Welcome to Get Married! We invited Samantha Radandt of

B&R Events and RSVP Wedding Coordination to drop some knowledge on proper wedding day tipping etiquette.

Sheridan – Host of Get Married:

Hello! Welcome to Get Married, where we talk about wedding planning as a piece of cake. I’m your host, Sheridan. I’m getting married later this year and I’ve run into a lot of different issues with planning my wedding. And so I figured what better way to help me through these issues than to talk to some of the wedding professionals that are best at what they do. So today I’m sitting down with Samantha Radandt, who is the owner of B&R Events and rsvp wedding coordination. And we’re going to talk a little bit about tipping your vendors.

Samantha – B & R Events:

I’m excited. I think this is great. So I’ve been doing this for 14 years and we finally found a great system as far as telling what our clients need to tip their vendors. So, um, just a couple of great things to think about is… First of all, there’s always the expected tips, right?

Samantha – B & R Events:

So that’s usually not included in your contract. Generally. You want to tip delivery professionals like the people who drop off your floral or your rentals, etc, about $5 per person. You always want to tip your officiant at least 50 bucks, or just give them a hundred dollars toward their congregation or their parish. And then of course, hair and makeup artists, you want to tip just like you went to the salon and got your hair done. So 15 to 20% is totally appropriate. Now there’s a whole different category and I’m sure you’ve had a lot of contracts that you’ve had to review. And this is where you want to check your contracts because sometimes tips are included and sometimes they’re not.

Samantha – B & R Events:

So you always want to make sure that your bartenders are getting taken care of. If it is not in your contract that they’re getting tipped, then you want to tip them just like you’re at a restaurant or a bar. So you’re going to give them 15 to 20%. And of course, catering staff is the same situation. So you’re always going to just make sure that they’re getting some sort of, you know, gratuity. And if they’re not, you want to give them 15, 20%, again, just like in a restaurant. Um, transportation… review your contract. So, but otherwise I usually recommend about 10% of your transportation contract.

Samantha – B & R Events:

And then there’s a little, um, category that’s a little bit more rare, um, which is venue attendance. So that might be valet or something of that nature. And you’re going to want to tip them about, you know, like you would tip a valet. So between $2 and $5 per valet attendant, um, then you really have some optional tips. So when it comes to your wedding planner or your wedding coordinator, um, you can do 15 to 20% of that, but usually a lot of people will cap it off at $500 then with your photographer and videographer, it’s a similar situation. So again, 15 to 20% seems to be the rule of thumb, but that’s usually kept around $200 and then you always have your DJs and musicians that you want to look out for and, um, kinda get, you know, a little bit more dancing and things like that. But, musicians, you want to tip about $50 each. Um like, if you have a string trio or if you have band or whatever, and DJs, you want to tip about a hundred dollars.

Sheridan – Host of Get Married:

Okay. Yeah. Awesome. So, and these wedding pros 100% deserve to be tipped. I mean, they do so much to make a day special. And that goes beyond the contract costs. So exactly. It’s a really big deal. So make sure you tip your vendors.

Samantha – B & R Events:

Yes. We always appreciate it.

Sheridan – Host of Get Married:

Well, Samantha, I really appreciate you taking the time to sit down with me today. Um, I have learned a lot and so now I know how to tip my vendors.

Samantha – B & R Events:

Exactly!