This week in the For Brides series, we’re talking about tips! I love the variety of questions I’ve been receiving and Julia submitted a question I know many brides have in the back of their minds! She asks:

What’s the deal with tips for vendors? Is this still a thing? I want to show my appreciation for these people doing a great job on my special day, but I’m not sure what is appropriate. Is it a percentage? A flat number?

I’ve enlisted my friend Jacklyn of Events by Jacklyn to dive into this one! She’s an amazing Hampton Roads Wedding Planner who I’ve had the honor of working with and I love her insight!

Jacklyn: Yes! It’s still a thing! And it can be a very confusing thing, so I know exactly why you’re asking. Unfortunately there’s not an across the board percentage or flat number and you don’t necessarily even tip across the board to all of your vendors.

Here’s a brief explanation of what can be expected.

You will tip your caterer/venue, however, more often then not it is included in your contract. Be sure to read your contract carefully!

Just as in a salon, you will tip your makeup artist and stylist 15-20%.

If you have a limo or bus driver you are expected to tip them. I have had drivers who have asked for a specific amount, so I generally ask the company sometime leading up to the wedding if there is a certain dollar amount expected.

The topic of tipping the officiant is near and dear to my heart as I used to work at a church and was the assistant to our pastor. Ask your pastor (or his assistant) if they have a suggested fee. Officiating weddings is something that they are doing outside of their normal realm of duties so don’t expect that they’ll necessarily be doing it for free. For our pastor it meant that he would be taking an extra day out of his week away from his wife and five kids. Of course he loved to lead couples into the sacrament of marriage, but sacrificing that time away from his family deserved to be compensated. Even if a pastor tells you that they don’t expect compensation I would definitely say to still tip them generously!

Wedding planners, photographers, florists and other wedding vendors will not expect to be tipped but of course it is always appreciated, especially if you feel the vendor went above and beyond or if you were just incredibly satisfied with their work or service.

If you are in doubt about whether or not to tip someone, or how much to tip them, ask your wedding planner or consult a reputable source like theknot.com. Remember that tipping people in the middle of your wedding day is one of those things, on a long list of things, that you don’t want to be worrying about when you should be enjoying all of those precious and fleeting moments on your wedding day! So hire a wedding planner and let her handle handing out all of the envelopes to each of your various vendors!

Thanks Jacklyn! You’ve given such a resourceful guide that answered Julia’s question and then some! For more wedding planning posts, browse through the For Brides category and come back next week to see more of your questions answered! 🙂

xoxo