some asked to leave the church – and quite rightly – because they’re destroying the dignity and solemnity of the occasion. But those tend to be the cheap hobbyists or amateurs; we’ve yet to see a pro behave in anything but a professional manner.
Every professional cameraman, still or video, expects to keep still and silent during the service, but providing they do, it behooves the Vicar or PCC to recognise that, in return for their quite substantial fee, they should at least make it possible for the pros to work.
After all, every day there are more and more alternative venues licenced for weddings.
I personally find the church an uplifting place for the ceremony – especially if compared to a hotel conference suite which it’s difficult to disguise as anything else – but if the Church of England wants to encourage couples to marry in church someone needs to look at their marketing decisions.
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