I’ve been having a debate between wedding conventions/advice websites/common sense. And I’m a bit of a cheap ass.
Do wedding vendors get tipped, on top of their normal fees? I mean people like the DJ. The photographer. The cake maker.
To my mind, they are charging a fee for their service, if they expected more, they’d charge for it. They are working for themselves, not getting minimum wage and living on tips.
But again, I need to know what the conventions really are.
Thanks!
People whose contract is not complete until the wedding is over may be tipped out, like a DJ or photographer, or a bridal attendant provided by the facility (a runner responsible for getting the bride anything she needs, especially food, as most brides fail to eat on their wedding day). You may tip them for doing an exceptional job contributing to the wedding, if they did that. I don’t think its obligatory like tipping a waiter, but rather customary for exceptional service over the entire event.
People, like a cake baker or the guy who delivered the tablecloths, who provide a discrete service which is completed ahead of time, do not need to be tipped out, unless somehow they went above and beyond (hard for me to imagine how, but it could happen).
The morning of my grandfather’s 65th birthday, my mother picked up his cake (a larger cake with roses and other decorations) from the baker’s. She had another stop to make, and, while left alone in the car, I climbed over the front seat, and put my foot right in the middle of the cake. She went back to the bakery. The guy took the entire top of the cake off with a spatula, and rebuilt the entire thing in about fifteen minutes, so the party could take place on time. THAT’s how a cake baker earns a tip.
My daughter just had a wedding for ~185 guest.
Food wait staff can be tipped individually but are most often tipped collectively. After the event, I added $150 to the final bill to be split among the 5 waiters because they left before I could give the captain cash. Some of the bridal magazines recommended a 20% gratuity, which I think is ridiculous. No way was I going to tip each waiter $200 for 2 hours of work for a buffet line.
I tipped the floral delivery person $20.
I tipped the chair delivery guys $10 each.
The bartenders had tip jars out, and my husband put in $20 in each to start out the evening. It appears that they did all right on tips as the tip jar was full (it was an open bar).
We tipped the DJ and her assistant $75 because she did a fabulous job with the music and running of both the ceremony and reception.
We tipped the “designated driver” $60 because he hauled gifts to our house while waiting around.
We tipped the social media booth rental guy $40 because he did a great job looping people in and explaining how it worked.
We didn’t tip the wedding officiant (he made $250 for ~1.5 hours of work), the photographer (contracted professional earning a decent wage), or the venue event coordinator (she’s a public employee and not allowed to accept tips). I wouldn’t have normally tipped the dessert provider (we had mini cupcakes and cookies instead of a wedding cake) or the seamstress who altered all the girls’ dresses, but they were family members who gave me a reduced rate.
We rewarded everyone who did an exceptional job a personal Thank you note, a shout out on social media and personal recommendations on various wedding websites.
They’ll usually fall over and break if you do that.
I tipped our DJ, the guitarist who played live music during dinner (who was a close friend and put up a fight about taking money at all), and the bartender had a jar out that was full at the end of the night. The photographer was a friend who did the pics as our wedding gift, I think my ex slipped him something.
Our catering was done by the hosting venue and was a buffet, we didn’t tip on that (didn’t even occur to me, honestly), and we picked up our own flowers (no live centerpieces, just bouquets) so we didn’t tip for those, either. We may have tipped the officiant but I don’t remember.
Weddings are expensive. I don’t plan to have another!
Just curious; what’s a “social media booth rental guy”?
I don’t get the tip jars at an open bar at a wedding reception. Maybe I’m old school, but since when do guests tip?
The gratuity should be paid by whomever is paying for the reception. I know of at least one incidence when the father of the bride told the bartenders to lose the tip jars.
You’ve probably seen on at a wedding or a corporate event. It’s not really a booth, but a formalized “selfie” set-up for the guests to take photographs of themselves. All saved photos are sent to a social media platform (e.g. Facebook) either in real time, or after the event, as an album. Guests can get a copy of the photo sent to their smart phone or email.
You work with a graphic designer beforehand to create the banner.
A lot of these companies also offer props for the guests to wear, such as boas and hats and glasses.
The ceremony and wedding were held at a local park. We were actually told in advance by the Event Coordinator that Park employees (which included the bartenders) were not allowed to accept tips. She said that some people INSISTED on tipping, and that if we did this, it would be considered a donation to the park.
And the night of the wedding, there she was, helping out the bartenders…who had a tip jar prominently displayed. So figure that one out. I still don’t know if the tips were kept by the bartenders or donated to the park. If it was the latter, it certainly wasn’t indicated.
Re tip jars in general: I’ve seen them at most weddings I attend, which are usually open bar. I figure it’s an inducement for the bartender to add a little extra liquor to my mixed drink. We also go to a lot of charity black tie events that are open bar courtesy of corporate sponsors. And there are always tip jars at the bar and the coat check. One event even had a tip jar in the restroom, I suppose for the lady who was wiping down the counter? Very odd and awkward. I mean, who brings a buck with them into the loo?