$$ Tips $$

The rule of thumb is that if someone owns their own company you don't tip them (they're making their own prices and the profits are theirs), while if someone is an employee of a company then you tip them. Mind you, there's so many grey areas to this. We're not tipping our bartenders or servers, but will most-likely tip the floor manager of our wedding.

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Very good video!! I may or may not watch her videos over the long weekend lol

I have found this YouTube channel VERY helpful. She's a wedding planner/coordinator, and makes videos that answer the most common wedding planning questions (who to invite. how to make a budget...).

Here's her advice of tipping vendors:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wkzj9zo_wUw

When we put our payments to the vendors, tips weren't included due to funds.

There are cases where vendors get tipped if you like their services or giving something extra from you. Otherwise, they are providing the services you have paid for.

Yes our venue has the automatic gratuity factored in! So we weren’t planning on tipping anything provided by them.

My thought with the photographer though is were already paying him $4000 for the day which is a large expense. So how do you tip based off of that?! If you go with the basic 18% that’s $720 which is way too much IMO. I’m not saying he isn’t worth that much, but that’s just a large extra.

We have a venue that is providing everything and a gratuity is already factored in, but from what I've heard from other discussions probably the caterer and bar staff, DJ, MUA and hair... My limo is already charging a gratuity as well.

I've discussed this with many people about the photographer/videographer and 90% of people (vendors included) have said they don't expect a tip, but welcome it if you feel they've gone above and beyond. I'll be only tipping my hair stylist and giving her, my venue coordinator, photographer and videographers thank you cards with a little bag of goodies. My MUA is a friend and doing it free of charge (which is why no tip for her, we're taking them out for dinner instead). I'll likely provide a small tip to my ceremony guitarist and maybe the DJ as well (he's just playing a set playlist that I've created, so not much work involved). Hope that helps!

I would check your contracts. Some vendors automatically include an 18% gratuity in their pricing. Our venue did that, so we aren’t planning on tipping them. Not sure if the photographer did, but I might make her a little basket of goodies.

What I've heard most is that if the person is working for a company (like a DJ, officiant, or waiters that is "dispatched" to you) then you tip them. If it is somebody that is their own boss (could be a DJ or officiant too) then don't tip them because they are the ones who set their price.

With that being said, I plan on tipping based off of that as well as if they were good at what I hired them to do. (Based off my budget I can only see myself tipping at most $100-$150 per person - percentage would kill me!)

I tipped everyone. DJ, photographer, make up and hair and we had a photo booth so we tipped the operator. The venue included tips in their pricing.
But you should tip all your vendors. I had money in envelopes set aside and I ended up increasing each one by the end of the night because they were all so amazing..