Ministry Services - Deposit Fees

OFFICIATED SERVICES:

Whether one is talking about a wedding, baptism, funeral service, etc. there are Deposits / Retainer Fees required at the time when a date and time slot is booked (reserved) at our office. The reason, is of course, quite simple. Once we reserve a time for you, two things immediately happen. First, your date and period of time required of the service cannot be scheduled for another person or event for the assigned clergy person or officiant. This means that our staff is committing itself to you and last minute cancellations or "no shows" mean that we spend time preparing and traveling for something that won't be happening. Secondly, from the time that the date is booked for you, the process of our getting things ready for you begins. Whether we need to contact certain vendors or suppliers that we will be using, consult with any number of individuals like your event planner, the site location director, the city ordinance department, etc., all this adds up to time and money on our part. There are many things that we do to get the ball rolling to help ensure that your experience with us is a positive one. As such, we do require these deposits and they are only refundable in accord with the terms of the particular ceremony requested. For the majority, this means that you have a "24 hour think about it period" to decide if you want to cancel a service. Cancellations made within that period receive a full refund. After that, we are busy at work getting ready for your day to make it special for you and your guests!!!! Deposits do get applied to the balance owed on the future event scheduled and these fees vary according to the Service Level Package chosen (in an obvious fashion, the more expensive the program and longer it is in duration, the higher the deposit). Don't let that last statement alarm you - our required deposits are quite fair and only meant to serve their purpose (to make sure we are not investing money in an event that cannot be recouped as well as for potential lost time for other services during that time), they are not a lot of money because we do not want to take money away from your other needs to coordinate activities for this intended function.

COUNSELING & GUIDANCE SERVICES:

WHEN INDIVIDUALS AND COUPLES COME TO US FOR SPIRITUAL GUIDANCE OR COUNSELING, THERE IS NO DEPOSIT OR RETAINER HELD. IT IS SIMPLY UNDERSTOOD THAT WHEN MAKING AN APPOINTMENT, THE PARTY WILL INDEED SHOW UP ON TIME OR EXTEND TO US A COURTESY CALL CANCELING OR RESCHEDULING FOR A LATER DATE. Second and subsequent repeat offenders may be subject to paying for missed appointments prior to and in order to attend a future session.