Question about tipping on wedding day.

[hisno1girl]

Bartenders - Do I tip on top of the gratuity that's added to the bill? The gratuity is 18%

Caterer & Waitstaff - Same as bartender, gratuity is already added to the bill.

DJ - I know he charges a minimum of $1000 for weddings. He said he's doing the music for DD for free as a wedding gift. How much do I tip him?

Photographer - Does she get a tip?

Chaircover rental guy - He's providing the chairs for the ceremony, chair covers & sashes and table runners for the reception. He's setting everything up and tearing everything down. Does he get a tip?

Thank you for tolerating my foolishness and tons of questions about this. It just seems so different from when I did my wedding because ours was so tiny.

[ralphlauren]

I would tip the bartender and the wait staff. I would totslly tip the DJ but not the chair cover people and the photog

[gretchenindisguise]

Why wouldn't you tip the photographer? I would.

[gretchenindisguise]

Or maybe tip once you have the pics and are satisfied. They are analogous to the dj to me.

[shell24]

Everybody but the chair cover guy. The photog only if they are not the owner of their own business.

[ralphlauren]

actually I think we did tip our photographer. Her DJ is providing the service for free so I think they deserve a very generous tip

[vanillacourage]

I would tip the DJ and photographer only if they didn't own their own companies. I didn't tip on top of the mandatory gratuity for anyone else. 

[hisno1girl]

Sept 15, 2014 22:45:28 GMT -5 ralphlauren said:

actually I think we did tip our photographer. Her DJ is providing the service for free so I think they deserve a very generous tip

I agree.

[auntie]

Sept 15, 2014 22:33:28 GMT -5 hisno1girl said:

Bartenders - Do I tip on top of the gratuity that's added to the bill? The gratuity is 18%

Most weddings I've attended have a tip jar out at the bar. Generally, most guests tip about a buck for every drink they get. I would not tip on top of that unless your guests are deadbeats or if your venue does not allow a tip jar.

Caterer & Waitstaff - Same as bartender, gratuity is already added to the bill.

I might tip a food delivery person, but not the actual caterer. I'd ask about what % of the 18% gratuity the staff actually see. We did a small sit down dinner party for my dad's 80th, my niece who was a server in college asked what the waitress would get out of our 18%- turned out it was only about 10% of the food check. We tipped on top of that. She would have made about $50 for almost 4 hours. Not cool given how well she took care of us. 

DJ - I know he charges a minimum of $1000 for weddings. He said he's doing the music for DD for free as a wedding gift. How much do I tip him?

15-20%

Photographer - Does she get a tip?

I've not seen this done. FWIW, my ex did wedding photography as a side business. Maybe it would be different if your photographer was hired by a bigger studio. 

Chaircover rental guy - He's providing the chairs for the ceremony, chair covers & sashes and table runners for the reception. He's setting everything up and tearing everything down. Does he get a tip?

Depends. If he's the owner of the company no. If he's some delivery/set-up guy, I would tip this person.

Thank you for tolerating my foolishness and tons of questions about this. It just seems so different from when I did my wedding because ours was so tiny.

[jenna]

We had our meal at a restaurant, so the waitstaff and bartender worked for the same company. Pretty sure we over tipped them both since we had exceptional service, and less than 40 people in our party. I think the entire dinner bill was about 4k or so.

We tipped the photographer, baker, flower lady, and hair stylist/makeup artist.  They all were the "owners" of their own small companies.  We had no dj, but I would have tipped that person, too. 

Some were tipped in the week after the wedding. The baker dropped off the cupcakes at the venue, so we didn't see her right away. Obviously, we waited to see the pictures to tip out the photographer.

[orval]

I personally would only tip the dj since it is a favor. I work in the wedding industry (though not a vendor mentioned above) and I have received 4 tips in 13 years and more than a thousand weddings.