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Mrs. Pitcher
Expert June 2013

Gratuities are not included

Mrs. Pitcher, on June 18, 2013 at 6:16 PM Posted in Etiquette and Advice 0 24

I was just rereading some of the fine print on my venue contract. If Gratuities are not included then what was the 21% service charge for? Does this mean I should still tip them?

24 Comments

Latest activity by Rae, on July 27, 2022 at 10:31 AM
  • PurpleSun
    Master September 2013
    PurpleSun ·
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    When I asked my caterer, they said "time and service of planning the wedding." I laughed. They aren't planning a wedding. I am. They are providing the same exact service they provide any other customer. With that being said, I will not be tipping.

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  • Sasha B.
    Super August 2014
    Sasha B. ·
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    We dont have a service charge. however in our fine print it is stated there is 17% gratuity that gets added on our final bill.

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  • TooManyMistys
    Master June 2014
    TooManyMistys ·
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    Service charge and gratuity are not the same thing sadly Smiley sad I always refer this to pizza delivery. The service charge is not the tip and the drivers get a tiny amount of it. Sadly because of that people stopped tipping as much Smiley sad Same with venues if it doesn't say gratuity then it's probably not and you should still tip as well. Most venues we have been too though it was apart of the cost I even asked to make sure.

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  • Tiffany
    VIP July 2013
    Tiffany ·
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    I'm not. There are different places where that 22% is listed as service charge at gratuity. I'm definitely not paying any extra. Between the tax and service fee I can't imagine spending any more.

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  • Celia Milton
    Celia Milton ·
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    A service charge pays for their salary. A gratuity is their tip, if you feel that it's warranted. I personally feel that this is one of the sneakiest, ugliest thing a venue can do. Call it a service charge and be transparent about it. Don't make your clients think that they've tipped the staff and don't tell them how much to tip.

    On top of that, it means that the staff who work on a less expensive wedding make less than those who work a more expensive one, which is crap too. AND most guests tip the bartenders, which is crap too, since they don't work any harder than the other servers.

    I would flat out ask what the deal is, and I'd want an answer that makes sense.

    But I haven't given it much thought.

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  • Jessica
    Master July 2012
    Jessica ·
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    I think Lynzey hit it on the head - "Long story short, gratuity is the only money that will go home in the pocket of the server at the end of the night."

    The service charge will only be going into the pockets of the owners of the companies. The servers that took care of your dinners, appetizers, drinks, etc will only go home with whatever their hourly rate is.

    I didn't tip anyone who personally owned the business. But, I did tip servers or hair/make-up assistants who worked for those people.

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  • Barbara
    Master September 2014
    Barbara ·
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    In my experience, wedding servers generally provide phenomenal service under a lot of pressure. If my venue did not include a gratuity into the total, I wouldn't think of not tipping something to the servers. Just keep in mind that they aren't the ones charging the outlandish service charge. . .

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  • Mrs. Pitcher
    Expert June 2013
    Mrs. Pitcher ·
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    Well in that case how much do I tip the servers?

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  • Nikki Leonard
    Nikki Leonard ·
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    I agree with Celia! I think it's super sneaky, especially since its the same percentage "customary tipping" is anyway, and makes people think they've tipped. She's right though, in most cases if it's not a gratuity, the money stays with the venue or company to pay for hourly wages (usually around $4/hr for servers and bartenders) and overhead. The staff only gets money to go home with from you tip.

    I always recommend 15-20% of the food/alcohol bill (without counting that other 20%) to the servers and bartenders, depending on how good of a job they do. or you can go with a flat fee of $100 per staff member if that's more reasonable. Basically, do what you can afford and you feel good about.

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  • ashlee
    Master January 2012
    ashlee ·
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    Unfortunately, the service charge goes to the house - it is not passed on as a gratuity to the servers and staff that are working your function.

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  • Future Mrs. Jones
    Devoted November 2013
    Future Mrs. Jones ·
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    Question - if you are providing a tip as well to the servers, do you just hand it over to each one or give them one big envelope and hope they distribute, etc.?? Not sure how to go about it...

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  • TooManyMistys
    Master June 2014
    TooManyMistys ·
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    18-20% is norm here for event tipping.

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  • Gabriele
    Super June 2013
    Gabriele ·
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    So ... help me understand. Our venue fee is $3800 and the ladies will be there for the whole day and set up our tables, chairs, linens, dishes etc. They also pick up the dishes and linens from the rental place.

    Our caterer costs $4300 (excluding alcohol, which we bought).

    So if they all do a stellar job, we should tip the venue ladies $760 and the caterer $860?

    The dinner is buffet style and the only thing served table side are the salads.

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  • Nikki Leonard
    Nikki Leonard ·
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    Gabriele- Theorectically, yes. But I know most couples don't have that much to spend. My last event had 6 servers, so the bride's dad gave them $600 since he thought $100 each was fair. He also gave another $150 to the 2 bartenders. That was the amount he came up with to be fair.

    Generally when it comes to venues and rentals, 20% isn't necessarily the standard. Your ladies do sound like they're doing more extra work than is typical, so if they did a lot of hard work and you want to give them extra, usually an extra $50 or $100 is appreciated. Again, this is only in my experience in this area, not the rule nationwide.

    Future Mrs. Jones- usually there is a head server, or captain of some sort, and you can give it to that person to split equally. Of course, if it makes you feel more comfortable, you can always have it handed out to each server/bartender.

    Edited to answer Mrs. Jones Smiley smile

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  • CeCe
    Master May 2014
    CeCe ·
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    Actually a service charge isn't always the staff's salary. I'm paying for each member of the staff's salary sperately, it's listed in my contract then there is an 18% service charge for "additoinal things" and then I"m suppose to tip. I have no idea what the heck these things meant so I asked my caterer, his response,

    The production fee covers details from

    kitchen equipment, buffet equipment(chafers/platters/utensils etc) to uniforms, training and many of the other components of executing an event.

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  • Lori
    Master June 2015
    Lori ·
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    I used to work weddings at a golf course and, like the other ladies said, the service charge is NOT a gratuity. When I first started working there, we made pretty good money at weddings, but when a new manager came in, we made serving minimum wage (yes, $2.15 an hour) and then would split the rest of the service charge after the owners deducted their fees. It ended up not being very much, so, as a former server, please consider tipping! You can ask a manager how much the waitstaff gets paid, but they might not always be honest (my former manager was not on several ocassions). The amount probably depends on the area and type of wedding. But honestly, give what you can afford. If you can budget $200 total, do that. Most places will have a head waiter who you can trust to divy it up, just make sure you tell more than one waiter, as not all are honest. Also, where I worked, the whole waitstaff split the bartender's tips at the end of the night, but it was never much.

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  • Mrs. Pezz
    VIP September 2013
    Mrs. Pezz ·
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    I didn't read all of the comments, but I wondered what I am expected to do at my venue, I flat out asked my contact there and she explained that tips are not expected at all because she pays a decent salary. Maybe ask someone at the venue?

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  • Barbara
    Master September 2014
    Barbara ·
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    Servers: $20 each, given to the catering manager for distribution

    Bartenders: 10% of total liquor bill split among them.

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  • Jessica
    Master July 2012
    Jessica ·
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    I think following standard restaurant tipping- 20% of the bill is crazy for tipping event staff. I get it.. everyone worked hard, and everyone wants to make money off the big event... but really, 20% of several thousand dollars as gratuity is nuts.

    We tipped about $50 per server and bartender. I think I gave $40 to my MUA assistant. $100 to our MC/DJ, partially because he way under-charged since he's not professional, but still did a professional job! And $150 or $200 to our officiant since he didn't charge us anything and drove 2.5hrs to our venue.

    We still spent around $500 just in tips... that's not small change. And was plenty thankful- even without spending $900 on just the servers as suggested by 20% of the catering bill.

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  • Trena
    Master July 2013
    Trena ·
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    We have a mandatory gratuity/service charge - 18% of whatever we pay for catering. I will not be adding an additional tip on top of that. Not happening. But I don't think people usually add an additional tip at my venue, so it's not expected.

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