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How much to tip

jay788jay788 member
Second Anniversary 25 Love Its 10 Comments Name Dropper
in Wedding Etiquette Forum

Possibly silly question, but:

 

We're going to have a bar tender at our wedding for our self-supplied beer and wine. I know tipping is normally 20% of the cost, but how much should we plan to tip a bartender in a situation like this? $1/drink seems somewhat complicated because we won't know exactly how many drinks were poured. Is there a standard ettiquite for this that I just don't know?

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Re: How much to tip

  • lyndausvilyndausvi mod
    Moderator Knottie Warrior 10000 Comments 500 Love Its
    How much are you paying them?

    A decent night for me was a minimum of $100.    So my first thought is at least $100, probably more depending on the amount of people.     

    Their rate of pay and/or if they work for a caterer or are independent would influence what I gave also.







    What differentiates an average host and a great host is anticipating unexpressed needs and wants of their guests.  Just because the want/need is not expressed, doesn't mean it wouldn't be appreciated. 
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  • jay788jay788 member
    Second Anniversary 25 Love Its 10 Comments Name Dropper
    edited July 2014

    We're paying him $100 (I think we're just having 1, if we have 2 we will pay them each $100) and he works for the caterer.

     

    ETA: We're going to have about 90 people, beer, wine and soft drinks only (but the beer will be kegged, if that changes anything).

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  • Cookie PusherCookie Pusher member
    Knottie Warrior 2500 Comments 500 Love Its 5 Answers
    Our bartender was independently contracted through our caterer. We tipped about $100 and know some of the guests tipped as well even though we didn't have a tip jar out. When we asked our caterer about tipping, he said the bartender typically gets $50, but we thought that was way too low considering what a heavy drinking crowd we had.
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  • s-aries8990s-aries8990 member
    Fifth Anniversary 500 Love Its 1000 Comments Name Dropper
    Find out if there is a mandatory gratuity through the caterer and if the bartender gets a portion of that.

    If not, for a 5 hour shin-dig, I say anywhere from $100-200 DEPENDING on how great his/her service was, how heavy the crowd was, etc.
     Daisypath Anniversary tickers
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