Why Wedding Vendor Gratuity is all Over the Place + A Non-Monetary Tip Guide We Can All Agree With

How Much to Tip Wedding Vendors (2025)

For cozier affairs of 50 guests, $50 per vendor is fair.
A large-scale wedding of 150+ guests warrant a $150-250 cash tip.
For small weddings of 120 guests, a cash tip of $100 per vendor is sufficient.

For the recommendations above, I’m referring to a single-venue, 6–8-hour wedding. A large-scale wedding, however, involves a 12-hour marathon spanning multiple venues—house, church, park, and an all-night ballroom reception—all while battling summer traffic between locations.

Tipping Vendors at Weddings is Voluntary, Not Mandatory

I don’t believe in tipping across the board, especially when it’s expected. Tipping should be a voluntary gesture of appreciation for a job well done—not an obligation that makes you feel guilty when you don’t comply. Lately, it feels like society has been conditioned to tip for just about everything. Even self-checkout machines are asking for tips now.

And yet, when was the last time you thought about tipping the cashier at Target or the person serving up fast-food Chinese? Probably never. But we all pause to calculate how much to tip the Olive Garden waitress who just buried your pasta in a pound of cheese.

So, should tipping wedding vendors really be necessary? You’re already spending thousands of dollars on their services. Yet, wedding publications insist tipping is practically mandatory, even breaking it down by vendor and percentage. It’s no wonder this whole tipping culture feels blown out of proportion in the wedding industry.

But David! Didn’t You Just Recommend How Much to Tip My Wedding Vendors?

I did. Even though I don’t believe in tipping, I recognize that many people do. So why not make it easier and save you from the stress of using those convoluted tip calculators every wedding blog seems to push? That said, the rest of this post is for those like me—people who don’t believe in tipping and would rather show appreciation in other, more meaningful ways. But first, let’s unpack how we ended up here in the first place.

The Convoluted Tipping Etiquette for Wedding Vendors

A quick search for tipping etiquette for wedding vendors shows how confusing and unfair tipping has become. Thanks to publications like Zola, Brides, and The Knot, couples are bombarded with convoluted tipping guides suggesting who to tip and how much, often implying some vendors are more important than others. The Knot’s Vendor Tipping Cheat Sheet, for instance, highlights specific vendors to tip, while Martha Stewart Weddings and Brides.com both suggest skipping tips for business owners altogether.

Even U.S. News recommends tips only for staff, not business owners. Creating an unnecessary hierarchy among vendors, despite everyone pulling the same weight on your wedding day. And let’s not forget that Brides once suggested photographers and videographers "pack a lunch" rather than expect a meal—advice so bad they’ve since removed the article. But as the saying goes, Pepperidge Farms remembers.

Personally, I don’t eat at weddings—I work fine on an empty stomach and much prefer a drink or two from the bar. That said, many vendors appreciate a hot meal during grueling 8–12 hour days. Feeding your team the same meal as your guests, rather than a sad cold box lunch, is a simple and meaningful way to show appreciation for their hard work without falling into the tipping rabbit hole.

Is a Service Charge a Tip? Sneaky Service Charge and Gratuity Fees

Fasten your seat belt for this one Girl Scouts: some vendors, especially venues and caterers, will hit you with a mandatory service charge, a gratuity fee, and a 'recommended' percentage tip for the service staff, often even before factoring in the tax.

You read that right!

Not only will you be shelling out thousands of dollars for your venue and catering, but you will then be expected to cough up a few extra hundred because the vendor can't be bothered to pay their employees a decent living wage. So tell me, why should you, as the client, be forced to foot the bill for your wedding vendors' employees' salaries? And I’m not even gonna get into how California recently allowed restaurants to get away with charging us mandatory junk fees thanks to powerful restaurant lobbying groups.

What is a service charge and does it count as a tip?
A service charge is a fee collected to pay for services related to the primary product or service being purchased and legally belong to the employer and may be shared with employees at the business owner's discretion, while tips in comparison, are the earnings of the employee.
Are service fees legal?
California's labor code states that service fees are not considered tips from a wage perspective by law however, a service charge is not a tip, but some businesses treat it as a tip, so if you tip extra after being charged a service fee, they are in fact getting double the tips. Either way, don’t let a wedding vendor or any other business make you feel bad for not tipping if they sneak in service fees. You’re already a paying customer.

Wedding Vendor Gratuity: Non-Monetary Tip Alternatives

While I can't speak for every wedding vendor you'll encounter; I can tell you most vendors don't expect cash tips but will certainly appreciate them. That said, the following tip alternatives will show your appreciation without costing you a dime, just a few minutes of your time, and will undoubtedly be appreciated by all wedding vendors.

Don’t haggle with your vendors for discounts.
Share your vendor’s website with friends and family.
Allow your vendors to enjoy a drink or two from the bar.
Give your vendors the same meal as your guests, not a cold ass box lunch.
Follow your vendors on social media. Like, comment and share their posts.
Submit your wedding photos to wedding publications on behalf of your vendors.
Recommend your vendor to your friends and family; the tip that will keep on giving.
Write a five-star review on Google, even better if you record a 30 second testimonial video.
Recommend your favorite podcaster, YouTuber or blogger to have your vendor on as guest.

Yes, something as simple as a five-star review on Google Maps will mean the world to any wedding vendor and will far supersede a monetary tip. Costing you nothing more than few minutes of your time. But again, don’t feel obligated to tip anyone, we all know the considerable investment you’re making to put this wedding together, and no vendor should feel entitled to a tip. And if you do tip, budget allowing, make the effort to tip everyone present at your wedding, because no single vendor is more important than an another.