Wedding Etiquette Forum

Tipping - Business Owners

swiftsticksswiftsticks member
25 Love Its 10 Comments Name Dropper
edited June 2015 in Wedding Etiquette Forum
Our ceremony is a package deal performed by a local business. It's an "all in one" package that provides photography, videography, flowers, cake, officiant, ceremony location (with chairs), on site rain location, bubbly and snacks. We're getting ready on site, having the ceremony performed, then breaking out for pictures and mingling. Total time there is 3 max hours start to finish (1 hour getting ready for WP + 15 minutes ceremony +  a maximum of 1 hour 45 mins for photos, snacks, toasts, cake,  and mingling).

The owners of the wedding company are doing the photography, flower arrangements, ceremony setup, and are officiating the ceremony. This business has made arrangements for a baker and a videographer, and their costs are included in our wedding package. We're receiving one bill with no allocation of expenses (i.e. "Wedding package is $" and not "Videographer is $, Cake is $", Officiant is $" ,etc.). The videographer will be working for the full 3 hours. He owns his own business. The baker is delivering the cake before the wedding. She owns her own business.

We have musical performers. They were recommended by the above business owners. It's two performers who are managed by their mother. It's an independent business. They're performing for 2 hours for the ceremony and post ceremony celebrations.

Who, if anyone, in this situation do we tip? 
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Re: Tipping - Business Owners

  • I'd tip the baker and videographer.  The owners of the wedding company should not be tipped.

    Not sure about the musicians.

  • I've checked The Knot's wedding tip cheat sheet for reference as recommended in the FAQ. I've also checked other sources like Real Simple

    It's an unusual situation since all involved are business owners, but the baker and videographer are almost hired by the wedding company for their services. Would the wedding company be the one to tip the videographer? 

    I see no harm in tipping the musicians. I don't think bakers are typically tipped...(?)...
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  • I would tip at least the videographer for their personal service to you.  Same with the musicians, I guess. I don't know what would be in their contracts with the wedding company.  If the baker is delivering the cake and desserts, cutting the cake, etc., yeah, I'd include a tip for that because it's personal service.

  • edited June 2015
    Tip the videographer. I'm not sure what the rule is about Bakers. I never even saw mine as she was an independent baker used by the venue & it was included as part of my venue price and the cake was delivered before I even showed up for the reception. If you are happy with the services that the company provides you, no reason you can't tip them. They are doing a ton of work for you and taking care of many items that you would normally have seperate coordinators for. If you are happy with their services, at the very least go online and write reviews about them and maybe even send them a nice letter that they can show to other clients as a reference. But don't not tip them just because they are the owners. They are working just as hard, if not harder as an employee would.
  • Erikan73 said:
    Tip the videographer. I'm not sure what the rule is about Bakers. I never even saw mine as she was an independent baker used by the venue & it was included as part of my venue price and the cake was delivered before I even showed up for the reception. If you are happy with the services that the company provides you, no reason you can't tip them. They are doing a ton of work for you and taking care of many items that you would normally have separate coordinators for. If you are happy with their services, at the very least go online and write reviews about them and maybe even send them a nice letter that they can show to other clients as a reference. But don't not tip them just because they are the owners. They are working just as hard, if not harder as an employee would.
    The wedding ceremony company is fairly new and will receive our online reviews. I believe  they'll use our photos on their website and FB (which we're fine with) to help promote their services and to show different celebrations. We're planning on sending a thank you note too. Our final payment is due one week after the wedding, so we can tag on any additional tips if we feel it's necessary.
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  • I would tip the musicians. 

    I would tip the videographer AFTER I saw the video and only if it doesn't suck majorly.

    I would not tip the baker, unless they had someone deliver the cake. I would tip the delivery person in that case.
    :kiss: ~xoxo~ :kiss:

  • I would tip the musicians. 

    I would tip the videographer AFTER I saw the video and only if it doesn't suck majorly.

    I would not tip the baker, unless they had someone deliver the cake. I would tip the delivery person in that case.
    I agree with all of this.

    I actually never tipped the person who delivered the cake because I never saw it delivered. They must have delivered it during the ceremony.
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