Do You Tip the Wedding Vendors? If So, How Much

At my wedding, I tipped the singers and pianist because they didn't charge for their services. I also made a donation to the church. As for the caterer and photographer, this was their job. They didn't work for a company so all the money they got over expenses was profit, so I didn't tip. I had intentions of tipping the bartenders because of the amount of work they had (we had 2 bartenders for over 200 people), but I did not. I asked them specifically not to put a tip jar on the bar and that I would take care of the tip. When I discovered a tip jar, I decided that they had handled their own tip and I didn't give them any more money. I tipped the singers and pianist $100 a piece and made a $200 donation to the church. However, this was in DC and that was the average rate there.

Yes you do. It should be specified somewhere in an etiquette book. We eloped and did not have the big wedding but we do have big parties with dj and the works for our daughter and we always tip. My last party was 12/27 for daughter's bday. The DJ was $900 and we tipped him $125. As for the others, service staff, off duty police officer...we simply gave smaller tips (around $20) because the tip is included with the bill at our country club.

Try not to stress and enjoy yourself!! Good luck.

Hi M.,

I am a photographer and I do not expect a tip on top of my fee from a bride and groom. I would be thrilled if I got a hand written Thank You card from the bride and groom. So, I would recommend that you friend takes the time to do that.

Even when I got married we didn't tip additional money to any of our vendors and to be honest I didn't even think about it. You pay for their services in full, so unless they go above and beyond what they promised I wouldn't feel the need to tip.

I don't know if that helped any ... Good Luck to your friend!

T.
www.TFJPhotography.com/blog

The only people I tipped three years ago when I got married were the people who didn't "charge" me anything (like the minister). I didn't tip my caterer or photographer or any of those vendors because I was already paying them for their services. I highly recommend the hand written thank you note. My vendors appreciated having testimonials to woo future clients, probably more so than a tip. I've even used some of those vendors since for other events and they have all appreciated the return business. I would think that if they were upset about not getting a tip, they wouldn't continue having me as a client.

Yes you are. I think it's in the etiquitte book. We had a big wedding and tipped anywhere from $50-$200 depending on what their job was and how good they were plus we gave the priest $200 as well.
They dj was Great and we gave $150, flowers she wasa friend of the family so we didn't. We gave her a thank you gift.

I really hopes this helps.
Good Luck
M.