Should You Tip Your Wedding Planner?
Planning a wedding is a lot of work, which is why many brides and grooms-to-be rely on wedding planners. A good wedding planner will help your Big Day run smoothly on all fronts, from making sure the venue is filled with flowers, the band knows your favorite dance songs, and the caterer knows your cousin needs a gluten-free meal. While we’re used to tipping for good service, after your wedding planner hands out tips to everyone else, are you supposed to tip your wedding planner? Good question.
While it’s customary to tip waiters, bartenders, valets, and hair stylists helping out with your trip down the aisle, when it comes to wedding planners there’s no real consensus. One thing that most of the experts agree on is that wedding planners typically don’t expect a tip. But just because you don’t expect something doesn’t mean it’s not nice to receive something though.
According to event planner Mindy Weiss’s The Wedding Book, as reported by Real Simple, says a tip of around 15% is customary. If your wedding planner has knocked themselves out, going above and beyond to ensure your day was flawless, in addition to the tip, “add a personal thank-you note and small gift.” However, if you used your planner more sparingly, “a nice personal gift alone should suffice.”
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According to the experts who spoke to Martha Stewart Weddings, since many wedding planners run their own businesses, they've already negotiated their fees and expect only that amount of money. However, wedding coordinators who work for companies should be given a tip of “about $50 to $100.” If the service was “extraordinary”, an additional 10 percent tip would be a nice gesture “or you might send a thank-you gift such as flowers or a print from your photographer showing the vendor in action at your wedding.”
According to The Spruce, since wedding planners are often able to negotiate discounts on other vendors, like florists and caterers, and those savings are passed on to you, they deserve a tip. They suggest, a “$100-500 tip is appropriate for the wedding planner, depending on the size of the wedding and the amount of work this person puts into the event.”
Wedding Wire says that wedding planners don't usually receive tips, but if you feel yours went above and beyond, you may tip 10 to 20 percent. The folks at The Knot agree, saying that while wedding planners don’t usually expect a tip, if yours did a particularly great job or really went above and beyond, you can offer a token of appreciation. That could be a 10 to 20 percent tip depending on the size of your wedding, or a personal gift.
While the experts may not agree, most Southerners want to do the right thing. That means writing a personal thank you note and including it in an envelope with a tip for that hard-working wedding planner who helped you get you down the aisle in style.
