Tips ?!

Ive been told yes you tip pretty much all your vendors unless they are the owner of the business. As for how much this depends 18-20% is the recommended but that can get expensive fast so some people do less. But definitely leave room in budget for tips it will eat up more then you expect it to.

Agree with Rosebud. 18-20% is ideal. However, if 20% is $500 for the DJ it’s okay to go lower.

Wait a week or so after the wedding so you can assess all vendor performances with an objective mindset, which you cannot do on the day of or leading up to. Tips should only be given to those who went above and beyond the call of duty. That’s why they were created. Don’t tip anyone the day of the wedding and do not tip for no shows or bad/mediocre service, which you won’t be aware of on the wedding day. There will be vendors who do not receive a tip.


As for how much to tip only those who went above and beyond, pick a set dollar amount you are comfortable with. Don’t spend 20% if you can’t afford it just because everyone else suggests it. The problem with percentages is that if a service is $1000 for example and you pay 10-20% , that is $100-200 per business at that price. Are you comfortable spending that much? Do you have that amount in the bank times the number of vendors you plan to tip?

It’s honestly up to you and whether you want to and how much. I will say though that it’s never a thing to tip photographers.


Definitely wait until after the wedding. My DJ definitely deserved the tip we had planned, but we ended up not giving the MUA & Hair duo tips because they ran us late.

It’s hard to say. Some say 20% but my photographer owns his own business and I’m already paying him $6500. I’m not giving him a $1300 tip. I think give a tip if they don’t own their own business. If they do own their own business and you feel they went above and beyond and you want to give a little extra that’s fine but don’t feel pressure to give a certain amount. At the very least a thank you card, a good review if you liked them and maybe a small gift if you’d rather do that I think is more than enough

I followed this:

https://www.theknot.com/content/wedding-vendor-tipping-cheat-sheet

I feel like 20% is quite unrealistic in some cases. My photographer/videographer would be a 9k bill. I'm not going to tip nearly 2k on top of that. Maybe that makes me rude, maybe not lol.