Tips for Vendors

jenb1205

I have tried to research tipping vendors but I haven't found any conclusive answers.

Who did you tip and what percentage?

DJ, Catering, Bartender (our bartenders are paid as part of the catering package but did you tip above that if it wasn't required), Day Of Coordinator, Clergy, Photographer etc.? 

We also have friends (the organist and soloist) that are doing the music at the ceremony for free as their gift to us and we were planning to give them gift cards but I have no idea what even a ballpark amount for any of this would be. 

How did you give your tips?  I assumed we'd just write thank you cards and have the money for them in that. 

noodle_oo

You didn't google very hard.

http://www.frugalbride.com/tipping.html

We put our tips in envelopes (cash of course) and gave it to our day of coordinator to hand out along with any remaining final payments.

georgia_bride09

There's a link in the FAQ in the post above yours.

marissa_claire

I would also ask them before you choose contracts in the first place.  Every vendor we're talked to, I've asked for a price quote that includes gratuities, fees, surcharges and the like.  I had read early on that this is an area that makes it hard to budget for things, so I made sure I knew upfront the total cost of all places.  

jenb1205

I've read the link in the FAQs before and while it is somewhat helpful, it still leaves me confused.  Gratuity is included in almost everything we have but I'm trying to figure out if people generally tip above and beyond that to come up with a concensus.  I would say people are split probably 40/60% as to tipping above an added grat in restaurants but I have no idea how that works at weddings. 

I'm just confused as to percentage-wise and if you had a vendor that did not meet your expectations, did you end up not tipping? 

jenb1205

And theknot.com says to definitely tip the clergy and the Frugal Bride link says absolutely not to, so I don't think it was an invalid question.  There are lots of different schools of thought on this.

noodle_oo

Oh, I forgot about the donating services part.  I think that your friends who are donating their services probably expect nothing from you!  After all, they probably assume that is their gift to you (so I woudln't expect a separate wedding present form them).

For these friends, I would not give them a traditional cash tip (that's sort of insulting).  I'd probably write them a really nice thank you card and then include a gift certificate to something they'd enjoy, like a restaurant, spa, something like that.  That way you are thanking them profusely without treating them like a paid vendor.

Good luck!

PS.  For a lot of our vendors (like photographer, videographer, etc) I also plan to write them a nice thank you note when we get our final product.  And the best thing you can do for them if they are good is refer them.  I do a lot of that on my local board and I also plan to write nice reviews on weddingwire for them as well.