Is the venue's service fee considered their tip?

Often times, the service fee does not go to the employees as a tip, unfortunately. However, sometimes it does, so definitely check with your venue to find out exactly what this fee covers. If they say that it is gratuity, then you don't need to tip on top of that. If they say that it goes towards setup/tear down costs, etc, then you should also leave a tip in addition to the service fee.

No, a service fee is not a gratuity.

The service fee is sorta like an “administrative fee”- it covers the behind-the-scenes stuff. It does not go to the service staff as a tip.

Yep. service fee is not a gratuity. Check with your venue on who you should tip. Our venue coordinator gave us a list a couple of weeks before our wedding listing who gets tipped and the average amount they get tipped.

This depends on your contract, but usually a service charge isn’t gratuity. I’d ask your venue for a breakdown of what the service charge covers.

The service fee charged by my caterer was not considered a tip.