Service charges and gratuity

I assumed service charge WAS the tip. And an additional tip was if they went above and beyond.... I'm keeping my eye on this one....

I'd assume it was the tip for any servers/caterers

Hmm not really sure... I'd ask them flat out.

It should be the tip - I asked my venue this question specifically to make sure so I'd recommend doing that. Yay almost date twins!

I'd ask. Some places it includes the tip and some places it does not.

Gratuity and service charge and both included with my venue, but they are SEPARATE charges and line items.I would just ask you venue what is covers.

22% is BEFORE the 7% sales tax too.. Its literally thousands of dollars! ugh...

I'm in the same situation, I have a 20% service charge and NO I am not tipping extra.

That is their tip. I'm only tipping outside vendors.

When I asked my venue that they said it does not go to the wait staff/bartenders. Plus do not forget to add sales tax. Everyone who is "watchlisting" this make sure and ask the venue's each specifically.

I'll give an example $60.00 per plate plus the 18% "service charge" plus the NYS tax of 8.25% almost equals $75.00 per plate. Plus the added gratuity to the service staff. Please also keep in mind that some places pay their waitstaff well and others do not. This is one place where you should def. do your homework.

For those of you who do not have a venue make sure to ask if the charge per person includes this. If it doesn't add close to 30 % per plate (again depending on the place and the state you are getting married in.)

ETA

Ours has a 15% TIP charge for our catering. But it specifically says tip. But I don't think 15% is a great tip so we will probably add onto it.

WHOA. 22%????

That's a HUGE percentage! Call them and ask directly what the charge entails. I have never heard (read!) of a charge that high!!!

@Future Mrs. Jones, are you freaking out yet??? haha

Our venue's charge is right around that same amount. Yes, it's a huge amount of money. I forget what all in entails (because I asked once) but I believe some cities impose an additional tax in these types of situations as well.

I would, however, make sure that gratuity is fully included for all of the staff. Not all places include this for everyone - ours did and I was told that nothing additional is expected.

As far as I know - or at least with my venue, they count the 20% as part of your administrative service fees. This does not go to the wait staff. We have to tip them separately.. That's another thing I have been thinking about. How much? And off the original price or the price after sales tax, etc?

I asked my coordinator what this charge was for at our venue, and she said it did not include gratuity (that was completely to our discretion) but that the charge is for all of the administrative items - for example, their waitstaff is paid hourly (i.e. not based on tips) so part goes to that, to the cooks, to the other overhead expenses, etc. I would def ask what is included in yours.

I have seen some venues (not mine) state, specifically, that the 18-22% "administrative fee" is not gratuity. But i'm going to ask my venue if it is included. thanks for Bringing up the topic!

It's important to remember that if the service charge does not include the tip for the wait staff that it's not the venue you're affecting if you don't tip the additional amount. It's the wait staff who probably make minimum wage or less.

Usually the service charge pays the salary or hourly wage of the venue's employees, including dish washers, cooks, housekeeping staff, and administration. In most cases it is not a tip and the wait staff will likely be making minimum wage. When I worked for a caterer, my part of the tip would almost always be more than what I made from wages.

Like others said, this might vary by venue so it doesn't hurt to ask.

Ours is 21% plus 10.5% tax and I specifically asked our wedding planner if the 21% included/was the gratuity and unfortunately it is not (which is crazy to me). We have to add gratuity on top of that if we see fit. It's crazy the charges that venues can tack onto weddings!

We were lucky enough that our per person price was inclusive of tax and gratuity. That's one of the reasons we chose it. Some venues in the city has 110 pp price tag plus 15% gratuity + 8% tax on the food + 10% tax on the alcohol! It made the price inflate way too much for us.

Definitely ask for specifics, you don't want any surprises!