Tipping Confusion - Opinions Please?

1. You may get some different opinions here, but I say no. Our catering company provided a buffet with two people who worked the buffet by keeping things stocked as guests served themselves. We tipped each of the buffet attendants $50 each, but we did not tip on our entire catering bill. To me, that seems a little excessive.

2. If the 20% service fee you're paying is going to those servers, I wouldn't tip them. But I would make extra sure that that's what the 20% charge is for!

3. I would tip 10-20% of your bar bill to split between the bartenders, or give them each a flat tip amount

4. That one I'm not sure about. Our venue includes set up in our pricing (the owners set up the ceremony area the morning of, our DOC set up the reception area and decor). We didn't tip the owners of our venue, but we did tip our DOC of course. I would either tip her or skip it altogether, I wouldn't do a thank you card that doesn't include a tip (but that's just me)

5. Our DOC handled distributing the tips for our vendors. If you don't have a DOC, I would ask a responsible wedding party member. Maybe one of the guys since they generally have less to do the morning of as opposed to the girls getting ready for a long time.

I'm no expert, these are just my thoughts!

1. We have a similar situation here. There is no gratuity in our bill to begin with. The catering company is supplying the "wait staff" but they are only setting up, busing the tables, and maintaining the serving lines, not actually serving. There's a delivery fee and a fee for us to have them there but obviously they need to be tipped. If we did this based on the catering bill, it would be $400 each which is outrageous for picking up some plates and restocking the salad... When you go to a restaurant, you aren't tipping the food as much as you're tipping the service. I see it as the same in this situation. We'll give them $50-$100 in tip.

2. I would see if this is something you could give in cash directly to them... I wouldn't trust that it would actually go to the waitstaff if the venue is charging it...

3. I would say between. Each seems like a lot to me.

4. I would do a thank you. You're probably already paying a ton for the venue. If she comes with the venue, she gets paid by them to be there. If she was SUPER helpful, I'd consider $50 or so.

5. I don't have a DOC so I will be giving this responsibility to my sister (MOH). I plan on writing a thank you and including money in the envelope to each of my vendors.