Tipping at Your Wedding

by Jason Hennessey

So your wedding is just around the corner and your mind is everywhere. From planning to budgetary considerations to guest invitations to gifts and wedding favors, all this are all yours to handle. But you can always enlist the services of a professional wedding planner to help you hack through some of the stuff. Your wedding definitely involves a lot of people and at some point in time you will have to show some kind of gratitude or thank you to those whose services are invaluable to the success of the day. But to whom do you tip and to whom do you not?

Tipping is a common wedding practice and tips are a necessary priority in your budgetary allocations. Tipping is most common when you have chosen to have a private company be in charge of reception conveniences like catering, parking for vehicles, music and entertainment and the like, or when you are using hotel facilities should you choose to hold the reception in a hotel. Though tipping is an act of absolute voluntary, it is deeply embedded in wedding ceremony culture that wedding vendors more often than not expecting it.

But in your wedding the cardinal rule is that you call the shots. It is only you who can decide whether or not to tip or not. And you also get to choose who to tip and who not to. Remember to ascertain whether the wedding company is including vendor charges in the agreement you sign for their services. This is to guard against double tipping and thus stretching your budget. And always give your tips at the conclusion of the reception. This will give you a clear view of who did what and then you can tip them accordingly and proportionately. Below are some the people that you consider for tipping on your big day.

The music DJ plays an important part in the entertainment of your guests. You tip the DJ if he is an employee of a company providing for the entertainment. But if he is the owner there is no need because you pay him the contractual fee. Other people that you consider for tipping are bartenders, hair makeup and stylists, restroom attendants, waiting staff, drivers, and valet parking attendants among others. Some people go as far as tipping photographers and wedding planners and coordinators.

These are people that we tend to look down upon but the truth of the matter is that without them you can say goodbye to that perfect wedding that you have always envisioned. But no one should hold you hostage on who to tip and the amount to give. Carefully put tips in envelopes for each individual and have them delivered personally to them. Evaluate the services of each of them and the amount of cash you give to them should correspond to the work that you see them do. Tipping should be a discreet voluntary act and you should never take it as a debt you owe someone, just give it in a warm respectful manner and let it be clear that it is just a way of saying thank you.

About the Author
A guide to tipping at your wedding, including advice as to why you should make allowances in your wedding budget to tip private wedding vendors which you may employ.