Please help me on tips!! I have asked everyone I know...

Please help me on tips!! I have asked everyone I know...

Everyone has a different opinion on tipping - what is everyone on this site doing regarding the following:
Limo - although they all charge grat. are you giving the driver extra money? It seems that my limo driver will be helping with a lot of the stuff at the church. and how much? $40.00??
If someone if coming to you for hair and make-up what is a good tip for her? Should I be tipping?
Tip for catering - again since it is already part of the place 19% - I know you are supposed to tip matre D? But how much?? They suggested a price but at the low end of what they said would be $800 that seems very high to me? What is everyone else giving around? Thank you in advance to anyone who can give me some help!

What we did....

I can appreciate your anxiety, as it was very difficult to find consistant advice on tipping.

Here`s what we did...

Church - there was a flat fee of $350 which included the organist.

Alter servers - the priest told us $5.00 per alter server was fair when I asked him what the going rate was these days. (Those who`ve been alter servers in their past tend to want to tip more, having been there themselves.) We gave the organist at $20 tip and $200 to the priest himself.

Limo - tip was included but Fi and the best man gave her an extra $10 or $20 because she was very nice and we were pleased with her service.

Photographer - We did not tip he and his wife. They are independants and get the entire fee. I`ve seen it suggested that if they work for a studio you may want to tip if you feel they went above and beyond. They did get full meals.

DJ - I don`t think we tipped them either - not sure if the best man used the discretionary money or not. The MC is a partner in the company. I've read that it's optional to tip the musicians. I`ve seen $25 per musician as suggested, although our DJ had a note on his contract that indicated as much as 15% was appreciated. They got full meals.

Reception Staff & Maitre `d - We had tips included in our contract, but it was not 19% - it was more like 12% and it was suggested that and additional $2.00 per head was a good tip for the Maitre `d, so that brought our entire tip, for waitstaff, bartenders, restroom attendants, and Maitre `d into the 15% - 17% range. We gave him $350 and another $25 to the bridal attendant who helped in the bridal suite for the first hour. They did a very good job but were not called upon to do anything extraordinary.

Re: Hair and Make-up - I did my own, so didn`t have to worry about tipping! However, if the person keeps the entire fee you are giving her, then no tip is necessary. If she has to turn some over to a salon, then you may want to tip extra.

What we finally decided to use for tipping guidelines is follow what goes for standard services:

If the person owns the company or gets the entire fee for the service, you don`t need to tip.

Food related services - 15% - 20% depending on the level of service

Service above and beyond the contracted fee got an extra 'gift' of appreciation

Hope this helps!