Beginning today, marriage commissioners may charge an additional $25 per hour, in addition to the standard fee of $75 plus HST charged for basic wedding ceremonies, to recognize the added effort, preparation and travel time required for some ceremonies.

Couples will continue to be charged the standard fee for basic wedding services, which are provided within one hour. The additional hourly fee applies only to time incurred over one hour and will be charged by the quarter hour. All additional fees are to be negotiated between the commissioner and the couple prior to the ceremony.

Marriage commissioner fees have not increased since 1993. This change allows commissioners to offset the costs and expectations that may be associated with more complicated ceremony preparation or destination ceremonies requiring travel.

Marriage commissioners are also able to charge for ferry fees (at cost), parking fees (at cost) and mileage ($0.50/km).

B.C.'s more than 340 marriage commissioners are private citizens appointed under the Marriage Act to perform civil marriage ceremonies, collect fees and register a marriage with the Vital Statistics Agency.

Each year, there are approximately 22,000 marriages in B.C., with about 60 per cent of these being civil ceremonies performed by a marriage commissioner.

For more information on marriage commissioner services or on how to get married in B.C., please visit: http://www.vs.gov.bc.ca/marriage/howto.html

Contact:

Ryan Jabs
Media Relations Manager
Ministry of Health
250 952-1887 (media line)