Tipping photographer?

misssunshine17

Hi all! So we're married! I'm almost done thank you cards and have gotten down to the vendors. My mom paid most of them and didn't tip since I told her I wanted to, so the tip is being sent from makeup, DJ and photographer a week late (I forgot the day of) but I'm not sure if I should send to my photographer yet. I haven't seen a sneak peek or obviously gotten my disc, so do I wait to tip until then? It seems odd to be to tip before the job is technically done. Am I over thinking? 

kitty8403

I've never heard of tipping the photographer! But most of them work with you paying a deposit and the balance due when the photos are ready. If that's your arrangement and you want to add a gratuity, just tack it onto your final check.

tammym1001

I would definitely wait until you see the pictures to tip the photographer. What if you tip them and then you hate your photos? They'll think they did a good job and you'll already be out money you may not have given them had you known.

emmyg65

If your photographer owns his (or her) own business, you don't need to tip him. If you still do want to tip, or send a little thank you gift, wait till after you get your pictures. The best thing you can do if you liked his work is write online reviews and spread his name by word of mouth.

mommapizano

Our photographer owns his own business so we do not plan on tipping him. But we do plan on writing a great review online for him after the wedding (once we get our pictures of course) and we plan to send a small thank you gift and card to him. 

melbelleup

emmyg65 said:

If your photographer owns his (or her) own business, you don't need to tip him. If you still do want to tip, or send a little thank you gift, wait till after you get your pictures. The best thing you can do if you liked his work is write online reviews and spread his name by word of mouth.

This. However, if they work for a company (mine does) tip after you receive photos.

annathy03

emmyg65 said:

If your photographer owns his (or her) own business, you don't need to tip him. If you still do want to tip, or send a little thank you gift, wait till after you get your pictures. The best thing you can do if you liked his work is write online reviews and spread his name by word of mouth.

Thank you!  We are signing our photography contract this week and I was just wondering about this (ours owns their business, I will probably send a wine basket or something if we love our photos in addition to writing reviews.)