18% Gratuity Question

Calling all Brides!
If there are any Majestic Garden Brides who know for sure?????

What does the 18% Gratuity really mean?

John From Majestic Gardens, told us that it covers the salary for the wait staff.
But NOT a tip!

I thought that gratuity meant tip???? AM I wrong???
He told us we should give $10-$20 per waiter!^

What are you doing or have done????

oh my... i was talking to my father about that the other day... we thought gratuity meant tip but then people were saying you should tip afterwards.... how insane is this

I am not a Majestic Bride but after reading about this topic I looked at my contract and they call it a 'service charge' I think that is how they get around it being considered a tip. Crazy!!! This industry rips you off left and right. That's all I have to say.
I make good money but even I think I am in the wrong business. I could be a millionaire in the wedding industry.

WHAT???!!! I was told the 19% is gratuity and the only other tip that I should provide is to the maitre d' and the bridal attendant. It's costly enough having to tip all your wendors, but on top of that we have to tip waitstaff too??!!

No I don't think anyone tips the wait staff but you would think that the 18% per person you are paying would cover everyone's tips that works at your venue but somehow in this crazy wedding world it doesn't.

Personally, I think the whole tipping thing for weddings gets way out of hand.

We didn't tip anyone the day of the wedding, I waited a week after the wedding euphoria wore off and then evaluated all my vendors. There were four people I chose to tip...those that went above and beyond what they were hired to do. I feel that the 18% gratuity was there to cover the waiters and waitresses.
(I did go back and tip the maitre' d...she was wonderful)

ETA: I'm really not as cheap as I sound

We tipped our photographers, DJ's and maitre d's.

The folks tipped the limo drivers, thankfully!

My guy (James) said it was the tip and service.

Still I need to tip him $2-$3 a person (haha I have small wedding!!!) which he'll split among the staff.

Which is all we're gonna do.

I'll probably be annoyed if I see people tipping the bartender. I mean afterall isnt that what I paid for?

But *shrug* it's a wedding.. it's expected for us to get screwed over somewhere!

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Posted by KerrC
We didn't tip anyone the day of the wedding, I waited a week after the wedding euphoria wore off and then evaluated all my vendors.

We tipped our photographers, DJ's and maitre d's.

The folks tipped the limo drivers, thankfully!

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So you didnt tip at ALL the day of??
REALLY there's an idea!
hrmmmmm

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Posted by divabride

WHAT???!!! I was told the 19% is gratuity and the only other tip that I should provide is to the maitre d' and the bridal attendant. It's costly enough having to tip all your wendors, but on top of that we have to tip waitstaff too??!!

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I was told this too - I'll find out for you definitely divabride since I am going for the tasting this Saturday. As far as I am concerned it covers the wait staff.

So........ do you think I should not worry about this?

I was thinking of putting like $150 in an envelope, handing it to John, and telling him to divide it up amongst the wait staff?

Are there any Majestic Garden Brides out there, that have done this already?n

I worked at a catering hall for a few years and the waitstaff didn't get a dime of the gratuity that was included in the bill. Some people gave money to the maitre d and told him to give it to the waitstaff and we never got any. It turned out the guy was keeping all the money that was supposed to go to the waitstaff. Then he was set up and caught and was fired. A great suggesstion is before the reception starts get the waitstaff in a room and tip them 10-20 a piece. You will surely get outstanding service if they already received a great tip. There is usually 1 person for 2 tables. So if you are having 20 tables you will have around 10 waiters and 2-3 bus people. The bar tenders make a boat load from the guets so you don't have to worry about them. It is worth the money so your guests are taken care of. Hope this helps!

Kim

Really? The 18-20% gratuity isn't actually a tip for anybody!?!? That's insane. Whatever the 'gratuity' is, I do NOT think that you should be in anyway held responsible for paying the salaries of the workstaff. This guy at Majestic Gardens hired a staff, it is his responsibility to pay them, not yours. Having worked as a waitress in the past, I'm pretty sensitive to making sure to tip well. It's tough b/c while I'm sure you want the waitstaff to be adquately compensated, I feel like you've been put in a really bad position that you should not be put in. I've never heard of anyone being told that they are paying the salary of the staff. That guy's approach sounds like it lacks tact in a major way.

when a catering hall puts gratuity/service charge on its contracts it is not a tip for the waitstaff - it usually pays the waitstaffs salary (which is usually not very good). Having worked at a catering hall i can say that we never got the service charge/grat as a tip. The only tips we got is when the couple would give us a tip.
I think the waitstaff, bartenders, valets and coat checks should be tipped.

Thanks everyone!

It looks like we will be giving the Wait Staff, $10 per person.

Do you think I could give money in an envelope to John, to split among themselves, or should we gather them together before or after the reception to give it to them? How would we go about gathering them together, with everything else going on?,

ahhhh!!!!!!!!!

I have so had it with all of this!!!!!!!!!!!!!

lovin oven brides... we are safe
i just checked my contract and tip is included with the 18% gratuity...afterall gratuity means tip so you are not obligated to tip anymore
of course if someone does an outstanding job they will be tipped

oh there are a couple things not included and the matre' D is one of them it is up to you