To Tip or Not To Tip?
March 2nd, 2006 @ 3:49 pm by Mrs. Bee
It’s customary to tip many of your wedding vendors so you need to make preparations before your big day. I know it’s a lot of moola on top of what you’ve already spent on your wedding, but you want to recognize your vendors for a job well done.
These are my “tips” on tipping:
- Be sure to check all your contracts to see which ones already include gratuities.
- Designate someone (wedding planner, groomsman, parent) to hand out tips on your wedding day.
- Prepare envelopes with cash with each vendor’s name on them beforehand. Have some extra cash set aside in case you want to give a bit more to a vendor who went the extra mile. You can even buy wedding gratuity envelopes.
- Hand out tips before a vendor leaves so you can base them on the level of service they provided. Don’t be shy about neglecting to give a tip to a vendor that provides bad service (a limo driver showing up an hour late for instance).
- Owners of their own businesses should not be tipped (in fact it could be considered an insult!). These include but are not limited to: officiants, wedding coordinators, florists, photographers, videographers, and DJ’s.
- Thank you notes/cards are always appreciated!
These are some general tipping guidelines:
Nails, Hair, and Make-up - 15-20%.
Limousine Drivers - 15-20% of the bill unless gratuity is already included.
Valet Parking Attendants - $1.00 per car. Be sure to post a sign telling guests that gratuities have been taken care of and instruct attendants not to accept tips.
Maitre’ D - If it’s not included in your contract, $150-$300.
Waitstaff - Gratuities are often included in catering contracts. If they aren’t, 15% of your total bill is customary. (I’ve heard $15-$25 per waiter too.)
Bartenders - Gratuities for bartenders are often included in catering contracts otherwise 10% of the total liquor bill is customary. Never, ever allow your bartenders to put out a tip jar - it’s in horribly poor taste. This happened to me at my own wedding with one of the bartenders; luckily my wedding planners quickly put an end to it. Instruct bartenders to refuse tips from guests as well.
Restroom and/or Coatroom Attendants - $.50 to $1.00 per guest if it’s not included in your contract.
Ceremony Musicians/Band Members - Tipping your musicians is not required but it’s always appreciated. $20-$25 per member is standard.
DJ - Optional, especially if they’re the owners, otherwise $50-$100.00.
Delivery people - (florist, cake baker, rentals) $10 per person.
On our wedding day we tipped the hair stylist/make-up artist, limo driver, and band members. Gratuity for everyone else was included in our contracts. For our wedding planners, photographer, and florist (who all own their businesses) we opted to give them each a nice bottle of bordeaux.
These are just general guidelines but who and how much you decide to tip is completely up to you.
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7 Responses to “To Tip or Not To Tip?”
i agree, very useful info. =)
our reception consultant told us that we have to tip the Maitre’d $1000 and the brides assistant $500. Is that right?
This is great stuff!
One extra one that surprised me: the tip at the reception dinner. Since the dinner was so expensive, the tip ended up being a huge amount! I wish I had remembered to budget for it ahead of time…
Different venues have different requirements and $1000 for a maitre ‘d isn’t unheard of but it is on the very high end. Guidelines for tips are usually suggested by the venue (for instance $2-$7 per guest) but tips are always optional unless your contract words them as a mandatory “service charge” instead of a “gratuity.”
Where are you getting married if I might ask?
I hate this stuff.
We are paying $100 per person for the coatroom attendant (required even though it will be june), the valet attendants, and pasta station dude at the cocktail hour. I figure this means that I don’t need to tip them. Plus, my guess is that most people will tip the valet guys.
As a wedding planner at a hotel, I just want to let everyone out there know that WE do not get any of that gratuity that is tacked on to your bill at the end of the night. Not one penny of it! I work with brides for MONTHS leading up to their big day, making suggestions and planning everything for them which is, of course, what my job entails. But the extra comes when I come in on Saturdays to run around just to make sure everything is perfect for them. I would think I deserve a gratuity for that, since I give up all my Saturdays in the summer for them!
Mrs. Bee, New York
Age and Occupation: 29, Weddingbee Publisher
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 33, Internet
Engagement Date: May 7, 2004
Wedding Date: March 5, 2005
Venue: Westside Loft, New York
About Me: Yes, my name really is Bee! I love my blogging, wikis, and tabasco sauce!
Very useful info! Thx for the “tips” :-).