Tipping

ksulaski

Hello everyone.. Someone posted a couple days ago about whether or not to tip a wedding planner which made me think of something. We did not hire a wedding planner but have someone at the venue who has been taking care of details regarding the ceremony and reception(both at the same place), more of a wedding coordinator. This is her job to coordinate weddings at her venue. Is it customary to tip her? Or maybe do something like a gift card or bottle of wine? Thanks!

dyerwise

I was thinking the same thing! I have a similar situation except I have a "Sales Manager" that has been working with me on a lot of day of things and will have a day of coordinator as well. Do I need to tip or have gifts for both of these people?

ILoveBeachMusic

I would tip them. Especially if they are doing things like making sure decor is put where it belongs. Setting out place cards and managing the catering.

SP29

To me, it would depend on how involved they are with your wedding and how the venue sets up it's payment/tipping structure. Does the venue charge a gratuity already?

The venue we chose offered an all inclusive package- meal, bar, decor, set up. There technically was a coordinator, but at various stages throughout our wedding planning we dealt with different people. I couldn't tell you who the coordinator actually was. Our venue also charged a gratuity built in to our total price (all the above services were paid in one price), so I feel that all of these people were being paid and tipped by the "venue".

SaintPaulGal

I don't know how useful this information is, but I work for a company that is sometimes used as a wedding venue.  Some of my colleagues are sales managers/wedding coordinators for the venue.  (I am not--I work in a different vertical for the organization.)  There is a service fee added to all catering that includes gratuity, but that gratuity is only paid out to hourly line staff like banquet servers and bartenders.  I don't know what percentage of clients tip the sales managers or what those tips might look like, I just know it's not rare but also not ubiquitous.  

lyndausvi

SaintPaulGal said:

I don't know how useful this information is, but I work for a company that is sometimes used as a wedding venue.  Some of my colleagues are sales managers/wedding coordinators for the venue.  (I am not--I work in a different vertical for the organization.)  There is a service fee added to all catering that includes gratuity, but that gratuity is only paid out to hourly line staff like banquet servers and bartenders.  I don't know what percentage of clients tip the sales managers or what those tips might look like, I just know it's not rare but also not ubiquitous.  

This has been my experience also.

We had a coordinator through the venue.  We tipped him.

charlotte989875

I had a venue coordinator. She was fantastic, so we tipped her. She didn't expect it, but was really pleased we did. 

kvruns

to be honest the thought didn't even cross my mind on the venue's wedding coordinator person (and really they had 2 people that split the job so you worked with whoever was available when you called or had an appointment). although they did forget to put out the cake stand, the cupcake stand had to be chased down and when we walked in to the reception I realized there were 4 missing chairs at the head table (for dates) so that had to be tracked down so maybe I would have been annoyed had I tipped lol

ksulaski

Thank you all for your imput. There is gratutity and tax added to our final total at the venue, which is for food and alcohol, but I would expect the gratutity to go to servers, bartenders, valet etc. For those who have tipped, do you mind sharing what you tipped? I am clueless what would be a "good" or "bad" tip for this type of thing. Thanks

ei34

ksulaski said:

Thank you all for your imput. There is gratutity and tax added to our final total at the venue, which is for food and alcohol, but I would expect the gratutity to go to servers, bartenders, valet etc. For those who have tipped, do you mind sharing what you tipped? I am clueless what would be a "good" or "bad" tip for this type of thing. Thanks

I tipped my coordinator $100 (same as the maitre'd and bridal attendant).  All three were provided by our venue, and although gratuity and tax were part of our total cost, gratuity went to the servers, bartenders, and valets. 

lyndausvi

ksulaski said:

Thank you all for your imput. There is gratutity and tax added to our final total at the venue, which is for food and alcohol, but I would expect the gratutity to go to servers, bartenders, valet etc. For those who have tipped, do you mind sharing what you tipped? I am clueless what would be a "good" or "bad" tip for this type of thing. Thanks

I think we gave over $750 (can't remember but it was under $1k but more than $500.)  But we had an usual situation including a tropical storm requiring a lot of last minute changes, tents collapsing the morning of the wedding and other stuff.

I think $100 - 200 depending on the size and complicity of the event is pretty standard.

SaintPaulGal

kvruns said:

to be honest the thought didn't even cross my mind on the venue's wedding coordinator person (and really they had 2 people that split the job so you worked with whoever was available when you called or had an appointment). although they did forget to put out the cake stand, the cupcake stand had to be chased down and when we walked in to the reception I realized there were 4 missing chairs at the head table (for dates) so that had to be tracked down so maybe I would have been annoyed had I tipped lol

I don't think I would feel obligated to tip under those circumstances--not because of the missing chairs or stands, but because it doesn't sound like you had a specific coordinator you were working with.  My colleagues who do weddings and get tips handle the event from start to finish, from taking clients on the first tour of the venue to setting up the contract to guiding them through a tasting to creating the room diagram to...well...pretty much everything to do with the venue.  If I had someone like that I would tip; if I got assistance from whomever happened to be on call at the time, less so.

charlotte989875

ksulaski said:

Thank you all for your imput. There is gratutity and tax added to our final total at the venue, which is for food and alcohol, but I would expect the gratutity to go to servers, bartenders, valet etc. For those who have tipped, do you mind sharing what you tipped? I am clueless what would be a "good" or "bad" tip for this type of thing. Thanks

$300 I think? It definitely wasn't over $500. 

We had a Friday night, formal wedding, with about 200 guests if that helps put things in perspective. 

I should add our contract stated that all employees were paid salaries not hours+tips so we didn't have a gratuity charge. But we did tip the bartender separately after we kept the bar open another hour (which was a day of option in our contract). 

huskypuppy14

I didn't tip our event coordinator, because I feel she didn't go above and beyond. A few things had to be fixed - like they spelled my husbands last name wrong on the marquis, and I had to call her. 5 times to get the final bill amount since I needed a certified check. I did give the venue a nice review though. I did tip my husband and my personal server at our wedding in addition to the service charge because she was awesome.

ILoveBeachMusic

huskypuppy14 said:

I didn't tip our event coordinator, because I feel she didn't go above and beyond. A few things had to be fixed - like they spelled my husbands last name wrong on the marquis, and I had to call her. 5 times to get the final bill amount since I needed a certified check. I did give the venue a nice review though. I did tip my husband and my personal server at our wedding in addition to the service charge because she was awesome.

You tipped your husband? Just curious, what is a personal server?

[Deleted User]

ILoveBeachMusic said:

huskypuppy14 said:

I didn't tip our event coordinator, because I feel she didn't go above and beyond. A few things had to be fixed - like they spelled my husbands last name wrong on the marquis, and I had to call her. 5 times to get the final bill amount since I needed a certified check. I did give the venue a nice review though. I did tip my husband and my personal server at our wedding in addition to the service charge because she was awesome.

You tipped your husband? Just curious, what is a personal server?

I'm guessing an apostrophe was missing in there and she meant the personal servers for her and her husband. I,e, the person/people who made sure the bride and groom had food/drinks on hand without having to get it themselves. 

ILoveBeachMusic

Ironring said:

ILoveBeachMusic said:

huskypuppy14 said:

I didn't tip our event coordinator, because I feel she didn't go above and beyond. A few things had to be fixed - like they spelled my husbands last name wrong on the marquis, and I had to call her. 5 times to get the final bill amount since I needed a certified check. I did give the venue a nice review though. I did tip my husband and my personal server at our wedding in addition to the service charge because she was awesome.

You tipped your husband? Just curious, what is a personal server?

I'm guessing an apostrophe was missing in there and she meant the personal servers for her and her husband. I,e, the person/people who made sure the bride and groom had food/drinks on hand without having to get it themselves. 

Of course, that makes sense!

huskypuppy14

Yeah sorry I worded that weird.