Gratuity for venue question

The venue keeps it. I highly doubt the servers see a dime of that money or any other staff for that matter. I can only attest to this because I worked in the industry for many years and I know that we NEVER got more than our hourly pay, which wasn't much. I think one time I was handed cash from the brides dad directly for a tip but never received any kind of gratuity from the venue.

When I worked for a major hotel brand we had 22% gratuity. 12% went back to the 'house' and 10% went to the serves pay check based on the amount of time they served that event. But in your case that seems not to be happening. If you can tip out the staff then do so, but it kills me that companies make it so hard to tip the right people by having gratuity already listed. Even if you just tip out the waitstaff who is dedicated to you as a couple and the venue coordinator that is something. Not ideal, but its better then no one getting tipped. I will say as a local DOC in a HCOL area, most people do not tip catering/hotel staff/me, etc.

It's usually administrative fees or overhead costs in general, rather than going into the pockets of servers. I asked instead if the servers are paid a server's wage or true minimum wage, and my venue says they pay true wages rather than servers being dependent on tips.

Okay thanks everyone. Kind of sad to hear that, because If I had not asked, I would have assumed it was going to the staff members. I definitely want to tip the people who work hard but it is an added cost tha I had not anticipated.

View Quoted Comment Ask how many servers will be working for your wedding and give each a flat rate ($20-$50 or whatever makes sense for the cost of your wedding), or ask if bartenders accept tips and if they split them out just between bar staff or all staff members. At every open bar wedding I've been to the bartenders haven't had a tip jar out but accept cash and kept it behind the bar. FH and I always tip generously in the beginning of the night so we don't have to keep pulling our wallets out for tips.

This is awful. Now I definitely need to see where my catering gratuity is going. I definitely need to tip those who help serve the food, but I had assumed I already was with the built-in gratuity.

They shouldn't call it gratuity if it's not a tip. Feels like a big scam.