need tipping advice

bigday1114 Posted: Nov 11, 2010 10:17 AM

need tipping advice

my venue includes an 18% gratuity in the bill then there is a 'suggested' administrative tip of 800-1000!!! i asked what that is for and they said for Them, the matridee, etc. Do you think i HAVE To give that much? if i had to do it individually, i would probably give much less...

any thoughts or experience with this? I don't want to appear cheap but that is a lot of money for tips for the owners of the place!! it is only suggested and officially i can give zero...but i wouldn't do that. but then again, i'm not made of money and dont have an extra grand floating around, espeically after what we are spending on th wedding..

Thanks !! (sorry to vent)

halfbaked Posted: Nov 11, 2010 10:21 AM

Re: need tipping advice

To be honest, we gave our matire'd $900. It came out to about $5 per person when the suggested tip was $3-$6 per person. He deserved it. He worked really hard- we brought a ridiculous amount of our own stuff. If only for setting up the candy buffet, he deserved it. That being said, I wouldn't want HIS tip to go to the administrative staff. I mean understand they are part of the team but I don't think they deserve a big tip for it. Who do they expect you to physically GIVE the tip to? I'd look at your guest list and figure the tip out that way. Give what you're comfortable with but I'd bring extra just in case he goes above and beyond what you expected.

bigday1114 Posted: Nov 11, 2010 10:50 AM

Re: need tipping advice

so you figure 3-5 per guest? They said it gets divided among the administrative staff and matre'd and I assume the bridal attendant. The 18% figured in the bill goes to the wait staff, etc. We are having 150 people so it would totally acceptable to do $500? I would so much perfer to just hand cash over to the maitre'd as he works so hard on that day.

That 'suggested' tip would go to the caterer (administrator) and he divides it up among the staff.

halfbaked Posted: Nov 11, 2010 11:41 AM

Re: need tipping advice

Posted by bigday1114

That 'suggested' tip would go to the caterer (administrator) and he divides it up among the staff.

I think $500 sounds about right. We had 186 total and were going to give $600 but added the extra $300 after we saw how much he actually did. He also threw in a martini bar and other stuff as well. I definitely wouldn't feel comfortable giving the entire tip to the administrator. Maybe you can give the maitre'd like $200 cash and then give the rest to the administrator assuming they'll divive up the rest and give the maitre'd the rest of his tip?

bigday1114 Posted: Nov 11, 2010 11:48 AM

Re: need tipping advice

thats not a bad idea....like if i gave the administrator $500 and anything beyond that, on my own to the person directly. part of the joy of giving a tip is giving to the actual person who did the work right?

annnng Posted: Nov 11, 2010 05:33 PM

Re: need tipping advice

I dont get why it goes by how many people you have. The Maitre D is there for YOU isnt he. He's not serving anyone else. Thats why there's waiters. I could never understand why it goes by the people.