Va. Assembly Poised to Lift $30 Cap on Marriage Fee

RICHMOND, Feb. 23 -- The official cost of getting married in Virginia could increase under bills passed by the state Senate and House of Delegates allowing those who conduct ceremonies to charge more for their services.

The Senate voted Thursday to increase the fee from $30 to $100, while delegates have proposed eliminating the cap, turning the charge over to market forces.

The two bodies will decide in coming weeks which approach to pursue, but the fee is likely to increase regardless.

Lawmakers argued that the statutorily imposed cap of $30 was too low for the provision of a service that can take considerable time, requiring a celebrant to attend rehearsal dinners and sometimes travel to perform the ceremony.

"It's getting to the point where $30 just doesn't cover the cost of doing the ceremony," said Del. Terrie Lynne Suit (R-Virginia Beach), who sponsored the bill.

Delegates also argued that the state has no business setting prices for the wedding industry and that marriage celebrants should be free to set prices according to market forces.

"Those who believe in laissez-faire economics would prefer just to let the parties determine between them what the charges ought to be to conduct a ceremony," Suit said.

The measure most clearly applies to marriage commissioners, who are appointed by judges in each county to perform civil weddings.

There has been some disagreement among lawmakers about whether members of the clergy who perform marriages have been subject to the $30 cap. Suit said that she believed they were but that many clergy members were not aware of the law and have routinely charged more.

"As that law was written and explained to us, every minister in the commonwealth was breaking the law," said Del. Dwight Clinton Jones (D-Richmond), a Baptist minister who performs weddings.

Suit had originally proposed moving the cap from $30 to $200 -- an amount trimmed to $100 in a House committee. When her bill reached the floor of the House of Delegates, Suit said, several members balked at the idea of raising the cap -- a vote that could be interpreted as raising the fee for marriage. Their solution: Repeal the cap altogether, resulting in no state guidance and possibly a much higher charge for thousands of couples.

"The result is that you'll have people paying five to 10 times more than what they're paying right now," said Sen. Kenneth W. Stolle (R-Virginia Beach).

In the Senate, Stolle proposed $100 as the cap for the fee. He also suggested specifying that the cap apply only to those conducting civil ceremonies, allowing clergy to set their own prices. Both ideas were approved by the Senate.

It is unclear whether celebrants would increase their fees, even if the law allowed it. John S. Lawrence, a Fairfax County lawyer who performs about 100 civil weddings each year, said he has always told customers about the $30 cap and invited them to pay however much they would like. Some, he said, pay nothing.

"I did not become a marriage celebrant for the money," he said. "I did it because I wanted to make people's marriage day happier."

Those who supported increasing the fee argued that the celebrants' fee -- even if it rises -- would remain a drop in the bucket in comparison with the cost of most weddings.

"When you look at what people spend on flowers and dresses and bands and caterers, this is a small pot, a really small pot," Jones said.

Still, the rule change could open the state to wedding chapels taking advantage of the new ability to charge, said the Rev. C. Douglas Smith, a Disciples of Christ minister who often lobbies the legislature. He expressed concern that the rule change could lead to the opening of many Las Vegas-style wedding chapels.

"It's likely that if we lift the cap, we'll make Virginia an Elvis-impersonator mecca," he said.