A Wedding Planner Says You Should Be Tipping Your Wedding Vendors & People Are Fed Up

Weddings are expensive as it is, but did you know it's also standard practice to tip your wedding vendors?

A wedding planner dropped the bombshell in a TikTok video in which she explained that on top of all the expensive wedding fees, you should also be setting aside some cash to tip certain workers who are helping out on your special day.

The TikToker, whose name is Meredith, frequently answers questions about wedding planning on her TikTok account @plusoneplanning.

Recently, she tackled a question that is getting a lot of attention on the platform: “who and which of your vendors should be tipped?”

Meredith went through details like what tips are expected, the ones that are optional and how much you should be giving.

When it comes to the tips that are expected, Meredith says you should be tipping service industry workers.

“As a general rule of thumb, you can think if this wasn't wedding world; if this was the real world, would you be tipping them outside of a wedding context?” Meredith says in her video.

The list includes services like hair and make-up, dress alterations, wedding day delivery driver, limo driver, the workers that set up your venue, floral assistants, wedding cake bakery employees, servers, waitstaff, bartenders, valet parkers and coat checkers.

“If you go to the salon on a random weekend to get your hair cut and coloured, you would be expected to tip your stylist, so in the wedding world, you are expected to tip your stylist,” says Meredith.

“If you think you should be tipping them you, should probably be tipping them.”

Meredith suggests that on average you should be tipping anywhere from 10%-30%, depending on the service you’ve received.

“The cake bakery has a teenager who drives the truck and delivers your cake. Typically you can tip what your budget allows," Meredith explained.

"You're expected to tip when you order a pizza for delivery, so you should be expected to tip when your cake is delivered too.”

Meredith also recommends reading over your contract, because sometimes the fees include gratuity.

The wedding planner then broke down how to calculate how much you should be tipping workers like the wait staff, bartenders and valet drivers, and how to split the tip amongst them.

She also tackled the list of wedding vendors, for whom tipping is optional.

This includes services like your wedding planner, coordinator, photographer, videographer, DJ and florist.

“Yes, we are providing a service to you, and you could say that it's skilled labour, but the tipping is not expected,” says Meredith. “Some people choose to tip, but it is optional. It's not mandatory.”

The TikToker adds that if you decide to tip there’s no standard amount, and you can tip however much feels right to you.

"Sometimes it's 50 bucks, sometimes it's 200 bucks. Again, there's no expectation at all.”

You can also show gratitude by giving them a gift like a bottle of wine, a mug or a candle, instead of a tip.

Although a tip is nice, Meredith recommended that one of the best gestures you can do for a small business is to leave them a great review.

Meredith's video was meant to be informative, but the comment section is flooded with people ripping apart tipping culture at large.

One user wrote, “tipping culture is out of control- wedding services are set at premium pricing already, the only tip I understand is wait staff if it’s not included.”

“Noooo, please, let’s stop spreading this narrative that we MUST tip wedding vendors,” wrote another user.

One commenter asked, “If I’m supposed to tip the delivery driver, what is my $295 delivery fee going towards?”

A commenter recalled a time they were “taken aback” when they were expected to tip and wrote, “I was asked to tip the person who helped me try on wedding dresses. I was so taken aback. This is getting out of hand.”

“As a DJ I never expect a tip. But please leave a review. The wedding business is cutthroat. It’s what keeps me on business,” wrote one person.

It looks like people are getting fed up with the tipping culture, and many think it’s getting out of hand in every industry.