Church Dilemma - Need Opinion

The church i was going to have my september ceremony in is being absolutely ridiculous. I have been going there my whole life but they are charging me $600. I have to do pre-cana and i had to take some stupid test with my fiancee to see if our answers matched up. I initiated this all in october 2007. i was told i had to do pre-cana in jan 2008. it is now 4/28/08 and still no word from the church. i have called numerous times, left messages, been down there and NOTHING. no one is ever available. i finally got through around easter and the person who answered said to me 'we are too busy to deal with this right now, dont you know its easter?'
also, i am catholic and my fiancee is romanian orthodox so we need approval from the bishop which they still havent told me if i have the approval yet!
so there is a community church not far from it, its soooo beautiful, but non-denominational. its $1,300. i am on a budget. but would you anyone here do?
keep pursuing the catholic church even after all this b/s they are putting me through or just pay double for the no-hassle non-denominational ceremony?

Can you get married at your hall?

All of this pre-cana stuff and the hoops churches make everyone jump through is foreign to me.. I'm Jewish and we just met with the Rabbi once, etc.

Good luck with whatever you decide, if you really want your church keep trying to deal with them?

you can register for pre-cana on the diocese of rvc website. and most churchs are around that.

you can marry a non-Catholic without approval if you have a ceremony.

I'm all for throwing money at the problem, especially if you like the other church just as much if not better. But I will tell you that we got married at my husband's Catholic church that he had been going to since he was a child and we still had to pay a few hundred dollars. I really didn't mind that though. We also had to do the uncomfortable interview as well, and because I wasn't baptized as a Catholic we couldn't have a Mass at the wedding, which I didn't really care about. Pre Cana was great, and the Deacon who married us was wonderful too so I wasn't as turned off as you are about the whole thing, but there are just some facts for you about my situation, hopefully that helps clear things up for you a bit.
If you are your FH like the other church, and you can afford to swing the extra $$, I say go for it to make your life easier!

most churches will have u take some sort of pre-marital class, and the test your talking about is the FOCCUS test which a vast majority of churches also participate in. I will say - try to keep an open mind... In all honesty, both taking the classes we did & the test we had to take were two of the best things we could've done...we weren't obligated..we actually chose to do it all lol. and our class was 12 weeks! lol. it sounds like a lot, but we actually enjoyed it more - because instead of being overwhelmed with 12hours of a class in a weekend, it was an hour a week - in a group setting - and we actually made a lot of friends & had a lot of fun.
it really does get you talking about things that u wouldn't necessarily even think of...even if u dont think there's anything u need to cover. ..and u may be suprised at some of the topics that come up & how u both feel about certain issues, or things u have to say about each other. we found it really interesting & surprisingly helpful.

if u really dont feel like doing any of it, there are some non-denominational churches that may marry u - u just may have to go on a hunt for a little while...

oh & i paid 350 for our church..there's always some sorta fee which i'm sure u know. if u dont mind splurging the extra to avoid the annoyances u've been going through, then why not?? good luck with everything~!

thanks for everyones advice.
its not that i mind doing pre-cana, or taking the FOCCUS (already took it) test, i was all ready to do it but the problem is that they are not returning my call to schedule all of this. I have been trying to get them on the phone for over 4 months now.... they were supposed to schedule pre-cana in january and i was supposed to get the results of FOCCUS in December 07. i still havent spoekn to them.....
this is a church i have been going to since i was born. nice....
and just so everyone knows, its St. Aidens...