tipping maitre'd and officiant

I'm trying to figure out how much to tip each vendor. I read a bunch of previous posts about tipping for some guidelines. But I'm still not sure how much to tip the maitre'd (we are having about 150 guests). My RH suggested 450-750, but that seems like so much! How many people does that get split between? the entire waitstaff? We're already paying an 18% service charge. Does that go towards tips for the waitstaff, bartenders, valet,etc? Or are we supposed to tip all of these people?
And I'm not sure how much to tip the officiant - or if we're even supposed to. In some older posts, brides mentioned tipping around $100, but others said it is not necessary to tip the officiant. Help! I'm going to the bank tomorrow morning to take out enough cash for all of our tips!

I agree the tipping is out of control.
I believe (could be wrong) the 18% gratuity is what goes to the waitstaff, bartenders, valet, etc. The maitre'd tip goes just to him. I think $300-$400 for the maitre'd is a NICE tip for one person to make in one night.
Maybe bring an extra $1,000 on top of that for tips just to be safe (even if you don't use it all, it's better to have enough than not enough). Let's see, who else is there to tip... officiant (does he charge a fee for marrying you? If so and it's high, I wouldn't tip him... if not, then I would), photographer, videographer, DJ & MC, bridal attendant, hair & makeup, flowers, limo driver (I'm probably forgetting someone).
Here's a great link with specific amounts:
Tipping Amounts
Or go to Search, type in 'tipping' and you'll get ideas on how much people tipped.
HTH Grace!!!

I asked my catering hall how much people tipI and they suggested to tip the maitr'd $2 per guest at the wedding. So for me that will be around $400!!!! I'm not tipping the waiters or bar tenders. Probably only the bridal attendant and the maitr'd.

HTH

Are they on crack!!!! I have come to the conclusion that we can never go by what our RH tells us to tip the maitre'd b/c they are all buddies- they probably work out a deal to share the tip inthe event you do tip $750.

$150-$750 - yes, they are on crack.

According to FH who works at a RH (I had him ask around work so we know what to tip and don't look like cheap-azzes):

Matre'd: $1.50-$2 pp

Bridal attendant $75 - $150- depending on service

The 18% goes to pay the waiters whopping $8-12/hr (they don't get tips like restaurant waiters) and towards valet and bartenders too.

You don't have to tip out the waitstaff, but if the waiter at your or your parents tables is exceptionally good, you can tip them $10-$20 each, it would be appreciated, but its not expected at all. People hardly ever tip.

There is usually also a captain who is sorta like a head waiter who sets up the CH and room and they usually get a small cut of the maitre'd's tip (like $35-40), but you don't need to tip him seperately.

Yup- it's crazy all this tipping in the midst of the fortune you re already paying. But $300 is better than $450 or $750
HTH !

The maitre'd tip should be $2-3 per person. I'm undecided on this now because we're not making our minimum. We'll be way below 140 (which was our minimum), but I guess we'll still give $300. I don't know...

In your situation, I'd give about $300-350, maybe $400 if you can afford it and service is superb that night.

I'm not sure about the officiant. We're getting married in my church and don't tip the priest.