What is the ruling on the money that a marriage officiant takes from the bride's family without being asked?

The Shaykh : Perhaps we can answer for you. He says this: I am a marriage officiant without a salary. Sometimes some people come to me to contract their marriages, and they are twenty or fifteen kilometers outside the city, and then they give me a sum of money without me asking for it.
We say: There is nothing wrong with it. If it is without you asking, there is no blame on you for taking what they give you, except if you are an employee, in which case you should not take anything.

The questioner : And what if it is inside the city, O Shaykh?

The Shaykh : Inside the city and outside the city, it is all the same. Yes, after that