Maitre d', what does he do?

mbcdefg

The hall gave us a "suggested gratuity" of $300-500 for our maitre d'. What exactly does the maitre d' do during the reception to earn this amount? (Tides MGs especially, if you could chime in I'd appreciate it.)
 
I'm not at all against tipping someone for a job well done, but I'd like to know what I'm paying for. We're going to be sorting out the tip envelopes in the next couple of days and I want to budget accordingly.

ChloeMarie

From what I observed??? The maitre d "supervised" yet our bridal attendant did all the work and waited on us hand and foot that night. The Venetian requires a 4% tip which is calculated on top of tax and service charge etc. Im still pissed as I feel the bridal attendant should have gotten that tip!!! Just my experience

cknud112

I guess it depends on the place, but our MD was amazing.  She basically attended to us all night... she reserved a table for us at the cocktail hour, brought over food (even cut up shrimp for me into bite-sized pieces), and she organized the entire evening from start to finish, including the staff.  She also organized cleaning everything up at the end and organized all of our things.

Rosanna'n'Steve

the maitre'd is basically the manager of the night. They supervise the staff to make sure things get out on time, they take care of issues you may have and basically supervise the whole evening.  Our maitre'd was also the person that we dealt with for everything prior to the wedding night as well at our venue so it made sense to give him that type of tip. 

Kvarrone

I don't remember the tides giving us a suggested amount. We had Mike (upstairs at the tides) as our MD, and he was AWESOME. We always had a full drink on our table and was always there anytime we needed something.

One thing that I will never forget... In the bridal suite, I was about to eat and he comes over with 3 napkins and makes this bib thing to protect my dress. I was hysterical! Talk about service. haha

He was very attentive and did everything with a smile. We didn't have a set amount, when the night was over then we decided on the amount, or the hubs did.

Lola Minnie

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_new-jersey_maitre-d?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local Wedding BoardsForum:90Discussion:d30ad504-9fbe-4bda-bb56-952de6f141e6Post:2a12d1ca-411a-477b-bf75-fdaf24a1f1a8">Re: Maitre d', what does he do?</a>:
[QUOTE]From what I observed??? The maitre d "supervised" yet our bridal attendant did all the work and waited on us hand and foot that night. The Venetian requires a 4% tip which is calculated on top of tax and service charge etc. Im still pissed as I feel the bridal attendant should have gotten that tip!!! Just my experience
Posted by ChloeMarie[/QUOTE]

I am really pissed about our 4% because it's going to be more than expected since we're not getting many No's! ugh.
did you tip the bridal attendant? We were advised to even though she gets a cut of the 4%

Pink7781

We have a 21% service charge that our venue said includes the grauity for the servers. Our venue said the maitre d' gratuity is not included in this but that we're not expected to tip them. I think we'll probably tip the bartenders and bridal attendant. It seems that the maitre' d just kind of oversees the whole thing but the bridal attendant is the one doing all the work for you.

akmackay

so at the venetian if you are spending $50k on food including tax etc the maitre d automatically gets $2k? that's soo much

cvl105

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_new-jersey_maitre-d?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local Wedding BoardsForum:90Discussion:d30ad504-9fbe-4bda-bb56-952de6f141e6Post:1e0a2bdb-0c3e-4868-a46f-f77c371cf48f">Re: Maitre d', what does he do?</a>:
[QUOTE]I guess it depends on the place, but our MD was amazing.  She basically attended to us all night... she reserved a table for us at the cocktail hour, brought over food (even cut up shrimp for me into bite-sized pieces), and she organized the entire evening from start to finish, including the staff.  She also organized cleaning everything up at the end and organized all of our things.
Posted by cknud112[/QUOTE]

This is basically what mine did too.  He was there all evening for anything we needed. Walked us through the cocktail hour room before everyone else went in....same thing with the viennese table food.  Got us drinks all night. Got all our things all together. etc.

Kvarrone

Oh MB... and everything that cknud112 and Chelsea said, the tides MD did as well.

uppereastgirl

Ours came and introduced himself and checked on us a few times, but I have no idea what else he did.  Not saying it was nothing, I just don't know because I didn't see him much.  Our servers were the ones who really took care of all our food and drinks and such, and the two venue coordinators (who we had dealt with the whole time we were planning so they knew how we wanted things to go) and the food and beverage manager (who we had also met a bunch of times) were also there the whole time making sure everything was okay.  

dmoney79

our maitre d' was awesome
she attended to us all night, made sure everything was going smoothly
made sure we had enough food in our bridal suite, tried to bustle my dress (and i wouldn't let her...), took my veil, made sure we got our food, got us all in line for the entrance, the cake cutting, the garter the bouquet....if we needed anything she was there
made sure everything we had brought was ready to go (packed up our glasses, our cake cutting set, collected the left over favors and centerpieces, etc)
she took the keys away from our very very drunk guest
she was on top of everything...
i don't know what my dad tipped her, but i'm sure it was a good amount

tommynkristen

Just wanted to wish you the happiest and most beautiful of days mbcdefg - I remember talking with you awhile back about the Tides right as you were about to go to your tasting,  and I now see YOUR day is very near.  Congrats and best wishes for a wonderful marriage.  If you both put more INTO your marriage than you expect to get OUT of it, you will both be happy forever.  (Or atleast I think so!!)   

Kristen

DS0305

Ours was insane...in a good way LOL.  Anytime I needed anything my maitre d and bridal attendant were right there.  I remember at one point during the night, I turned to my dad and said "I need chapstick."  I didn't even realize the maitre d was like right there and he says "You need chapstick?  Give me one minute."  About a minute later, here comes the bridal attendant with some chapstick.

The two of them were always conversing back and forth and waited on my husband and I hand and foot.  I definitely felt like they deserved their tips.

mbcdefg

Thanks everyone!

And thank you, Kristen, that's very nice of you

goaliegirl

I agree with Kristen...Mike the maitre d upstairs at the Tides was amazing!! He was there for us all night.  Whenever we needed anything he ws right there to get it for us.   If there was a picture or video that we wanted, he would hurry and get the photographer or videographer if they weren't there.  He had a full drink for us whenever we needed one.   He just kept everything moving along.   I was torn on how much to give him but we ended up giving him more in the end because he was so great.

I have heard the guy downstairs is just as good as well.