Should you still tip if gratuity is already included in price?

Ask. Ask who the gratuity goes to. Then you will know!

Just double check with your venue who it goes to. Gratuity is a tip, but I would want to know if it is for everyone, including photographer and transportation, or just for the waitstaff, etc. Our venue included gratuity for the waitstaff. It also charged a separate service charge.

I did not tip anyone. I might do something nice for our photog, but everyone else screwed up a bunch. LOL

Heather you didn't tip anyone?? Man...

At our venue, the 15% service charge is added in. I asked, and this is the gratuity for the service staff and food staff. I won't be tipping on top of this.

Other vendors I can't speak to though.

As a former server, this is hard. When we had private parties, it was a $60 fee per server. So...I could wait on a private party all night long (approx 3-4 hrs) and end up with $60, minus what I had to tip out to the bar. Not cool. All the serving staff has to split the gratuity. Think about it like that, and then decide if you think it's enough per person. 2k sounds like a lot for grat, so you may be good to go. If all else fails, I agree with Laura that you should ask the venue.

Definitely ASK. Sometime the "service fee" is bogus and doesn't go to the staff. We were going to sign with one venue and when we found out that the service fee of 25% didn't include a tip, we nixed 'em. What kind of place keeps a service fee for themselves? They also had a setup fee. Huh??

So definitely ask. If the gratuity is included and the service was well over and above and you WANT to give more, do so. But you are not expected to do that.

Gratuity was built into all of my vendor's contracts. I did not tip additional money to every wedding professional but did tip the professionals who went above and beyond. For example, the hair stylist who redid my Mother in-laws hair last hair because she decided last minute that she did not like the style.

Our service fee does not go to the staff. Is it a bunch of bs? I think so. But it is common here on Long Island. I didn't know about any of that until my friends started getting married and they warned me to add 30 percent to any price per head. I was told to tip 3-4 dollars per guest. That goes to the waitstaff and the maitre d and the bridal attendant.

@Sarah...LOVE THE RING!! I got one that is similar but square but after seeing yours I LOVE IT!!!

Lisa- Nope, not yet. There were a bunch of issues with just about every vendor. Tipping is optional. There were service charges, which I'm not sure if they were gratuities. But, seriously, people screwed up their duties, I'm not going to pay them even more.

Remember, tipping is when people go above and beyond. When fees are already pretty high, it's difficult to pay more. I think tipping is getting ridiculous these days. Everyone wants to get tipped. LOL

You should find out if the gratuity is a sneaky word to say, 'salary" or if it really is a tip The staff needs to be paid somehow, but you want to know exactly how that works, and if they won't tell you, then don't book.

I would never book anyone who stipulated a set gratuity; it takes all the fun out of giving people money they don't expect.

@Danielle, thank you so much!!! The center diamond was my FMIL's, and then FH picked out the setting himself. I cannot wait to see my wedding band with it!