Nobody invoices you for tips. They are cash, they are due on the day, and they are the last thing anyone budgets — which is how couples end up at the venue with an empty envelope and a caterer whose contract already charged 22% for service. Here is every vendor, what is customary, and what the whole pile comes to.
Start at the end: the total. Every figure below is what the calculator on this page returns when you tick that set of vendors, so you can see how much of the pile is catering and how much is everybody else.
100 guests · national · standard service Catering staff (18% of food) $1,100 Bartenders (10% of the bar) $255 Photographer $150 Videographer $150 DJ $125 Band $300 Planner / coordinator $250 Hair & makeup (20%) $180 Florist's delivery crew $100 Drivers & shuttle (15%) $135 Officiant (a donation) $100 Cash to set aside $2,845 · 7% of a $40,025 budget
Source: Text My Wedding budget model, reviewed August 2026 — Text My Wedding, 2026
100 guests · the contract distributes its service charge Catering staff $0 Bartenders $0 Photographer $150 Videographer $150 DJ $125 Band $300 Planner / coordinator $250 Hair & makeup $180 Florist's delivery crew $100 Drivers & shuttle $135 Officiant $100 Cash to set aside $1,490 · $1,355 less than the list above
Source: Text My Wedding budget model, reviewed August 2026 — Text My Wedding, 2026
200 guests · national · standard service Catering staff (18% of food) $2,040 Bartenders (10% of the bar) $475 Every flat-fee vendor $1,175 Hair & makeup (20%) $180 Drivers & shuttle (15%) $165 Cash to set aside $4,035 · 7% of a $58,600 budget Doubling the guest list adds $1,190 of tips, not another $2,845 — only the catering and shuttle rows move with the headcount.
Source: Text My Wedding budget model, reviewed August 2026 — Text My Wedding, 2026
The calculator below is preset to 100 guests with the gratuity line open. Untick the caterer if your contract already distributes its service charge, change the headcount, and the cash-needed number rebuilds as you go.
This is the most-asked tipping question in the whole cluster, and the answer is a flat figure rather than a percentage — which is exactly why the customary amount does not change when the package does.
Photo team · 100 guests · national · standard Photography & video line $3,900 Photographer $150 Videographer $150 Cash in envelopes $300 Customary when they shoot for a studio. An owner-operator set their own price, so a five-star review and three referrals are worth more to them than $150.
Source: Text My Wedding budget model, reviewed August 2026 — Text My Wedding, 2026
Northeast · elevated service · 100 guests Photography & video line $6,575 Photographer $150 Videographer $150 Cash in envelopes $300 The invoice is 69% bigger than the national standard line — elevated service in the priciest region, same eight hours. The envelope is identical — this one is flat, never a percentage. A second shooter is normally thanked out of the lead's envelope.
Source: Text My Wedding budget model, reviewed August 2026 — Text My Wedding, 2026
A DJ is one person and one envelope. A band is six to nine people, and the customary figure is for the group rather than for each player — which trips up more couples than any other music line.
DJ · six hours plus ceremony sound · 100 guests Music & entertainment line $2,000 DJ $125 Cash in one envelope $125 Hand it over at the last song, not at load-in. If the night runs long, most couples round the envelope up rather than recalculate.
Source: Text My Wedding budget model, reviewed August 2026 — Text My Wedding, 2026
Eight-piece band · 100 guests · national Music line with a band $7,000 One envelope to the bandleader $300 Or per player ($37.50 x 8) $300 Cash either way $300 Bandleaders generally prefer the single envelope and split it themselves — they know who played the extra set.
Source: Text My Wedding budget model, reviewed August 2026 — Text My Wedding, 2026
Band for dinner, DJ for the late set · 100 guests Bandleader $300 DJ $125 Cash in envelopes $425 Ceremony musicians booked separately are their own envelope. Ask them the same question you asked the band: is a gratuity already written into the invoice?
Source: Text My Wedding budget model, reviewed August 2026 — Text My Wedding, 2026
The tier decides the answer. A day-of coordinator is the person still standing there at midnight moving chairs; a full planner running their own firm is the business owner who set the fee.
Day-of coordination · 100 guests · national Coordination fee $1,400 Customary thank-you $250 Cash in one envelope $250 Assistants working the day are usually thanked from the same envelope, at the coordinator's discretion.
Source: Text My Wedding budget model, reviewed August 2026 — Text My Wedding, 2026
Full planning · 100 guests · national Planning fee $4,825 Cash tip, if you give one $250 Nothing here is owed: a planner running their own firm set that fee themselves. Plenty of couples send a gift and a written referral instead, and that is not a lesser thank-you.
Source: Text My Wedding budget model, reviewed August 2026 — Text My Wedding, 2026
These are the percentage rows, and the ones most likely to be covered already. Every figure here is computed against a real line in the budget rather than pulled from an etiquette column.
Hair & makeup · 100 guests · national · standard Beauty invoice (the couple) $900 Customary 20% $180 Cash on the morning $180 If you are covering the wedding party, tip on the whole invoice — the percentage stays the same, the base gets bigger. Some studios add the gratuity automatically; check the booking form.
Source: Text My Wedding budget model, reviewed August 2026 — Text My Wedding, 2026
Bar and banquet staff · 100 guests · national Catering & bar contract $10,200 Food portion (60%) $6,120 Bar portion (25%) $2,550 Catering staff at 18% of food $1,100 Bartenders at 10% of the bar $255 Cash for the catering team $1,355 None of this is due if the contract distributes its service charge. This single row is the difference between $2,845 and $1,490 for the whole day.
Source: Text My Wedding budget model, reviewed August 2026 — Text My Wedding, 2026
The ones nobody budgets · 100 guests · national Florist's delivery & setup crew $100 Shuttle drivers (15% of $900) $135 Officiant, as a donation $100 Cash in envelopes $335 Check the transport invoice first — a driver gratuity is very often already on it. Rental, cake and tent crews take the same one-envelope-to-the-lead treatment as the florist, and a "delivery and setup fee" is freight, not a gratuity.
Source: Text My Wedding budget model, reviewed August 2026 — Text My Wedding, 2026
Same wedding, same 22% on the same contract, two different sentences underneath it. One of these couples carries no catering cash at all and the other carries $1,355 — and the only way to know which you are is to ask.
Contract A · "22% service charge, distributed to service staff" Catering & bar contract $10,200 Service charge at 22% $2,244 Catering staff tip on top $0 Bartender tip on top $0 Cash you carry for catering $0 Whole-day cash total $1,490
Source: Text My Wedding budget model, reviewed August 2026 — Text My Wedding, 2026
Contract B · "22% service charge" — a house fee, none distributed Catering & bar contract $10,200 Service charge at 22% $2,244 Catering staff at 18% of food $1,100 Bartenders at 10% of the bar $255 Cash you carry for catering $1,355 Whole-day cash total $2,845 Identical wording on the invoice, $1,355 apart in your pocket. At 200 guests the same unanswered question is worth $2,515.
Source: Text My Wedding budget model, reviewed August 2026 — Text My Wedding, 2026
Two thirds of your tip money is the catering line, and whether you owe any of it is decided by one paragraph in one contract. Read that paragraph before you withdraw a dollar.
A compulsory service charge is not a tip — that is the Department of Labor's own definition, not an opinion. Ask in writing how much of it reaches the staff. If none does, budget the customary 18% of food and 10% of the bar: about $1,355 at 100 guests.
Catering and bar are settled. Untick both rows and the cash you need drops from $2,845 to $1,490 at 100 guests. Anything beyond that is discretionary, not customary.
Budget the full 18% of food and 10% of the bar, roughly $1,355 at 100 guests, handed to the captain in one envelope at the end of service.
The service charge usually sits on the whole invoice, not only the food. Ask which line items it covers before you tip anything separately — otherwise you pay it twice on rentals as well as dinner.
Hold 3.5% of the subtotal as a placeholder — about $1,400 on a $40,000 wedding — then replace it with the real per-vendor number once the contracts land.
Tips are the largest line in the wedding budget that appears on no quote you have been sent. These are the inputs that move the figure, biggest lever first.
Catering and bar are 48% of the full tip list. One sentence in one contract removes them entirely, or does not.
Only catering, bar, beauty and the shuttle move. The seven flat-fee vendors cost exactly $1,175 at 50 guests and at 300.
Lean service at 100 guests is about $2,405 of tips; elevated is about $3,560. The gap is almost entirely the food and bar percentages.
The same 100-guest list is about $2,675 of tips in the Midwest and about $3,215 in the Northeast, because the catering line it is calculated on moves.
$300 for the group rather than $125 for one person — and $425 if you book a band for dinner and a DJ for the late set.
Customary figures, not obligations — tipping is a convention and it varies by region, by vendor and by contract. Read the row, then read your contract, in that order.
Customary where they shoot for a studio rather than owning it. Never a percentage: the same $150 whether the coverage line is $3,900 or $6,575. Nothing in a photography contract covers it.
The same convention as the photographer, and a separate envelope even when both come from one company. A second shooter or second operator is usually thanked out of the lead's envelope.
One person, one envelope, handed over at the end of the night. Check for a gratuity line if the DJ came through an entertainment agency rather than direct — agencies sometimes add one.
For the band, not per player: about $37.50 each in an eight-piece. Give it to the bandleader in a single envelope and let them split it. Ceremony musicians booked separately get their own.
A planner running their own firm set the fee themselves, so this one is genuinely optional. A gift and a written referral are a common substitute and not a lesser one.
The planning tier couples tip most consistently, because the coordinator is the one still working at midnight. On a $1,400 day-of fee that is roughly 18%.
The row most likely to be covered already. A contracted 20–22% service charge is a house fee, not a gratuity — ask in writing how much reaches the staff before you budget this at all.
About $255 on a 100-guest open bar. Usually sits inside the same catering service charge as the banquet staff, so it is covered or not covered by the same sentence. Ask whether a tip jar is permitted — that is your guests tipping, not you.
Treated like any salon service. Tip on the whole invoice if you are paying for the wedding party, and check the booking form: some studios add the gratuity automatically.
About $100 is common. Many officiants attached to a house of worship decline personal payment and ask that it go to the congregation instead; a civil officiant charging a fee may decline anything further.
The crew who carry the arrangements in and build the arch, rather than the shop owner who designed them. If the studio owner personally installs, the same logic as the photographer applies.
About $135 on a $900 transport line, and the single most double-tipped item after catering: driver gratuity is very often already printed on the invoice. Look before you fill the envelope.
Rentals, the cake, the tent. Same treatment as the florist's crew: a single envelope handed to whoever is running the drop. A "delivery and setup fee" on the contract is freight, not a gratuity.
Every one of these ends with money handed over twice, or with a vendor standing there while you work out that the cash machine closed at ten.
A compulsory service charge is not a tip — that is the Department of Labor's definition. It may be distributed to staff, or it may be a house fee covering the venue's costs. The contract usually does not say, so ask in writing. Getting it wrong costs $1,355 at 100 guests in either direction.
Elevated service in a Northeast market pushes that line to $6,575 for the same eight hours, and 15% of it is $986. The customary figure is $150 and does not move with the invoice.
The photographer who owns the studio, the florist who owns the shop and the planner who owns the firm all set their own prices. A review, a referral and a testimonial are worth more to them, and none of that is stingy.
Shuttle and limousine contracts frequently include a 15–20% driver gratuity. Handing the driver another $135 in cash is the second most common double-count on this page.
Nothing in your venue quote, your catering quote or your photography contract includes this money. At 100 guests it is $2,845 of cash that has to exist somewhere else in the plan.
You will be photographed, seated, toasted and moved around all evening. Label every envelope the week before and give the stack to the coordinator or a parent — the vendors who leave at 9pm are the ones who get missed.
Preset to 100 guests. Tick only the vendors you are actually tipping — the catering, bar, beauty and transport rows compute against your own budget figures, and the total is the cash you need on the day. Everything runs in your browser.
Change anything — the allocation rebuilds as you go.
Tipping is customary, not owed. Read each contract first — a service charge is often already in there.
Last updated 2026-08-10
About $2,845 in total at 100 guests with standard service, or about $1,490 if the catering contract already distributes its service charge. The customary amounts are flat for most vendors — $150 for the photographer, $150 for the videographer, $125 for the DJ, $300 for a band, $250 for a planner or coordinator — and a percentage for the ones you pay by invoice: 18% of the food, 10% of the bar, 20% of hair and makeup, 15% of transport.
It is customary to tip a photographer who shoots for a studio, and $150 is the usual figure. It is flat, not a percentage: the same $150 on a $3,900 package and on a $6,575 one. A photographer who owns the studio set their own price, so many couples send a review and referrals instead — that is normal, not stingy.
About $125 for a standard six-hour reception plus ceremony sound, handed over at the end of the night rather than at load-in. If the DJ came through an entertainment agency, check the contract first — agencies sometimes add a gratuity line. A band is tipped as a group instead, around $300 to the bandleader to split.
In practice: the catering staff and bartenders, the photographer and videographer, the DJ or band, the planner or day-of coordinator, hair and makeup, the florist's delivery crew, shuttle drivers, and the officiant as a donation. Business owners who set their own prices are the usual exception, and any vendor whose contract already includes a distributed gratuity.
No. The Department of Labor is explicit that a compulsory charge for service is not a tip. A 20–22% service charge may be distributed to the staff or may be a house fee covering the venue's own costs, and most contracts do not say which. Ask in writing. At 100 guests the answer is worth $1,355.
Day-of coordinators are tipped most consistently, usually around $250 — roughly 18% of a $1,400 coordination fee. Full planners running their own firm are the business owner, so a cash tip is genuinely optional there; a gift and a written referral are a common substitute.
Label the envelopes the week before and hand the stack to your coordinator or a parent. Vendors who finish early — the officiant, hair and makeup, the delivery crews — are paid as they leave; the band, DJ, photographer and catering captain are paid at the end of the night. Doing it yourself is how vendors get missed.
Between about $1,500 and $4,000 for most weddings. Work it out vendor by vendor rather than as a rule of thumb: $1,490 at 100 guests if the caterer's service charge is distributed, $2,845 if it is not, and about $4,035 at 200 guests. Withdraw it before the last week — small bills, one labelled envelope per vendor.
Every number on this page is calculated from your guest count, and so is half your budget. Text My Wedding sends the invitation, collects the RSVPs and the addresses, and chases the people who never reply — so the count you are budgeting against is the real one.
At 100 guests you are mailing about 55 households: roughly $1,450 of printed suites and postage, almost exactly the $1,490 of tips you hand every vendor except the caterer. Sending the same three mailings by text — and collecting the replies — is $87, once, for up to 1,200 messages, which is three each to about 400 guests.
