Tipping Question for all vendors

Generally, if a bride and groom were to tip you for your services and you are more than one person (ie; band, dj, photographer, etc.) would you prefer one person get the entire tip to separate out among all member of their team (ie; mc gets the tip and splits as they see fit with the dj) or would you prefer the bride and groom to give each member a tip separately?

If you chose for one person to get the tip and split out, I am assuming you would prefer the tips to be in smaller denominations for easy splitting (ie; if you give the band $150, don't give one person a $100 bill and a $50 bill to split among 8 people)

Thank you in advance for your thoughts.

Re: Tipping Question for all vendors

Greetings,

First of all, I think you are very thoughtful and kind to even ask about this!

But please remember that tipping is greatly appreciated *but not required.* You should never feel that you owe a tip anyone; you do not. But nearly all the full-time musicians I know personally barely get by financially, so the difference a tip can make for them is really quite significant.

That said, in my group we are democratic in everything and in general tips are shared equally among performers. An exception would be if the drummer, for example, had to pay Manhattan prices to park his or her car close to the event, to get all that gear in place safely, while the rest of us car-pooled and parked at a free space further away. If there is tip money available, I would normally give the drummer extra because of the extra expenses. Everyone in my band would think this the right thing to do, too.

There are some band leaders who routinely pocket all tip money. Collaborating musicians (a.k.a. 'sidemen') often resent this, and rightly so. In my opinion band leaders should share any tip money with everyone, because the giver intends it as an expression of appreciation for a job well done.

The only way to absolutely avoid the band-leader grab would be to tip each performer separately. In my opinion that's more work than you (or your attendant) should have to do. An alternative that should work would be to put cash in an envelope in small bills, and to write on the outside something like, 'Harry, Please share this equally with everyone in your nice band.' It would take a nasty band leader indeed not to comply.

The other thing that might interest you about bands is that band leaders often take a leader's fee, which is generally 25% more than the collaborating musicians receive. This is to compensate the bandleader for the considerable expenses involved in securing performance opportunities -- including websites, meeting with potential clients, advertising, business cards, stationary, sheet music purchases, snacks and drinks at rehearsals, etc etc.

If a bandleader doesn't voluntarily take some extra fee, often the bandmates will insist that he or she do so, out of gratitude for all that a good band leader does. So that's why the check for the performance should be made out to the company name the bandleader uses, with the bandleader then distributing checks to his or her bandmates out of the company account.

Hope this helps!

Peace&music
--Karla.

Re: Tipping Question for all vendors

hi, some advice for tipping vendors.. if you are not comfortable with your service at anytime please be sure to tell anyone that you have contracted so. tip accordingly to their service. if you encounter a problem in the dining room and the maitred' cant handle it, ask to see a general manager. every vendor appreciates tips but when your are told what to give makes me crazy,especially the catering hall. most catering halls reco $2-$3 per head to the maitred' .. find out if it is split among the waiters, bartenders etc. you would be surprised out some facilitys that insist the tip be turned into the house.. find out from your banquet manager before the weding. when im involved in a wedding and this situation is discussed i usually am asked to handle this. before hand i find out exactly how many vendors and what their exact job is. i then make seperate envelopes for everyone and hand them out individually. do you know how many times i have run into vendors and beleive me they all talk and complain about someone getting all the tip and not splitting them.. it will make your night go so much smoothly if you deligate this to someone else to do... and when you say good nite you can always ask them if they have received your thankyou, just pick someone reliable...i wish you the very best of luck sincerely francine decicco.

Re: Tipping Question for all vendors

thank you very much for your candid responses. your comments have been very helpful especially during the home stretch stressful week!