Wedding Hive Podcast
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Wedding Hive Podcast
Tipping Your Wedding Vendors
We break down recommended tipping percentages for wedding vendors and share real experience from Grace's recent wedding to help you navigate gratuities for your big day.
• Catering and serving: 15-20% on food/beverage bill or $20-50 per server
• Bartending: 10-20% on bar bill or $100-150 per bartender
• Photo/video: $50-200 each or 5-10% of total bill (less expected for business owners)
• Musicians: $25-50 per musician
• DJs: $100-200
• Hair and makeup: 15-25% of service cost
• Wedding planner/coordinator: $100-500 depending on event size
• Florists: typically not expected, but $50-100 appreciated for exceptional service
• Floral setup staff: $10-15 per person based on complexity
• Consider preparing labeled cash envelopes in advance for easy distribution
• Include gratuities in your wedding budget from the beginning
Remember that tipping is a way to show appreciation for quality service, especially for those who don't own their businesses.
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Hey Queens, welcome back to another Daily Buzz. Grace and I are here today to answer a listener's question about how do you go about vendor tips? So I have some percentages, and then Grace just got married, so she has some insight on it too. And percentages for catering and serving is suggested to tip 15 to 20% on the food or beverage bill, or 20 to $50 per server. Sometimes the caterer does include a service fee or gratuity in your contract, so make sure you double check that before you start giving those out.
Speaker 1:In regards to your bartending, it is suggested that you tip 10 to 20% on their bar bill, or $100 to $150 per bartender for the evening. I have seen a lot of bartenders do put tip jars out, and so if that is something that you are comfortable with, then have the bartenders keep that tip jar out. Otherwise, if you are wanting to give them the tip, then it is best to just have that conversation with them prior to. If you are wanting to give them the tip, then it is best to just have that conversation with them prior to the wedding so they don't put the tip jar out, and then that is something that you give them Photo and video. The suggested tip is between 50 to $200 each, or five to 10% of the total bill.
Speaker 1:If they own their business, tipping is less expected, but always greatly appreciated. For your musicians and djs, it is suggested to tip anywhere from 25 to 50 dollars per musician and for your dj, it's between 100 to 200 dollars per dj. Your hair and makeup artist, the suggested tip is between 15 to 25 percent of the service costs, and your wedding planner or coordinated coordinator, the suggested tip is anywhere from a hundred to $500, depending on the size of the event and the quality of service. This, again, is also very optional. It is not expected, especially if they own their own business, but it is always greatly appreciated. When it comes to your florals, it is not typically expected to tip your florists. However, if they are doing exceptional service, anywhere from $50 to $100 is great, and if they're helping with that setup any type of delivery and setup staff it is completely optional anywhere from $10 to $15 per person, depending on the complexity of their setup. Grace, as you just did this, what is your thoughts on tipping vendors?
Speaker 2:Yes, of course, with getting married.
Speaker 2:I remember I had the same question as this listener, kind of trying to figure out and navigate who to tip, what's expected, how much.
Speaker 2:So hopefully, I think you guys will get a lot of good information from what Kelsey just had to say, because I mean, I think you hit it right on the nail, or nail head on the nail. So yeah, I would say that's exactly what I did. I reached out to our coordinator and I said, hey, I'm not sure how it comes to tipping. I, of course, have been in the service industry, serving in the restaurant business, for 12 years previously and nothing sucks more than not getting tipped when you've given a service that you feel you deserve. So I would definitely put that also into budgeting when you are making that budget. As to having a envelope to tip your vendors, we kind of did it, as I think my mom might've been the coordinator all the envelopes who wrote the names on top of them, and they were given out at the end of the night to our vendors to say thank you. So definitely tip your vendors everyone.
Speaker 1:Yes and that is your daily buzz.