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Tipping your vendors?

I just found this post on Mary Bratko's ( Weddinggirl.ca) blog while searching google for an answer to my question..

Are you / will you be tipping your vendors AND am I required to pay for their meal as well??

The way I see it , I am already paying a large amount of money for their serivce. Next I am suppose to feed them, and I am suppose to tip them? Geesh.

Okay… so this is a very sensitive blog post topic… and you’re welcome to agree to agree or disagree with any part of it – but don’t kill the messenger!



[Tipping your Wedding Vendors]
As I met with a couple the other night whose wedding day is quickly approaching, the bride-to-be posed a prominent question…. “Do I tip them?”
According to Wikipedia, “A tip (also called a gratuity) is a voluntary extra payment made to certain service sector workers in addition to the advertised price of the transaction.” As a North American society, we tend to have a fairly generic view of tipping… someone provides a service, we pay them for the service, and sometimes graciously extend further compensation by way of “tip”. Most of us know to tip in restaurants. Some of us extend tipping to other service providers such as our hair stylists and spa estheticians. Few go as far as to tip the Tim Hortons’ staff or Starbucks barista in the morning, but it’s not completely uncommon. We see tip jars in pita shops, we are expected to tip the pizza delivery guy, and believe it or not, tipping is also considered proper etiquette when it comes to dealing with your wedding vendors.

Yes, I understand you’ve already paid what feels like an astronomical sum of money to those people coming together to create your Happily Ever After… and remember that tipping is ALWAYS at your discretion (legally, no one, not even a caterer can force you to pay gratuity – but unless you’re looking to get into a messy battle of proving why gratuities should not be paid, plan to work these numbers into your budget).

WedAlert.com tells us that caterers and bartenders should always be tipped. Further, they suggest that bridal consultants, powder room / coat room attendants, photographers, videographers, cake decorators, musicians (or DJ’s) should also be tipped, based on extra special services they provide.

As a Day-Of Coordinator, I’ve often found that tipping a limo driver is considered standard practice, and leaving a “donation” for ceremony officiants is considered customary (if it hasn’t already been worked into the fee for services provided).

While historically, tipping etiquette stated that you should not tip the owner of the business, times have changed and now any service provider (owner or not) can (and sometimes should!) be tipped. In some cases, service providers will not accept tips – this is up to their own discretion. Also, if you’re particular about who receives the tip (i.e. the girl who delivers the flowers vs. the owner of the floral shop) be sure to give the tip (or have your Wedding Day Coordinator give the tip) to them in person (don’t add it to the overall bill, as it won’t always make it into the right hands).

The average gratuity is considered to be 15%.