Tipping

Service fee =/= gratuity

http://apracticalwedding.com/2013/11/tipping-your-wedding-vendors/

Hi Ashley! First and foremost - welcome to the forums!! I encourage you to check out this post when you have time: https://www.weddingwire.com/wedding-forums/welcome-to-the-weddingwire-community-please-read-for-forum-lingo-helpful-faq/b433c40c1a62b96a.html

It will help you decipher all the lingo that you will see on our posts, as well as some FAQ to get you started.

I'm sure some of the ladies will jump in to add their suggestions, but I found a few recent discussions on this topic that might help you out!

- https://www.weddingwire.com/wedding-forums/who-are-you-tipping/fa55da95342b1d9a.html

- https://www.weddingwire.com/wedding-forums/tipping-vendors/651c0788b2c89668.html

Hell, if it says "Gratuity" it doesn't always mean a tip either. I found out the hard way. I'd recommend tipping your servers like you would at a restaurant.

Thank you all, checking out the older posts on this as well.

Still need help about the priest/church...if anyone knows??

I believe churches/priests usually expect a donation of some sort, not so much a tip.

Usually the church will tell you the cost and it tends to be standard. For example, my church is $300 for member, $400 for non members and you are expected to provide a $20 gratuity to each altar server. Usually nothing for the priest. We are thinking of inviting our priest to the reception to give the blessing at the beginning though

Sounds good. My cost for the church was $450, and I wasn't sure who that went to. I would imagine the organist will have a separate fee, and that we will tip her. I don't believe we will have any alter boys, but I will look into that.

Thanks for the advice

Yes, the organist generally has a separate fee. Ours is $150. Not sure if we will be tipping her or not.

Yes, the organist generally has a separate fee. Ours is $150. Not sure if we will be tipping her or not.

I think the general rule is that you tip everyone who doesn't own their own business. So for example, if your florist owns their own business, you wouldn't tip them (because they will have included the profit that they need to make and their salary in your costs) but you would tip a server because they work for the caterer.

We had planned on getting married at the church. We would have needed to pay the altar server, the organist and the wedding coordinator fees. We didn't have to pay a venue fee since it was our church but a typical donation to the priest and wedding coordinator were around $150 each.

Yay WWChristina!! Thanks for pointing her in the right direction