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Tipping Question

perdonamiperdonami member
First Anniversary First Answer 5 Love Its First Comment
in Wedding Etiquette Forum
So, I know this has been a question that has been answered a million times on here and this question I am about to ask is kind of a dumb question. 

I was looking over the invoice for our food and beverage package and was looking to see if gratuity was included. There was a service charge of 19% included. Is this service charge the gratuity? And if so, would be okay to tip additional to the service charge if the service is exceptional? As in hand cash to the staff or to my venue coordinator? 

I just want to double check because I want to make sure all the staff receive their gratuity especially since the service has been so wonderful and am sure it will be on the day of the wedding. 
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Re: Tipping Question

  • holyguacamole79holyguacamole79 member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    I would ask your venue contact about this. I assume it's gratuity, but it's probably good to confirm.




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  • steph861steph861 member
    First Answer First Comment 5 Love Its Name Dropper
    edited August 2014
    You should ask the venue if the service charge includes the gratuity. That's the only way to know.

    It would absolutely be acceptable to tip above this if the service is exceptional.

    ETF: typo
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  • mysticlmysticl member
    First Anniversary First Answer First Comment 5 Love Its
    It might be gratuity, it might just cover their base pay, it may be something else entirely.  
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  • perdonamiperdonami member
    First Anniversary First Answer 5 Love Its First Comment
    Hmm, thanks for the feedback ladies I will have to inquire about it when I meet with the venue coordinator.
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  • lc07lc07 member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    Inquire. Our service charge did not cover gratuity. I would be surprised if yours did.
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  • huskypuppy14huskypuppy14 member
    First Anniversary First Comment 5 Love Its First Answer
    lc07 said:
    Inquire. Our service charge did not cover gratuity. I would be surprised if yours did.
    Ours did cover gratuity and so did my sister's. I think 19% is quite a lot, so it might not all be gratuity, but some of it should be. 

    OP, just contact your venue and ask.

    We tipped our personal server extra because she was awesome.  
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  • lc07lc07 member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    huskypuppy14 said:
    lc07 said:
    Inquire. Our service charge did not cover gratuity. I would be surprised if yours did.
    Ours did cover gratuity and so did my sister's. I think 19% is quite a lot, so it might not all be gratuity, but some of it should be. 

    OP, just contact your venue and ask.

    We tipped our personal server extra because she was awesome.  
    Interesting! Maybe it's a regional thing. All the caterers/venues I inquired with said that it did not cover the gratuity. And 18-22% service charge seemed to be the standard.
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  • tammym1001tammym1001 member
    First Anniversary First Answer 5 Love Its First Comment
    lc07 said:
    huskypuppy14 said:
    lc07 said:
    Inquire. Our service charge did not cover gratuity. I would be surprised if yours did.
    Ours did cover gratuity and so did my sister's. I think 19% is quite a lot, so it might not all be gratuity, but some of it should be. 

    OP, just contact your venue and ask.

    We tipped our personal server extra because she was awesome.  
    Interesting! Maybe it's a regional thing. All the caterers/venues I inquired with said that it did not cover the gratuity. And 18-22% service charge seemed to be the standard.

    STIB:

    We had a 20% service charge and our venue told us it was a tip. It probably varies by vendor so I would definitely ask.
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  • NYCMercedesNYCMercedes member
    First Anniversary First Answer First Comment 5 Love Its
    Ours definitely did not include gratuity.
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  • Jessie42613Jessie42613 member
    First Anniversary First Answer 5 Love Its Name Dropper
    The service charge at my venue did not cover gratuity; it was the servers' base salary.
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  • vh2014vh2014 member
    First Comment 5 Love Its Name Dropper
    I just met with our caterer and specifically asked her if the 20% was to cover tips.  She said no, that covers the salaries of all of the people behind the scenes- cooking the food, bringing the food to the venue, washing the dishes afterwards, that type of thing.  My only thought to that was... then why is the price of my individual meal the same (actually a little more than) as in a restaurant where all of that is included in the price...plus I am paying separate for individual wait staff which is all listed out... doesn't make sense to me. 

    But the bottom line was, no, that is not the tip. 
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  • wrigleyvillewrigleyville member
    First Anniversary First Comment 5 Love Its First Answer
    edited August 2014
    vh2014 said:
    I just met with our caterer and specifically asked her if the 20% was to cover tips.  She said no, that covers the salaries of all of the people behind the scenes- cooking the food, bringing the food to the venue, washing the dishes afterwards, that type of thing.  My only thought to that was... then why is the price of my individual meal the same (actually a little more than) as in a restaurant where all of that is included in the price...plus I am paying separate for individual wait staff which is all listed out... doesn't make sense to me. 

    But the bottom line was, no, that is not the tip. 
    I had the exact same thought. For that reason, we did not consider vendors that did not give the service charge to their employees in the form of a gratuity. I wasn't about to pay a 19% service charge and then another 15-20% in tips. Hell to the no.
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  • lc07lc07 member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    Ours explained that the service charge was for their time in meeting with us, unlimited phone and email contact and coordination with them, our tasting, communication with the coordinator, the venue, logistics of packing and traveling with food etc which totally makes sense to me. 
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  • huskypuppy14huskypuppy14 member
    First Anniversary First Comment 5 Love Its First Answer
    lc07 said:
    Ours explained that the service charge was for their time in meeting with us, unlimited phone and email contact and coordination with them, our tasting, communication with the coordinator, the venue, logistics of packing and traveling with food etc which totally makes sense to me. 

    We had a separate administrative charge for this stuff.

    What is the bolded?
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  • lc07lc07 member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    huskypuppy14 said:
    lc07 said:
    Ours explained that the service charge was for their time in meeting with us, unlimited phone and email contact and coordination with them, our tasting, communication with the coordinator, the venue, logistics of packing and traveling with food etc which totally makes sense to me. 

    We had a separate administrative charge for this stuff.

    What is the bolded?
    Ah. The service charge was our "administrative charge" I guess. 

    bolded: I rented a venue where I had to bring in my own caterer. So the caterer had to prep food at their own location, travel to my wedding venue with everything, finish cooking/preparing food etc to serve there.
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  • perdonamiperdonami member
    First Anniversary First Answer 5 Love Its First Comment
    Everything is provided by the hotel and would not allow us to use an outside caterer as it is how they generate most of their revenue. Only thing I needed to provide was flowers, music, and a cake. 

    The hotel is also using all their own staff as well so I hope the service charge would be going to them. But I will definately ask to make sure. 
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  • huskypuppy14huskypuppy14 member
    First Anniversary First Comment 5 Love Its First Answer
    When I planned my sister's bridal shower, it was at a restaurant, and we had a private room. There was a service charge that was added on (I paid ahead of time). Since it was a restaurant, I assumed it was gratuity. However, I got this weird feeling immediately after the shower (when my other sister and I were cleaning up some things) that made me question whether the service charge was actually gratuity. 

    My sister (not the bride) went and talked to the hostess to double check, and whew the service charge was a gratuity, but we still tipped our server extra anyway. 

    Just ask them, and then you'll know!
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