“How much do I tip my wedding vendors?”

This is a question that comes up at every planning meeting with my clients.  

I wanted to breakdown each vendor category as well as give you advice on plugging this into your wedding budget.

Tipping in general is used as a way to say thank you for a service performed, whether at a restaurant or at a salon while getting your hair done.  

You typically give a percentage based on the level of service. I tend to always tip 20% in my personal life for good service, while giving a smaller percentage for a service that didn’t meet all of my expectations.  I don’t think I have ever walked away from a table and not tipped.

The service industry relies on tips and I think that the wedding industry is no different.  They are performing a service and should have the thank you gesture just the same.

Who To Tip?

• I would suggest tipping every vendor that comes to your wedding.  You don’t want to skip out on a vendor based on the business structure of their company. I read a post by a very popular website stating you should not tip the owner of the company only the employees   Really? Why would you not tip because someone owns their own business?  They are still giving a service, and deserve a tip.
• There was also a list of vendors not to tip based on I don’t know what.  It stated to not tip the baker??  If the baker is coming and dropping off your cake whether it is the delivery guy or the baker themselves again you should tip.
• The only place I see not to tip would be the venue staff, the catering manager receives a salary from the venue and is performing her job.  You are not contracting out her services and the contract with your venue will most likely already have a gratuity included in the price.

How much to Tip?

Below you will find the list of vendors and the amounts to tip.  Always give cash, and set aside different cash envelopes to be given to the best man or maid of honor to distribute to the vendors as the day goes on.

• Wedding Planner- Up to $500 depending on level of service
• Wedding Hairstylist/Makeup Artist- 15-25% depending on the quality of service
• Wedding Delivery and Set Up Staff- $5- $10 per person
• Wedding Photographer/Videographer- $50- $200
• Wedding Ceremony Musicians-$20 per musician
• Wedding Reception Band or DJ-$50-$200 for DJ’s or $25 per musician for band
• Wedding Ceremony Officiant-$50-$100
• Wedding Florist-$100-200
• Wedding Transportation- 15-20% of total bill

A good rule of thumb is to start looking at your tip budget early as it is apart of your overall budget and can rack up once you start allocating  funds to each vendor.  

When in doubt always tip, don’t feel as though a vendor that has done a wonderful job does not deserve a tip.

What to do for horrible service?  I would definitely use discretion in tipping a vendor that has not performed well.  Again a tip is a way of saying thank you and is not required if a vendor is not holding up their end of the contract.

Have wedding questions?  Ask Jenee!  We’ll try our best to post our response in a blog post or on our Facebook page!