Another tipping question...

ASMommaBlue

I know these have been asked thousands of times before and I remember people saying if the vendor is the owner, you don't tip them right?  Well here's my question, our photographer is the owner of her photography company and head photographer and she has a "partner" (not sure if this is co-owner or what) and another photographer, you can pick any of the 3 to shoot your day, I chose her.  Do I still tip her or not?  Just wondering what the "rule" on this is because if I would have picked either of the other two, I would have tipped them then correct?  If she has an assistant there, which she was unsure of, should I tip them?

em01092

IMO, the "owning of the business" thing does not negate the "need" to tip. If your photographer does an outstanding job and you want to tip, then do so, regardless of whether or not she owns the business, though I do think you can get by with tipping less, if she owns the business.

For example, my photographer runs his own business and has no associates or assistance, so he has no one else to pay, but I still plan on tipping him about $150 (10%). My DJ is the same way, but he has 2 assistants who help with set up and take down, so I plan on giving the assistants $20 each, and then the DJ himself a $50 tip (10%), as long as everything goes as planned and there is no error or fault on their part. 

And yes, definitely tip the assistant, but what you tip the actual photographer versus the assistant do not have to be equal. I would make 2 separate envelopes. 

ginadog

For the photographer, you don't really know how well they did until you see the end product though, right?  Do you tip weeks later after you get your proofs?  Or if they ran around a lot and seemed really busy, then you tip them (not sure how you gage how well they've done prior to the proofs, KWIM)?