The Religious Affairs Ministry said it would stop charging a marriage registration fee to ease the burden of those who want to get married and discourage the practice of charging exorbitant "thank you" fees.

"It's final, there'll be no more fees for those who want to get married," Ministry Inspector General M. Jasin said on Tuesday, as quoted by Antaranews.com.

Under a government regulation issued in 2004 on non-tax revenues, couples have to pay Rp 30,000 ($3) to register their marriage at the Office of Religious Affairs (KUA).

"The minister has agreed to eliminate it," Jasin said. "So this is a form of goodwill from the government for the people. Once implemented, there will be no 'thank you' envelopes anymore."

In 2010, research conducted by the ministry showed that despite the low official fee, in practice couples have to pay officials anywhere between Rp 150,000 and Rp 1 million to register their wedding.

The head of a Religious Affairs Office in Jakarta admitted to the Jakarta Globe for a story published in 2009 that his office relied on "donations" from couples to cover its expenses.

The official said he could get Rp 500,000 to Rp 4 million for a ceremony and could officiate up to 12 weddings a month. "We receive very little budget from the central government. If it weren't for donations, we don't know how the office would run," he said at the time.

But Jassin said the "additional fees" only benefited wedding celebrants and the KUA chief. He added that in addition to eliminating the marriage registration fee, the government will give allowances to the wedding celebrants, including Rp 110,000 for transportation.

"So there'll be no more reason to ask for additional fees because that would be enough for them," Jassin said. "The operational fund [for each KUA per month] will be increased from Rp 2 million to Rp 5 million."