Tipping Vendors...?

ladyscronin77

What is the protocol here?  Do you tip vendors? If so, which ones? and how much???

We are in the final stages of wedding budgeting here and this came up.

mgoss228

Tipping is tricky, especially when you are paying for a lot of the vendors yourself.

If I remember correctly, I tipped my MUA/H person an extra $50, because they went above and beyond.  Most of my vendors owned their own businesses, so I didn't tip them.  My parents paid/tipped our bartender, and my ILs paid/tipped the staff at our RD.

A way that I've "tipped" them after the wedding was to give positive reviews on this board and I recommend them on TK whenever anyone asks for vendor recs.  Extra business is always good!

TiffanyT816

I was wondering the same thing.
Specifically - I'm not having a coordinator and all of the bartenders, servers, etc. come with our venue. We also have a personal buttler the day of who follows me and my hubby to be around all day getting anything we could possibly need.

Our photographers will be friends of friends, do we tip them? Even if we didn't go with them, would we tip a photographer?

ladyscronin77

It is a tricky thing... We are paying for basically everything and the budget has already been blown out of the water!!

We are allowing hte bartenders to put out a tip jar so we figure its not neccessary to tip them additionally. 

We have a dog handler that we intend to tip a bit but that is a small cost so a $20 tip is generous...

What about the bigger bills?? I can't see tipping them like you would in a restaurant - I mean 18% of $2000 is $360?!

sparent2010

Check your contract to see if it covers tips for staff at the reception

You tip people who go above and beyond and people who do not own their own business.

ladyscronin77

Sparent - thanks for the input  

Why don't you tip someone who owns their own business?  Does it have to do with them having to claim tips etc?

firsttimersluck

I felt so guilty not tipping our photog and dj.. but they both own their own business.. It still just felt so weird.. lol 

sparent2010

She says it better than I do

Business Owners vs. Staff

The rule of thumb with business owners is that they don't have to get tipped because they set their own rates. Meg put it this way, "The idea is that, as a business owner, you set a price that you expect to be paid, and you control the price (i.e., you should build in your own tip). People who don't own a business are not setting their price, so it's nice to give them a little extra."  That being said, if you love them, feel free to tip them. A tip doesn't have to be monetary, either. The self-employed caterer who made your wedding barbecue may not expect a tip, but the thank you note with a few shots of her work by your photographer for her portfolio will be welcomed.

Read more: http://apracticalwedding.com/2011/07/tipping-wedding-vendors/#ixzz1xJO5vlP2

ladyscronin77

Thanks so much Sparent!  That is some well thought out advice!

2013AugustBride

I agree with the posts about not tipping if they own their own business, They set their own rates, I think if it's a photographer or MUA that works for a big company that tipping is a must because the majority of your payment goes to the company and they only get a small percent. My friend that just got married gave her DJ a minimal tip because she only had him for a couple hours, he just played music and did not perform any MC duties, i think in this case its fine to tip minimal.