Free wedding vendor tip calculator

Who to tip at a wedding, and who not to

Tipping at a wedding runs on custom, and the custom changes with the region and with how a vendor is paid. Unless your contract names a required gratuity, the choice is yours.

Etiquette guides most often name the people who work your day for wages or by the job: banquet staff and servers, bartenders, drivers, delivery and setup crews, and venue staff. Hair and makeup artists, the DJ and the photographer sit in between. They are tipped when they work for someone else and often skipped when they own the business.

Who not to tip

Owners come first. A photographer, planner, florist, DJ or stylist who runs their own company sets their own prices, so a tip is not part of the custom. Ask "Is it just you, or do you have a team?" and tip the team. A written thank-you and a review cost nothing, and they help the next couple find a small business.

Skip anyone whose contract or policy says they can't accept tips; some venues and caterers don't allow it, so ask before you hand over cash. Skip anyone whose service charge the contract says goes to the staff, or at least decide a tip on top is optional. A friend or relative working as a favor gets a gift and a thank-you, and a member of the clergy may prefer a donation to their place of worship.

How much to tip each wedding vendor

These are the figures the calculator opens with. They are rules we chose from the ranges etiquette guides commonly give. They are not a survey result or an average, they shift with the region, the size of the team and how the vendor is paid, and every one can be edited in the tool above.

A percent is worked out on the contract amount you type, so enter the amount you want the percent taken from, for example the bill before tax. A flat figure is for each person. For a team, the calculator splits a percent tip between the people and gives each an envelope; set the people to 1 if you would rather hand one envelope to a lead and write "to share out" on it.

The sample's catering has a service charge on the contract, so it adds no tip and asks you to check, which is why the 11 vendors come to $1,208.00 and not more. Switch that off and the caterer's 18% of $8,200 comes to $1,476 on top.

Service charge, gratuity and tip: what each one means

Tip

Money you choose to give a person, on top of the contract. It goes where you send it.

Gratuity

On a quote, usually a line the business adds, as a percent or a flat amount. Some businesses call it required and some call it optional. Whether it reaches the staff who work your event is the business's decision, so read the line and ask.

Service charge

The business's fee for providing service. The business sets it and decides where it goes: to the company, toward wages or to the staff. Some contracts say who receives it. Whether it is taxed depends on where you are. A service charge is not automatically a tip.

What to do about it

Ask the vendor three things: who receives the charge, whether any of it reaches the staff who work your day, and whether a tip on top is welcome or not allowed. Get the answer in writing and keep it with the contract. If the staff receive it, you may need nothing more. If it stays with the business, you might decide to tip the people who work.

In the calculator, switch on "Gratuity or service charge already on the contract" for that vendor. It adds no tip, and it puts the question on your sheet. Switch it off once you know and set the amount you want.

Quotes stack these lines in different orders, which is why a total can surprise you. How wedding venues price their packages walks through the fees on a venue quote, and the free wedding budget calculator adds service charge, gratuity and tax into the total and gives tips a line of their own.

The service charge vs gratuity guide explains how the IRS treats each and how a venue shows them on a BEO.

Cash, a gift or a review

Cash in a sealed envelope with a name on it is the usual way. It reaches the person who did the work and needs no paperwork. Bring small bills, count them twice and write the name or role on the outside. A check works for a business but is slower, and if your contract allows adding a tip to the final invoice by card, that is another way; ask the vendor.

For a vendor you'd rather not tip in cash, such as an owner, a written thank-you does the job, along with a review on the site they use or a referral to another couple. A review costs nothing and the next couple reads it. A small gift is a kind extra.

When to hand out the envelopes, and who should

The sheet defaults to the end of each vendor's work, because by then you know how it went. A few are earlier because the person leaves earlier: hair and makeup artists when they finish, the florist and rentals crews on delivery, the officiant after the ceremony and a driver at the end of the last ride. Bartenders, the DJ, the photographer and venue staff come at the end of the night. Some couples give bartenders part of theirs at the start. Change any of it on the sheet.

Choose the person for each envelope, and make it someone other than you. The best man, a parent, the planner or the venue coordinator all work, as long as they stay until the vendor finishes. Give them the sealed envelopes and a printed sheet the day before, so that nobody is counting cash in a hallway at 11 p.m. They tick each one off as it goes.

The calculator groups the envelopes by person, with the cash each one carries and when each is due. The reminder under the sheet says the same in plain words, and the Word file puts it on a page you can email.

Tipping on a small budget

A tip is optional unless your contract requires a gratuity, and a smaller one is still a thank-you. Put the most you can spend in the tip budget box and the calculator shows how far under or over you are.

Then trim from the top. Skip owners and say thanks in writing. Check the contracts with a service charge before you add anything, because you may already be paying the staff. Put the money where people work the longest on their feet for hourly pay, usually the bartenders, the banquet staff and the drivers, and use the flat amount for each person instead of a percent when the bill is large. Lower a rate, or set one vendor to No tip, until the total fits.

How the calculator works

Each vendor has a contract amount, a number of people and a tip type: a percent of the contract, a flat amount for each person, or none. The tip is worked out once, in whole cents. A percent tip is shared between the people, and any left-over cents go on the first envelopes, so the envelopes always add up to the tip. Tick "Round each envelope to a whole dollar" if you want bills only, and the total follows the envelopes.

The switch for a gratuity or service charge on the contract turns that vendor's tip off and adds a question to the sheet. The total is set against your tip budget. The sheet lists a row for every vendor with an envelope, with the name on it, who delivers it and when, and a box to tick. Vendors without an envelope are listed underneath with the reason.

Copy gives you the plan as text for a message, the CSV opens in Excel and Google Sheets, the Word file is an editable copy of the sheet and the reminder, and Print gives you the sheet alone. Nothing leaves your browser.

For venues and coordinators

Couples read the lines on your quote the way this page does. They see "service charge" or "gratuity" and wonder whether it covers the staff. Answer it on the quote: write each charge as its own line with its rate and say who receives it, for example "Service charge, 20%, kept by the venue" or "Gratuity, 18%, paid to the service staff". If your staff may accept tips, say who an envelope goes to. If they may not, say that at the tour and in the contract.

The final walk-through is the time for a tip envelope plan. Ask the couple who will hand out the envelopes, then go down the vendor list: which contracts carry a charge, which vendors are owners, who gets an envelope and when. Print the sheet from this page, or have the couple send theirs, and keep a copy with the event's paperwork so your team knows where the envelopes go.

The free event proposal template has lines for service charge and tax, so the charges are on the page the couple signs, and the free BEO template is the sheet your team works from on the day, where the plan fits under special requests.

MyVenueHQ turns a quote into a proposal, contract and invoice on one event, and you can start free.

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