How much do we tip the wedding coordinator?

[WorkingOnIt]

I agree that you need to tip what you can, and based on your experience.  In the perfect world, you would be completely happy with your experience and want to tip.  Sadly we are not in a perfect world.  Plus, I think most WP's understand that 20% of a $ 100 dinner is a lot different than 20% of a $5000 wedding package.  A wedding is expensive enough without holding a few grand back for tips!

[ShellyCarter]

thanks for posting.
 

Originally Posted by Sllefebvr 

Here girls I did some research on destination weddings and here was the best result

 

• You do not need to tip your florist unless he/she does something spectacular or really out-of-the-floral-realm for you. If he tracks down the filling for your goody bags, or she blows your mind with something you weren’t expecting, by all means, feel free to tip the florist. But it isn’t something you need to build into your budget.
• You don’t need to tip your caterer, but you will need to tip the servers and bartenders. If you don’t have a wedding planner to guide you, ask the caterer what’s appropriate per person.
• Don’t tip the photographer. If you adored her, order more prints!
• Don’t tip the wedding cake baker.
• Don’t tip a band, unless they stay extra time and don’t bill you for it.
• Tip a DJ if he’s really, really good. $50 is more than enough.
• If you’re staying in a small hotel and you’ve taken over the whole place for your wedding, be sure to tip the hotel manager/concierge who has helped you with everything. You should also tip the breakfast or housekeeping staff, but you don’t need to do it individually. Give a tip to the person in charge of that staff and ask them to split it with the people who worked during your wedding.
• If you’re staying at a villa or private property with a house manager or caretaker, tip if you’re having the reception on the property and the person is being very helpful. Remember, the property owners made money on you. The caretaker or property manager is on salary and had to put up with you because it’s part of his job. If they do a great job, acknowledge it. If you have daily maid service, it’s appropriate to leave a tip of $2-$5 per day in your room. If you have a 5-bedroom house, you should tip $10 per day at the end of your stay if they did a good job.
• Do not tip your wedding officiant.
• Do not tip your rental equipment delivery guys — you paid a delivery fee already.
• Finally, do tip your wedding planner. As self-serving as this may sound, I get asked this question a lot so I’m going to tackle it openly and honestly.

If you have a good wedding planner who is charging you a reasonable fee and isn’t marking up your services, you should tip her at the end of your wedding if you are happy with her services. When deciding how much to tip, think about how much her total fee was, and think about how much money she saved you (there will be items that stick out when you think about it), and how challenging you may have been as a client. If you know you drove her nuts or were very demanding (and she was nice about it), compensate her for the extra time and effort she had to put in to your big day. Tip between 15 and 20 percent of her wedding fee. To some extend it’s like a restaurant, if you were satisfied, go 15 percent. If you were thrilled and she did a great job for you, go 20 percent or more. If you felt like she dropped the ball, give her 10 percent, or don’t tip her at all. A tip is supposed to be a gratuity for a job well done, whether it’s a waitress, a hairdresser or a wedding planner.

The exception to the rule is the wedding planner who asks for a tip. That is just so gauche. Sometimes I’ll make a joke about it to my clients when they’re really super impressed with something I’ve done. When they’re telling me how great I am or how much money I’ve saved them, I’ll make some joke like “remember that when it’s time to tip me,†or something like that. But I’ve never ever told a bride up front that a tip was required, or asked a bride for a gratuity after the wedding. Some brides are just thoughtful. I’ve received lovely thank-you gifts and even sweeter notes — and those can be very rewarding as well.

If you don’t use a wedding planner and a banquet manager or someone else from the hotel steps into that role for your wedding, be prepared to tip her at the end of the event as long as everything has gone smoothly. She is your de facto wedding planner and you should thank her for executing that role well. It doesn’t need to be as much as you would tip a wedding planner, but a token to let her know her work was appreciated is more than appropriate.

So when your wedding planner gives you the list of tips you’ll need for your wedding a few weeks before the big day, take a moment to think about whether you’ll want to have some extra on hand to tip your planner too, assuming she delivers all that she promised on your wedding day. If in the end she doesn’t deserve it, spend it on a spa day on your honeymoon.

 

[canadiangirl]

im all about the savings of money...so helll yeah im happy to read this lmao

[JBean]

We tipped our WC $100. They charged us a $300 vendor fee for an extra photographer and weren't willing to waive that. We had decided that if they cut that, the extra would go to the WC. We also gave each waiter $20 (they were also taking tables inside the restaurant). 

 

[lucy<3woody]

I think that is fair JBean!!

[Jber713]

This has been so helpful! Thanks girls

[CeeBubble]

"Don’t tip a band, unless they stay extra time and don’t bill you for it."

 

I still think that not tipping the band unless they work for free is totally unethical.

 

Just my 2 cents!
XO
Miss Manners 
 

 

[heavenone]

Perhaps because I use my debit card for everything these days the thought of carrying a wad of cash with me to DR for tips seems weird. I'm not sure there will be ATMs readily available as there haven't been on some of my other carribean trips. We also have to pay cash for our welcome sail (4k) . Thoughts? Suggestions?

[Pucca]

I'm never comfortable traveling with a large wad of cash either. Makes me nervous. However, considering the lack of possible access to ATMs, you'll probably just have to settle for bringing cash. What I did was split the amounts between me and my husband. We then separated our amounts and put them in different places in our carry on. I didn't want to put everything in one place in the event it got lost; I didn't want to be stuck without any cash at all. We put the tips in envelopes beforehand, labeled them, and then sealed them so we wouldn't have to be scrambling around to put the tips together once we got there. If you think it's still too much, maybe you can ask one of your family members to carry some for you as well. Hope that helps! Good luck!

 

 

Originally Posted by heavenone 

Perhaps because I use my debit card for everything these days the thought of carrying a wad of cash with me to DR for tips seems weird. I'm not sure there will be ATMs readily available as there haven't been on some of my other carribean trips. We also have to pay cash for our welcome sail (4k) . Thoughts? Suggestions?

 

[jillybeans127]

Thanks for the post....answered a few questions for me.