How do you make sure your vendors know what an incredible contribution they made to your wedding and what it meant to you?

In the United States, the answer is tips and gratuity. It's expected, it's budgeted for, and on an average wedding they add thousands of dollars to a bill engaged couples are already pushed to afford.

I recently polled the Unbridely Suppliers Facebook group about this topic. They are all Australian wedding vendors, and their answer was something completely different. 

So it got me thinking: when a vendor works for themselves and has the privilege of setting their own prices, is a tip really what they need/want? Or is it just the most convenient way for a couple to feel like they've said thank you properly. And is there a better, easier and yes, cheaper way to do it that actually means more to everyone involved? 

RESOURCES

1. The Knot 2026 Real Weddings Study theknot.com/content/average-wedding-cost
2. Zola 2026 Wedding Spend Survey zola.com/expert-advice/whats-the-average-cost-of-a-wedding
3. The Wedding Report 2025 wedding.report/action/wedding_statistics/view/market/id/00/idtype/s/location/United_States/
4. SoFi January 2026 sofi.com/learn/content/average-wedding-cost/
5. Fortunly Wedding Cost Statistics 2026 fortunly.com/statistics/wedding-cost-statistics/
6. The Global Statistics, Wedding Cost Statistics US 2026 theglobalstatistics.com/wedding-cost-statistics-in-us/
7. North American Community Hub nchstats.com/wedding-cost-in-united-states/

Vendor Tipping Amounts & Etiquette

1. Emmaline Bride 2026 Vendor Tipping Guide emmalinebride.com/planning/who-to-tip-at-wedding/
2. MasterClass Wedding Tipping Etiquette masterclass.com/articles/how-much-to-tip-wedding-vendors
3. WeddingTipCalculator.com 2026 weddingtipcalculator.com/how-much-to-tip-wedding-vendors/
4. TheWeddingPlanner.ai theweddingplanner.ai/wedding-vendor-tipping-guide
5. Mike Staff Productions 2026 mikestaff.com/wedding-ideas/how-much-to-tip-wedding-vendors/
6. Reel Vendor Network reelvendornetwork.com/wedding-vendor-tipping-guide/
7. Watson Block Wedding Tipping Cheat Sheet watsonblock.com/blog/your-wedding-vendor-tipping-cheat-sheet/
8. Michelle Leo Events michelleleoevents.com/blog/tipping-wedding-vendors
9. Marryment marryment.com/post/a-guide-to-tipping-your-wedding-vendors
10. You're The Bride yourethebride.com/tip-your-wedding-vendors/
11. The Drunk Wedding Photographer thedrunkweddingphotographer.com/summerimperfect/tipping-wedding-vendors

UK Tipping & Wage Law  https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/distributing-tips-fairly-statutory-code-of-practice

Canadian Tipping & Wage Law: https://minwage-salairemin.service.canada.ca/en/general.html

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This episode of the Unbridely Modern Wedding Planning Podcast is brought to you by WedSites.com, Unbridely's recommended all-in-one wedding website builder, guest management platform & wedding planning tool.

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