How to Know What to Tip Your Wedding Vendors

After you’ve walked down the aisle and said your I Do’s, after you’ve partied the night away and dug your fork and knife into the delicious food, and after all of your guests have enjoyed a slice of wedding cake, you’ll start the process of closing out the night. But before you head home, you may decide to pull your wallet out for one more wedding expense: vendor tips. The best thing you can do is decide how much to give each vendor before the wedding begins and separate those amounts into separate envelops. You can carry those envelopes around with you throughout the night, mail them to the vendors after the wedding, or ask your wedding coordinator to hand them out to the vendors at the end of the night for you.

 

But the real question is: how much should you tip each vendor?

 

First, it’s important to note that you don’t have to tip your vendors, especially if you are not happy with their service or their overall attitude toward you throughout the wedding experience. But if you were happy with them, it’s a nice gesture to give them a tip.

 

Here’s a breakdown of how much to tip these four different vendors:

 

1. Hair and Makeup Team

It’s customary to give them 15-20% of the total service. If the bridesmaids used the team, they should also tip them based on the services they used.

 

2. Wedding Planner

You can give your wedding planner a nice gift or around $250-500 in cash as a tip.

 

3. Wedding Officiant

There are two different tips you can give in this instance. One is to the organization, as a donation, that the officiant is a part of (whether it’s your church or temple) as well as direct tip to them (which could be anywhere from $50-100).

 

4. Wedding Photographer and Videographer

At the end of the night, you can give each one a tip of anywhere between $50-$250 for their services. If there’s a team of people, consider splitting up the tip per person or giving one sum for them to split amongst the team.