Tipping Confusion

I don't know if this will help you at all but if tip is included in the price we will not be tipping extra. For any of our vendors that own their own business we will be doing a thank you card and either a gift card or a small cash tip. When it comes to those who own their own businesses they do not require a tip as they are already getting the full amount you are paying them. Then when it comes to tipping other vendors I think 15%-20% is typical but I also have seen a lot of people just do a $100 tip to start with and depending on service that night they either add a little or take away a little ( or the whole thing depending on service).

I am not sure yet. I feel like I will forget if I bring them with me to give the night of but I also don't want them to feel like we forgot about them lol. I will probably give them to my mom to give out at the end of the night.

That's what I've heard a lot of people do-- prepare the envelopes with tips before hand and designate a family member or MOH/BM to distribute them to the vendors at the end of the night.

Our venue was a very similar situation and we decided to still tip each of the servers. We asked ahead of time how many servers there would be and wrote a thank you card with $50 each in it. They were working for 3hrs and supposedly receiving gratuity already, so we thought that was a fair amount. I gave all of our tip envelopes to my MOH at the beginning of the day and she made sure everyone received theirs. Apparently the servers were not used to receiving tips because we had two come up to us to thank us and were so appreciative and genuinely seemed surprised they received it. We didn't tip the bar tender extra because they had a tip jar out and we put a $50 in there on top of the large amount they already had. We did tip the photography and videography assistants the night of the wedding as well. I didn't think we would have a way to get in contact with them after the wedding if we didn't since different assistants can be used.

I work in the restaurant/catering business. sometimes you have to be careful - if its a gratuity they may get it as a tip. if it is a service charge it is just paying the staff to be there. The wording is very tricky. Being a Maitre'D myself, tipping is always nice. But the wait staff really do the brunt of the work and get paid much less. So even throwing them $10-$20 (individually not to someone else to distribute) makes them happy. If you're doing an open bar the bartender should be making tips off your guests, but its also always nice to throw a tip and thank them at some point as well.

No problem! I agree, because if they ARE getting the gratuity its a little extra just to say thanks. and if they DONT get the gratuity its great because they get something. The maitre'D i'll probably give $100 because she runs the show. It can be very overwhelming - especially after paying so much for everything in general. Best of luck on your perfect day