Posted by:
Anon, this time.
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Date: December 05, 2013 10:22PM
Actually, this was always one of my pet peeves.
My TBM wife once scoffed when a non-member friend reported paying $500-600 for a wedding venue, and an additional $300 for the officiant. She hung up the phone with her friend and said, "It's amazing what people outside the church have to pay when WE get sealed in the temple for free. It's sad how so many churches are only in the business of making money." What was worse, she said it in such a self-righteous tone, as if this was just another evidence that she belonged to the "one true church."
I nearly blew a fuse.
I was long out of the church by then, so I said, "How can you say the temple is free?" I then proceeded to break down the numbers.
For the year previous to our sealing, I was a poor student working a part time job, but I still made at least $10,000 that year, meaning that I paid $1,000 out of my own pocket just for the privilege of using the "free" wedding venue. She made at least $5,000 that year, so she paid about $500 for the wedding. Between the two of us, we paid more in tithing than her friend paid for her wedding venue and officiant.
Now, if we wanted to invite guests, they would have to pay too. Her parents (and step parents) made more than $150,000 combined each year, so their presence at the wedding cost an additional $15,000. Her siblings earned a combined income of about $120,000 annually, so add another $12,000 to the total bill.
In addition to the direct family members, we had about 20 other guests in the sealing room. If we conservative assume that they all earned about $25,000 a year, their combined presence cost an additional $50,000.
To summarize, my wife and I paid $1,500 for our share of the wedding cost. Our direct family members paid about $27,000 and our guests paid about $50,000. The total amount of the wedding for all parties cost more than $78,500!!!
What a racket, especially for a "free" venue.
And what did we get for our money? We got to wear ill-fitting white polyester robes. We got to kneel across the altar and look at one another through the "eternal" mirrors while a complete stranger repeated a pre-fabricated prayer from a note card. Oh yes, we also got the assurance that our marriage would survive the ages as long as we stayed faithful and kept the money flowing in the right direction.
By the way, my relatives were not allowed to even catch a glimpse of the wedding because they didn't pay the cost of admission.
This is tragic! It makes me sick to think I ever believe this stuff.