Not tipping company owners.

JMBsbride

So all of my vendors (DOC, dj, photog, florist and baker) are all the owners of their companies. I know it's "ok" not to tip them, but it feels strange. Can I tip?

J&K10910

Of course you can.  I based my tips on service, not on whether or not they owned the company or worked for someone else.  In fact, two business owners got the highest percentage tips we gave because they were positively amazing and went way above and beyond and deserved it. 

nhahn2206

You can do whatever you'd like... Most people don't turn down money.

That "rule" is there because it's not required to tip someone who owns their own business. Keep in mind that if your cake is delivered by someone who works for the company you should definitely tip that person.

ginadog

For those that are tipping (in general) how does this go down?

Do you tack it on to the final bill so it comes off your credit card days later for example?

Or do you set aside pretermined cash in a tip envelope to hand to the person when you see them (ie cake deliverer employee)?  If so, where do you stash these envelopes in the mean time?

Seriously I don't know how this works and I want to avoid any tips on the fly calculations in my head!

J&K10910

I put cash in an envelope and kept it in a folder with all my important wedding stuff.  My MOH ended up taking charge of the folder and getting the tips where they needed to go because I was dealing with some other things. 

That way, if for some reason something goes wrong, and you change your mind about the tip, it's easy to do.  We ended up keeping one of those envelopes, and I'm surely glad I didn't add it to the final payments! 

Simply Fated

From what I understand the owners aren't allowed to force gratuity or even request tips. But you can still tip them. I would separate them into envelopes and either put them in my purse or have him keep it in his jacket pocket until we see them. I'm not above going to their place of business after the wedding to hand it to them, either.