To Tip the Vendors, or Not to Tip?
One of the tact questions (and, let’s be honest, budgetary questions) that arises in wedding planning is tipping! I know, you budgeted perfectly and what’s this about a tip?
Tipping a vendor is not required, but it does show the vendor that they have done a good job. Even if they are charging you a service charge, it doesn’t include a tip for the people who are doing the actual work. So, how much do you tip? (Before I start on this, most people are horrified by the idea of you putting out a tip jar so that your guests can tip.)
WeddingLenox Blog has an interesting formula for figuring it out. They suggest creating an excel spreadsheet that includes a list of all the vendors you are using and the cost of each of those services. For some services you can tip per person and some you can tip a certain percentage of the total fee. Then, if your total far exceeds what you expected to pay, you can adjust (and Excel — as WeddingLenox points out — is fabulous because it recalculates the total for you). Okay, so for example – you can pay your musicians something like $25 per person and you can pay the photographer 10% of their fee. Some websites indicate that the tip should be somewhere between 5% & 10%, although others say that it should be like tipping at a restaurant – with about a 15-22% tip.
ElizabethAnnDesigns Blog has another list of tips so you are tipping correctly. For example, they suggest tipping the waiters or the delivery person, not the catering company or the florist. (That said, they also suggest that you tip the person you contracted with so that they can distribute the money…. I’m not sure how you handle that, though!) If you calculate the tip based on the percentage (eg 10%) then you should subtract the cost of equipment rentals, service charges, and sales taxes. You do NOT need to tip your day of coordinator.
If you want more specific numbers and percentages for each services, HERE is a list of the service and how much ($ or percentage) is expected). And HERE is another list.
Other tips (get it?): Get a family member or coordinator to distribute the tips. Put them each in a separate envelope for easy distribution. Send THANK YOU notes to your vendors afterwards!
Do you have advice? What did you do?
~ Natasha
Best Man Survival Guide
Lenicam
Laura Taylor
Eugene
Alouise
It really is a good idea to send wedding thank you notes to each of your vendors. They will truly appreciate it. You may want to explore our beautiful collection of wedding thank you notes. These wedding thank you notes are special because they are handmade. No other wedding thank you note has a personalized glossy photo print affixed to the front of it. Your wedding guests will really be impressed by our fine stationery and matching envelopes, which have a shimmering finish and premium quality. Finally, our handwriting font adds a personal touch to the custom wording on your wedding thank you notes.
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Enjoy!
Here’s my two cents’ worth on tipping. You tip the waiters but not the caterer or the reception venue. You tip the ladies who helped the bride get into her gown but not the bridal shop where you got it. I think you should only tip the people who were actually present and did certain tasks on the day of the wedding.
Hope this helps.