Wedding Budget Wedding and Vendor Tiping

[pichuchy21]

I read through a few post regarding tiping vendors at wedding. We are having a budget wedding. Trying to make eveything as nice as possible with what we got. Really I am not a cheap person, but my position at work got cut 2 weeks ago and now with only one form of income we are on an even tighter budget. We are on such a tight budget and really didn''t even consider this. Is tiping really necessary? Or since we are on such a tight budget who should we make sure we tip if we can''t tip all of them. The only vendors we are having are: florist-I''m picking them up the day of. Photographer-Is charging me 650 for 1/hr of photography-really wouldn''t want to tip him. Cake-Picking up as well. Pianist and the officiant who charged us 200 for a Thursday wedding. Any suggestions? Should we try to tip all or just certain ones?

 

[Sabine]

I''m only tipping my hair stylist and makeup person. Most of my other vendors own their own businesses, so I figure since they set their own fees, they make what they expect to. In your case, I would probably tip your pianist and officiant, or at least give them something as a thank you gesture. Our reception has the service charge built in, but if yours doesn''t, you should tip your wait staff.

Oh, not to threadjack, but we are doing valet parking. I read somewhere it was standard for the bride and groom to tip for the whole party, but our wedding coordinator told us not to. She was like, honestly, even if you put up a sign saying they''ve already been tipped, guests will still tip anyway. I would probably tip my coordinator since she has been really great, except that she is now on maternity leave and a backup coordinator will be there the day of.

 

[pichuchy21]

Thanks Sabine. All of my vendors are the owners so I figured they were charging what they expect to make like you said. Our reception is going to be at a local restaurant and we plan to tip on top of what will be added on the bill. Also I will be tiping the make up/hair stylist the usual 20%. The officiant and the pianist each are the owners of their company. Do you still think I should tip them?

 

[newbie124]

Date: 6/20/2008 5:58:17 PM
Author: Sabine
I''m only tipping my hair stylist and makeup person. Most of my other vendors own their own businesses, so I figure since they set their own fees, they make what they expect to. In your case, I would probably tip your pianist and officiant, or at least give them something as a thank you gesture. Our reception has the service charge built in, but if yours doesn''t, you should tip your wait staff.

Oh, not to threadjack, but we are doing valet parking. I read somewhere it was standard for the bride and groom to tip for the whole party, but our wedding coordinator told us not to. She was like, honestly, even if you put up a sign saying they''ve already been tipped, guests will still tip anyway. I would probably tip my coordinator since she has been really great, except that she is now on maternity leave and a backup coordinator will be there the day of.

I''ve also been following tip threads to see what''s standard...if the makeup artist I''m using has her own side business and charges her own rates, would I still tip her?

Thanks for mentioning the valet issue, sabine, b/c our venue made us have to pay for valet at the last minute and I wasn''t sure how to handle the tipping for that (especially when I didn''t want the service to begin with...I know that''s the not parking attendants'' fault, but can you tell I''m still a little bitter

)

Pichuchy, are you planning to invite the officiant to your reception? If so, I think the fact that you''d be providing a meal for him could maybe be substitution for an additional tip?

 

[Rhea]

We had a budget wedding and I don''t recall tipping anyone. The vendor and I always agreed on prices and contracts were signed. I paid what I owed and assume that since the vendor agreed to that amount they were earning enough to make a living. I think a service charge was included in our reception bill, but we knew about that ahead of time so it was in the budget. My sister did my hair and make up. I didn''t tip her

 

[surfgirl]

pichuchy, we had a mini wedding elopement with all the wedding elements and I dont recall tipping anyone and I''m a good tipper. The officiant had a sliding scale and we paid her the top amount of her scale. The photog is her own business so no tipping. We paid for the cake and probably should have tipped her since she walked it down the street to the restaurant for dinner but instead we ate about 3-4 times at her restaurant so we gave her plenty of business while we were there. The dinner we tipped 25-30% I think because the owner served us and made us feel like royalty (sounds like you''re planning the same if the service is good). I did my own hair/makeup. Flowers I also picked up myself so no tip there. And the venue was free to us to use but we made sure we bought plenty of pottery from the owner of the venue so that was our "tip" to her. So I think you only need to tip the restaurant since your scenario sounds a lot like ours.

BTW, I remember when you first came on PS and you weren''t going to do anything other than a city hall elopement...Aren''t you glad you decided on a mini wedding?!? I cant wait to see your photos...!

 

[Laurie2]

I''m so glad this subject was addressed. We are getting married wed. and its a place where you pay one price for everything which includes the officiant. Should we tip the officiant? Is their a certain percentage of the total package that is customary?
Surfgirl our wedding sounds similar to yours, its just us no guests.

 

[pichuchy21]

Date: 6/21/2008 2:31:32 PM
Author: surfgirl
pichuchy, we had a mini wedding elopement with all the wedding elements and I dont recall tipping anyone and I''m a good tipper. The officiant had a sliding scale and we paid her the top amount of her scale. The photog is her own business so no tipping. We paid for the cake and probably should have tipped her since she walked it down the street to the restaurant for dinner but instead we ate about 3-4 times at her restaurant so we gave her plenty of business while we were there. The dinner we tipped 25-30% I think because the owner served us and made us feel like royalty (sounds like you''re planning the same if the service is good). I did my own hair/makeup. Flowers I also picked up myself so no tip there. And the venue was free to us to use but we made sure we bought plenty of pottery from the owner of the venue so that was our ''tip'' to her. So I think you only need to tip the restaurant since your scenario sounds a lot like ours.

BTW, I remember when you first came on PS and you weren''t going to do anything other than a city hall elopement...Aren''t you glad you decided on a mini wedding?!? I cant wait to see your photos...!

Surfgirl-I am very glad that we decided on a mini wedding instead. I have learned so much information on this site and have planned my dream wedding in less than 3 months. Everything has been planned just how I wanted without breaking our pockets. I can''t wait to be able to share my pics with everyone.

If you look on the show me the ring topics you can see pics of my ering and wedding bands.