Tipping?

[galvana]

Do I need to tip:

JP?
Organist?

 

[Amandine]

Alicia, you read my mind! I wanted to start a tipping thread, too!

JP, I have no idea.
Organist...I don''t know much about your wedding, did the organist come with the location? Or did you hire them seperately? I read something recently that you do not need to tip people who own their own business, such as the photographer. So, depending on how you got the organist, then yes.

Hopefully I am not thread-jacking...but who else gets tipped? And how much? I need to check with my caterer if I need to tip the bartender and waitstaff. I guess I haven''t put much thought into this yet.

 

[pjean]

My mother is a church organist, and played at tons of weddings over the years. She doesn''t get tipped.

 

[musey]

We should create a master list of tip or no tip for the typical wedding vendors....


Tip or No Tip?

-Photographer
-Hair/Makeup Artist(s)
-Florist
-Ceremony musician(s)
-Caterer
-DJ/Band
-Cake designer
-Bartender
-Officiant/JP/Minister/Rabbi/etc.

 

[meresal]

Date: 9/10/2008 6:21:47 PM
Author: musey
We should create a master list of tip or no tip for the typical wedding vendors....


Tip or No Tip?

-Photographer
-Hair/Makeup Artist(s)
-Florist
-Ceremony musician(s)
-Caterer
-DJ/Band
-Cake designer
-Bartender
-Officiant/JP/Minister/Rabbi/etc.

I would LOVE to hear this answer for people having their receptions at places that provide everything, and then charge the (my venue calls it ++/ plus-pus) 20% gratuity, and 8.25% city tax. I really don't feel the need to tip on top, since we're already giving 20%?

I'm not sure about the JP or the organist.

 

[musey]

Date: 9/10/2008 7:06:58 PM
Author: meresal

Date: 9/10/2008 6:21:47 PM
Author: musey
We should create a master list of tip or no tip for the typical wedding vendors....

Tip or No Tip?

-Photographer
-Hair/Makeup Artist(s)
-Florist
-Ceremony musician(s)
-Caterer
-DJ/Band
-Cake designer
-Bartender
-Officiant/JP/Minister/Rabbi/etc.

I would LOVE to hear this answer for people having their receptions at places that provide everything, and then charge the (my venue calls it ++/ plus-pus) 20% gratuity, and 8.25% city tax. I really don''t feel the need to tip on top, since we''re already giving 20%?

I''m not sure about the JP or the organist.

Me too!! Ours is all wrapped in, with 18% gratuity and 8.25% tax.

 

[Izzy03]

My venue adds 20% gratuity and 6% tax for bartenders and wait staff so I am sure as hell NOT tipping in addition to that!

I always tip very well because I was a bartender/server in college. I think if they want to add gratuity to my tab, then it is their loss because I probably would have left them no less than 20% anyways (usually more). Besides, all the weddings I have been to that had an open bar left a tip jar out for the guests to leave gratuity.

Don''t feel like you should have to pay on top of 20% AND whatever your guests might tip.

 

[Izzy03]

I think you are suppose to tip for hair and makeup too, just as if you were at a spa/salon.

 

[musey]

Okay here's what I'd planned to do.

Tip or No Tip?
No Tip -- Photographer
Tip ------ Hair/Makeup Artist(s)
No Tip -- Florist
Tip ------ Ceremony musician(s)
No Tip -- Caterer
Tip ------ DJ/Band
No Tip -- Cake designer
No Tip -- Bartender
Tip ------ Officiant/JP/Minister/Rabbi/etc.

Good grief, I just checked what the 20% tip to the photographer would be... over $600!!

Is the tip really the standard 18-20% for all vendors? Because that's QUITE sizable. Like the DJ... I'm already paying him quite a bit, without dealing with a tip on top of it. Ouch.

(Yes, I know I shouldn't complain, that that's how it is, yadda yadda... sorry.)

 

[musey]

Ooh here's a helpful little article...

Tipping Your Wedding Vendors (Frugal Bride)

Apparently you should NOT tip the officiant, it is considered offensive. I never would have guessed!

Here it is:

 

[meresal]

Date: 9/10/2008 7:44:42 PM
Author: Izzy03
My venue adds 20% gratuity and 6% tax for bartenders and wait staff so I am sure as hell NOT tipping in addition to that!

I always tip very well because I was a bartender/server in college. I think if they want to add gratuity to my tab, then it is their loss because I probably would have left them no less than 20% anyways (usually more). Besides, all the weddings I have been to that had an open bar left a tip jar out for the guests to leave gratuity.

Don't feel like you should have to pay on top of 20% AND whatever your guests might tip.

Totally agreed!! They're oozing an extra couple thousand out of us in this charge alone... and it's a Buffet!!! It probably all evens out, at least this way I dont have to spend money on envelopes and time handing them out for every single persons separate tips.

I do agree that hair and make-up should definitely be tipped, unless it is already calculated in. Which I would check ahead of time.

ETA: Really a tip jar??? I will be having full open bar... I don't think that my guests should feel the need to leave a tip for "stiff" pours, when it's all paid for anyway. Well, FI says he's been where there have been tip jars, so I guess I'm odd one out. Is it rude to request that there be no tip jars?

 

[Italiahaircolor]

As a wedding MUA and Hairstylist...I would have to say, even going to the bride, I get tipped 80% of the time.

The cost of working with a bride and bridal party is huge...more expensive than you''d think...so be sure to give a "normal" tip for your service.

At my wedding I tipped...

Videographer
Coordinator
DJ
Cermony musician
bartender at the end of the night instead of allowing him to have a tip jar at the bar (my dads idea)

 

[lliang_chi]

I agree, if I''ll already be paying the gratuity, I don''t want to see a tip jar at the bar. I''ll probably do what ItalianHairColor did and tell them I''ll tip the bar separately. I''ve been to weddings where there was a tip jar out and most guests put money in. It''s just bad on the vendor''s part. They should know they''re already getting gratuity, how could they put a tip jar out??

 

[galvana]

THANKS ALL - Im really glad i posted this - my organist did not come with the package but was on a list of recommended vendors.
so JP no tip
organist i got two answers, i think i''ll go with pjean whose mom is a church organist and doesn''t get tipped.

Photographer no tip

DJ yes

my reception site includes gratuity in the per plate price so i guess im good there. Thanks all!

 

[newbie124]

For those who had the 18-20% service charge added in automatically to their bill....Did your venue/caterer also charge for additional staff fees on top of that?

The caterer we ended up booking only has a 20% service charge that they add to the food. There''s no other line for staff fees. I asked them if that 20% is supposed to cover gratuity, but they said no. Gratuity would be optional and separate.

I''m not really sure now what we should do. All the other quotes we got had staffing charges than a 20% service charge and those places considered that gratuity enough (although one quote had a $500 minimum gratuity that you could choose to either pay, add more to, or not pay at all...but you couldn''t tip less than that).

The 20% service charge from our caterer doesn''t exactly seem like enough to cover all of their staff for 8 hrs'' work. So I''m not really sure what it is? Then again, their entree prices were also higher than the other places so not sure if maybe they pad the food costs to also cover wages...

So I''m wondering if we should tip on top of what''s in our bill? FI suggested maybe giving the wait staff $20 each and a little more to the event captains and our event manager. But then what''s that 20% supposed to cover??

 

[musey]

Newbie, if I were you, I would follow the tipping guidelines from that frugalbride article.

Our venue rolls EVERYTHING in--site fee, food, tables/chairs/linens/settings, valet parking, day-of coordinator. Then there''s an 8.25% tax and 18% gratuity automatically added on top of all that. So I''m assuming we only have to handle gratuity for our non-provided vendors (florist, DJ, ceremony musicians, officiant and hair/makeup).

 

[galvana]

Mine is the same as Musey''s - everything is rolled into one - the per plate price. THANK GOD
the ONLY extra charge will be if we want to have an extra bartender during the reception then we just need to pay for that person but all tips, taxes, service charges, blah blah blah are included.

 

[meresal]

Mine says it specifically... so I would call and verify, but I would think a set rate of 20% would mean the gratuity.

My venue wording:
"A 20% service charge and 8.25% sales tax will be added to the total per person price. Gratuity is included within the service charge."

 

[pjean]

I think the church organist vs ceremony musician tip issue may be related to whether or not the musician normally plays for the church? My mom thinks it would be like tipping the minister to tip her, but says that if people hire outside soloists they might be tipped.

Or maybe people in Ontario are tip-averse...