Wedding Etiquette Forum

Service Charge

Did anyone have a service charge added to their wedding package? I am wondering if a service charge is the same as gratuity.
The woman I am working with at our reception venue told us service charge is the tip, but when I research it online, some sites state that service charge is not gratuity.
I don't want to be stuck with paying for the wedding, a service charge, tax and then an extra tip.
Can anyone shed some light on this? Thank you!
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Re: Service Charge

  • oh hmm. I can't speak from personal experience, as we're still a couple months away from getting married. But if the woman at your venue told you specifically that service charge = tip, I would take that at face value.

    Now that might just be for the venue. I would clarify with your other vendors as their policies may differ: DJ/band, caterers if they're not part of the venue, photographer etc.
  • Thanks for the response. Maybe i'm being paranoid 'cause I keep thinking extra charges are just going to pop up. I also don't want to leave out a tip for anyone due to a misunderstanding.
    When are you getting married? The charge is in our contract but we signed a long while in advance.

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  • Oh no, all that is completely understandable.

    We're getting married November 6 - but the wedding will be in England and things like service charge and tax (latter of which are always included in pricing) seem to run a bit differently there. There's no mention of service charges and tax in our contracts so we'll be tipping our vendors on our own. What I mean by not being able to speak from experience is that I can't say to watch out, we got hit with x, y, and z later on.

    Best of luck :^)
  • In some cases, the service charge is not the tip.  In others, it is.  If the venue coordinator said that the gratuity was included in the service charge, then you have nothing to worry about.
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  • I work banquets at my restaurant. Each venue varies dependent upon what the managers decide to do. Some places the service charge goes to "the house" (aka the business as profit) and the servers/workers get paid hourly rates, other places the service charge is the means of income for the workers or what they get payed to work the event. I know that I will be double checking how my service staff gets paid and make sure that they are properly compensated to ensure an as close to perfect as possible night of service from them. If they get paid minimum wage to work a swanky event and put up with drunk people, I might tip 20 extra bucks per worker that works my event. If they get paid a decent hourly, no worries. It's a matter of personal opinion and budget.
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  • Where I live some places call it gratuity some call it service charge, but everyplace I looked at charged the same percentage.  I think either way it goes towards paying the event staff.  I know some people who would refuse to pay it if it was called a gratuity based on the fact that tipping is optional (not that they wouldn't tip but maybe not that amount) whereas a service charge guarantees that the staff get paid (including the behind the scenes people you never see).

    If the person at your event told you it was a tip go with that.  They can't hit you with any extra fees that aren't in your contract.  I think what hits a lot of people is that when the totals are calculated it comes up to a lot more than they expected. 
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  • I'd still check with the venue coordinator.  There have definitely been girls on TK that have been surprised by the end bill.  For some (dishonest, IMO) places, the service charge is for set-up/breakdown but not for the food delivery.
  • I asked our coordinator because I'd heard so many different things here.  Fortunately our service charge does indeed include gratuity.
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  • My service charge was the tip. I'd say to confirm with your site, but you already have. I don't see any reason not to believe them.
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