who are you tipping?

[ficklefaye]

i''ve searched online, but a few sites differ on which vendor i should or should not tip at the wedding, i''m so confused

, is there a standard guideline you are going to follow or followed for your wedding?

 

[honey22]

I can''t be of any help here at all, but I just wanted to chime in a say that I feel so relieved that we don''t tip in Australia, it sounds like too many calculations for me!!

 

[ficklefaye]

my venue has a 20% service fee and the dj mentioned providing a tip if we felt he did a good job at the end of the night

other than that, i was just planning on tipping my hair and makeup person because she and her assistant are driving to my OOT wedding and doing hair and makeup for me and my bms

is there anyone else i should be tipping? as if my wedding isn''t expensive enough as it is

 

[SassyB]

I plan to tip the DJ - if they do a good job I plan to tip the hair stylist too.
As for the photographer, caterer, cake lady - they all own that business and I''ve read that you don''t have to tip them.

Anybody else hear that? I don''t want to be cheap but as FF said - this is expensive already!

 

[Diva0413]

I found this article helpful:

http://wedding.theknot.com/wedding-planning/planning-a-wedding/articles/wedding-vendor-tipping-cheat-sheet.aspx?MsdVisit=1

 

[ficklefaye]

Date: 8/13/2009 6:42:40 PM
Author: Diva0413
I found this article helpful:

http://wedding.theknot.com/wedding-planning/planning-a-wedding/articles/wedding-vendor-tipping-cheat-sheet.aspx?MsdVisit=1

thanks, diva. this makes things a little clearer. i''m only stuck on one item now. my photographer owns her own business but the videographer works for a studio. it seems strange not to tip the photographer who will practically be with me the whole day and tip the videographer who will be there only for the ceremony and reception.

any thoughts? i''m thinking of forgoing the tipping for both since i''m paying an agreed upon package price. i''m not sure though

 

[Diva0413]

Date: 8/13/2009 6:51:05 PM
Author: ficklefaye

Date: 8/13/2009 6:42:40 PM
Author: Diva0413
I found this article helpful:

http://wedding.theknot.com/wedding-planning/planning-a-wedding/articles/wedding-vendor-tipping-cheat-sheet.aspx?MsdVisit=1

thanks, diva. this makes things a little clearer. i''m only stuck on one item now. my photographer owns her own business but the videographer works for a studio. it seems strange not to tip the photographer who will practically be with me the whole day and tip the videographer who will be there only for the ceremony and reception.

any thoughts? i''m thinking of forgoing the tipping for both since i''m paying an agreed upon package price. i''m not sure though

I''m actually in the same boat as you. I''m going to do some more research and see if I come up with anything.

 

[purselover]

I think when in doubt it never hurts to tip, especially with people like photographers who you will still be dealing with after the wedding is over. You may also want to tip your bartenders, caterer, servers etc.

 

[Diva0413]

Date: 8/14/2009 9:03:14 AM
Author: purselover
I think when in doubt it never hurts to tip, especially with people like photographers who you will still be dealing with after the wedding is over. You may also want to tip your bartenders, caterer, servers etc.

Definitely a good point. As for the venue staff, my contract includes a 20% gratuity charge so hopefully I won''t need to add to that.

 

[cammy85]

This was a touchy topic for us too - I read all the etiquitte saying "if they own their own business, they are getting paid directly, so they don''t need a tip unless you feel inclined to do so. If they are working for someone else who is getting paid, tip them, since most of the money they won''t be seeing from the payment" Of course, that still didn''t help me because I have seen so many contradictory opinions on it. So finally, one day we were visiting out venue, and the woman who owned the venue asked if we had any questions.... so we asked her about tipping and what she noticed as customary in the wedding field.

Her response shocked me, honestly.

"Tipping? How much are you paying your dj?" I told her "How much are you paying your photographer?" Told her that too "And you know how much you''re paying here. Honestly, everyone is making enough money off of you as-is, you don''t need to give them another cent."

My vendors all worked for themselves as well, which did sway my decision a little bit I think in the end, but I ended up not tipping. They did a fabulous job and I told them so, but I felt like our reception coordinator was right. They are already getting a LOT of money from us, they work for themselves - heck, the DJ was a side business for the guy and we were on a budget.

Sometimes i feel like a terrible person when people say that they tip everyone regardless, but I feel like we did the right thing for us, and that no vendor suffered monetarily because we didn''t tip them.

 

[cammy85]

Date: 8/13/2009 6:51:05 PM
Author: ficklefaye

Date: 8/13/2009 6:42:40 PM
Author: Diva0413
I found this article helpful:

http://wedding.theknot.com/wedding-planning/planning-a-wedding/articles/wedding-vendor-tipping-cheat-sheet.aspx?MsdVisit=1

thanks, diva. this makes things a little clearer. i''m only stuck on one item now. my photographer owns her own business but the videographer works for a studio. it seems strange not to tip the photographer who will practically be with me the whole day and tip the videographer who will be there only for the ceremony and reception.

any thoughts? i''m thinking of forgoing the tipping for both since i''m paying an agreed upon package price. i''m not sure though

The way it was broken down for me was that if they own their own business, they are paying themselves out and are making all the money themselves. If someone works for a company, then the company is getting paid first, then deciding how much your vendor will get from that payment (like maybe they have to pay for equipment rentals and such). So it may not be an equivalent amount if your videographer had been doing it themselves with their own eqipment.

That''s the logic that worked for me.

 

[ficklefaye]

Date: 8/14/2009 9:42:53 AM
Author: cammy85
This was a touchy topic for us too - I read all the etiquitte saying ''if they own their own business, they are getting paid directly, so they don''t need a tip unless you feel inclined to do so. If they are working for someone else who is getting paid, tip them, since most of the money they won''t be seeing from the payment'' Of course, that still didn''t help me because I have seen so many contradictory opinions on it. So finally, one day we were visiting out venue, and the woman who owned the venue asked if we had any questions.... so we asked her about tipping and what she noticed as customary in the wedding field.


Her response shocked me, honestly.


''Tipping? How much are you paying your dj?'' I told her ''How much are you paying your photographer?'' Told her that too ''And you know how much you''re paying here. Honestly, everyone is making enough money off of you as-is, you don''t need to give them another cent.''


My vendors all worked for themselves as well, which did sway my decision a little bit I think in the end, but I ended up not tipping. They did a fabulous job and I told them so, but I felt like our reception coordinator was right. They are already getting a LOT of money from us, they work for themselves - heck, the DJ was a side business for the guy and we were on a budget.


Sometimes i feel like a terrible person when people say that they tip everyone regardless, but I feel like we did the right thing for us, and that no vendor suffered monetarily because we didn''t tip them.

thanks, cammy. those were my thoughts exactly. i''m already paying so much as it is.