Wedding Who did you Tip

[Gwyn]

For those of you who already got married, who did you tip?

My venue automatically charges a 20% "service fee" so that covers my waiters and bartender and such. what about florist, cake maker, DJ, officiant, and photographer?

I have seen sites that say either way, and ones that say just tip if it''s extra special service.

I am curious, how many of these people did you all tip?

 

[enfianced]

Gwyn,
My wedding is a month from tomorrow (aaaaahhhhh) and my FI and I just went through a list of all the tips that we believe are appropriate...here''s a rough idea:

hair/makeup person for me, MOH and mothers (2): 20%
Photographer: $200
Pianist (ceremony): $50
Cocktail hour musicians: $50/each
Catering manager: $200
Banquet manager: $200
Banquet chef: $100
Transportation drivers (for guests): 15%
Limo driver (for us): $50

**we decided not to tip the cake maker or florist based on information we gathered from others, the Internet, etc. Although, I''ve heard that if they do a super job, you can send a tip after the wedding.

Hope this helps.

 

[enfianced]

Oh...and the DJ: $100

 

[CJ2008]

# of people: 18
Location: Mexico

I believed these tips were OK at the time, after asking the resort coordinator several times, and her telling me that we didn''t have to worry about tipping because 18% was already included in the service. So the little we did give that night we thought we were being nice...but...we shouldn''t have listened and tipped more generously. I do have to say we were feeling pretty tapped out financially, but the tip is not ever where we look to "save"...I feel so embarrassed, we always tip well when we go out to dinner and stuff. And I was on cloud 9, so I basically just decided the night of the wedding to walk up to DH and ask him for $...we definitely didn''t plan it properly (like you guys are doing).

Hair and Makeup artist (he did 3 makeups, including me, and my hair) - $40
DJ - $20 ($20! arrggghhh!)
Waiters - $20 ($20! How did I give $20 to ONE person, the DJ, and $20 to the 3 or 4 waiters?!)
Resort coordinator - $100
Photographer - $0 (had small issue with them - if once we get the pictures they''re awesome, I''ll send a tip - but for the assistants)

When I had my hair trials in the USA (and I had 3

) I tipped $20 each time.

 

[pocahontas]

Gywn,

I''m not married yet, but according to Brides magazine, you don''t traditionally tip vendors who produce actual goods, such as a photographer and florist, unless you feel someone went above and beyond their abilities. However, you would tip vendors who provide services, such as a DJ, waiter, and hair and makeup artist. Hope this helps

 

[zoebartlett]

I''ve heard that if the vendor is someone who owns their own company, there''s no need to tip. If the person you''re working with, however, works for someone else, it''s customary to tip the person you worked with. I guess it''s because the owner can charge anything they want but the other person working for them can''t -- they get paid based on whatever the owner decides.

Our DJ, florist, and photographer all own their own business, so we didn''t tip them. We did write to them after returning from out honeymoon and told them how much we enjoyed working with them and how much we enjoyed their work.

We didn''t have a cake, so there was no need to tip a baker. The venue (a restaurant) took care of everything else, and I''m sure my parents took care of whatever fees (tips included) applied.

 

[zoebartlett]

Ugh it ate my post. I forgot to add earlier:

I tipped the people who did my eyebrows, nails, hair, and makeup at both the trial and the day of our wedding.

As fas as the RD goes (since we''re talking about tipping), I believe gratuity was included in the price we were quoted. We didn''t have an open bar for the RD, so guests were on their own when it came time to settle their checks for alcoholic drinks.

 

[winston26]

We had 20% tacked on for the entire reception so that took care of most people.
I tipped all the salon and make-up people.
May have tipped the limo driver if we had had one.
Tipped the officiant, organist, trumpeter, and soloist.

I would never have considered tipping the photographer or cake baker or florist or DJ. They were paid more than PLENTY!! No way would I give them a dime more! Maybe that''s a regional thing because I know none of my friends did either. We did feed the photographers and DJ a nice meal. And if you decide you will tip the photographer, make sure you do it after you see the actual photos. For those who did an outstanding job, I stopped in or called them and sang their praises, offering to be a referral. I wrote the officiant a formal thank you note in addition to his tip.