Saw this mentioned in another post, but I didn't want to derail the post. My question is whether or not couples are tipping you after you provide your videography services on their wedding day.

I've never been tipped, but all of my couples have loved my work. I actually filmed the bride counting out money to tip people like the DJ and caterer at one wedding (thought maybe I'd have one coming as well - nope). So, the caterer showed up an hour late and got a tip while I busted my butt and did a perfect job for around 11-12 hours (including 6 hours the previous night for rehearsal and rehearsal dinner) and got no tip.

So, do you the rest of you receive tips?

Personally, I think the number of jobs where it's now "appropriate" to leave/give a tip has gotten out of hand. DJs? No way.

I couldn't agree more. So I take it you've never gotten a tip either?

Three times in five years. Once for $45, once for $100, and once with a restaurant gift certificate for $75. It's welcome, but unexpected. We charge at the upper end of our local market, so they probably believe we're well compensated already. Also, it seems to me those that get tipped regularly(caterer, dj, limo), are those who deliver all their services the day of the wedding, and they're tipped on the day of the event. Our final product is delivered later, so the thought is probably just not there.

Pat

I do not solicit or expect tips; I consider them to be a nice surprise bonus. This is true whether I'm working as a videographer or a DJ. I always thank them for their generosity, and I never look in the envelope until I'm out of there.

I do not in any way profess to be an expert in this matter at all, however on a cursory review of some wedding resource info, it appears to me that in the area of tipping, gratuities often seem to be dispensed based upon general conceptions of two primary vendor areas:
1.) service
2.) products
3.) specialities

Service personnel usually include chauffers, food servers, and chef, and housekeeper if such is used.

Although not always accurate, photographers and videographers are often perceived as providing a product (ie: photo albums or wedding videos) usually for a specific set package fee not determined by the size and scope of the wedding. Quite often, DJs and musicians also fall into this category, but are known to recieve tips in some cases, especially if they are condusive to fulfilling song requests.

The third category, 'specialties', may include the minister as well as beauty artists if used, such things as sacred dancers or bag pipers who may be secured to provide special 'sacred' elements to a ceremony, and sometimes 'same-day' coordinators, if used. Typically, this category will include tipping prompted either by the sense of providing a service or the more intimate relational component of contributing to the wedding.

So in basic answer to your question, I think that generally, you will find that videographers are probably not tipped.

Personally, I think this is just fine with me. I charge my fee, I work hard for my money, and I get paid what I expect. Although I have had a decent time taping many of my events, in a few cases, the last thing I would want to do with a few previous clients would feign a sense of gracious servitude after having spent 7 hours filming their obnoxious drunken antics. Sure, I wouldn't mind be paid a little extra for spending all day working for a bunch of jackasses, but I really hate the idea of uttering the words "Thank you sir" after getting a tip.

Maybe that's just me.
-Jon

Interesting.

I had a father of the bride once telling me he was going to tip me (me and my assistant work really hard). He was telling me this all day and all night. He even called himself a "generous" tipper. When the final bill and the videos were given to them . . . no tip. I think they forgot.

I'm not pushing for tips. I just wanted to know if other videographers were getting them. It does seem odd to me to tip only some of the people/businesses that were a part of your wedding day, though.

Never had a tip, but my 3rd ever client ive ever had who waited 8 months for her video sent me a gift voucher as a thank you for the wonderful work kinda thing.. mind u we drove 4.5hrs to get to her... it was actually one of the better jobs coz it was OUT of the city.. lol

one thing that gets my goat is that i do ALOT of euro style weddings.. mainly Macedonian and Serb, and its customary for the guests to show how "generous" they are and how far "theyve come" since the days of poverty in their own countries.. so they do this by literally slapping money on the band...
Now for me, ive been working since 830am shooting NON STOP (as the guests arrive to the houses PRIOR to the wedding) and the work is friggin intense.. usually 15hours raw footage at the end of the day..

anyways, they slap money.. lots of money onto the band. were talking 50's 100's and this goes on for most of teh reception.. usually for teh 5 hours of teh party, the band is having money thrown at them.. they usually end up with about 10k, on top of their usuall fees, which is prolly less than most.
most bands i know <u DO get to know people> tell me that they dont make much, but ive seen them counting out cash and its in the thousands,... usually MUCH more than what me or the Photog has made.
Ive shot weddings where the couple has recieved over 30k in cash on the night of the weding and its usually these clients who make life difficult for me PRIOR to the wedding trying to score a discount.
Thing here, is that THEY KNOW theyre going to make this cash.. reason is that theyre chooosing to have a full traditional wedding. If they didnt want all that cash, theyd jsut save the hassle and go to a church like everyone else, but no, they go the ol skool method to make money and thats no lie...
Its funny though coz were on our feet all day with the photogs and we dont make all that much $$ from it. Mind you i certainly get my times worth in pay... im not free and im not the cheapest.. lol

We make what we make, but thats about it..

We have gotten tipped maybe 4 times in the 5 years we have been doing this, but our last tip was a check from the bride, made out from the fathers checking account. We deposit the check on Monday after the wedding and it bounced! So we ended up paying a $10 fee on a $100 tip! Yeah, and we haven't heard from them about it at all...still makes me smile...

Don't expect tips at all, but nice when we get them...the biggest tip we can get is a referral or our name passed along...

I hear you Peter. We work full days for weddings (usually 10-12 hours). We also cover rehearsal and rehearsal dinners. I've even covered brunches the day AFTER the wedding. Never gotten a tip. Maybe its my market.

The worst was when that bride tipped the catering company like $200-300 even though they showed up an hour late. She gave the DJ about as much, and had more money for other vendors but I didn't catch who all was in the lucky boat. All I know is that I was pretty surprised to not get a tip, especially since when the limo didn't show up to take them to their hotel I was the only one (including family) that offered them a ride . . . and they took it, and had their first all-out married fight in my backseat the whole way there. All of that, combined with 6 hours of filming the day before and around 12 hours of filming that day, and no tip. But sure, give the lazy a** caterering an extra couple hundred $$$.

That sucks about paying on a bounced tip! That would drive me nuts!

a little off topic here, but last season, november in fact, i did 7 weddings for that month.. prolly the most ive done in one month as a whole.. anyways most of these weddings had me at locations where parking was paid.. i have a free parking pass for council areas and the like, but most of these places didnt even cater for that..
So at teh end of the month, i did a total of how much i paid in parking..
One paticular job i paid $78 in parking, another came to 53, another came to 25... mostly tese are hotels, but some hotels which i do regualr work with let me park for free

in total, i think it came to somethng like 580 in parking.. and that was one month...

Now for most, thats one third of one job.. so for me to be paying for this parking, id be busting my nuts for at least 6 hours... just so i can park my car.. think about it, would u work 6 hours to pay to park your car??
As for being claimable on tax, well here in aus our tax ssytem is a joke.. so ..
Anyways, since november ive started charging clients for parking, i send them the invoice within a week of the shoot and i send them scans of the receipt..
Hell that 500 odd dollars is ALOT of money to lose on just doing your job...

Now for most, thats one third of one job.. so for me to be paying for this parking, id be busting my nuts for at least 6 hours... just so i can park my car.. think about it, would u work 6 hours to pay to park your car??



Don't forget to add in the parking fees for the theoretical 6 hours you would have to work to pay for parking your car...2 steps forward, 1 step back.
-Jon

Yeah, I didn't used to charge for mileage to travel to a wedding, but now I do for any wedding that is an hour or more away. It just adds up too quick.

As for whether you might reasonably expect a tip, that would depend on whether you are the vendor or an employee of the vendor. The catering staff, for example, are employees of the caterer. It would be reaasonable for them to expect a tip while the caterer himself would not, him being paid through the bill he presents to the clients. Same for a videographer or photographer - if you're an employee of a videography company being paid a wage, a tip might be in order but if you're a contractor billing the client yourself, a tip (though maybe a nice surprise) wouldn't generally be expected to be a part of the deal. You'd be expected to base your fees on what you must charge to cover your costs of doing business plus what you feel is a fair income. (And that includes travel costs, parking, the whole smear)

I owned a wedding DJ service for 12 years. I can probably count the number of tips I received on one hand. I don't think the upper Midwest is a big tipping area.

I think Jonathan is onto something. People generally tip for services, not products. They perceive a video as a product, while the DJ, caterer, etc. deliver services. I'm not saying it's right, but that's the perception.

Chris,

That's exactly my thinking. I don't think people tip often in my market (for anything). I also think they perceive the DJ/Caterer/Etc. as providing service and me as just providing a product. It's goofy.

Sounds like it's about the same for videographers everywhere, though.

Yeah, I didn't used to charge for mileage to travel to a wedding, but now I do for any wedding that is an hour or more away. It just adds up too quick.


I will be charging my next out of town wedding for mileage. I did one for no relocation charge and have to admit that I should have. Especially because it was a 2 hour drive. In any case, what do you charge for those events? I was thinking $1 per mile, which might cover gas and wear and tear. Currently I think the government allows a $0.48 deduction per mile as business expense. Is the remaining $0.50 / mile too little for the time necessary to pack the gear, drive, find the place, setup, and return?

jason

I was experimenting with $0.30 a mile this year. Our market already seems to have a hard time spending ANY money on video. Tacking on $400 (for hotel and gas) might be too much for a lot of our clientelle. Can't say for sure yet, though.

I'm going to go out on limb here and say I dislike the whole concept of tipping. I know most videographers don't expect to be tipped but I can see how it stings to see someone else get a couple of hundred bucks, not because of some superior service, but simply because "it's customary". Man, that's whacked. Heck, the whole concept of tipping is whacked. It just seem so arbitrary to me. Why does "serving" someone deserve any more special treatment than someone slaving away at a factory to make the clothes you wear? And why does a waiter get tipped for bringing me food, but not the guy at Sports Chalet for bringing me a pair of shoes to try on? I say we should just pay what we agreed to pay (at restaurant, a hotel, etc.) and the employee gets paid what he agreed to get paid. No more tipping!! Spread the word! Okay, sorry folks, end of rant :)

here in aus, tipping isnt customary.. in fact, its not a requirement or an expectation..

BUT its a nice gesture to give someone a tip if they provide good service.. wedding or otherwise..

usualy with weddings etc, as the punters arent paying tips are usually minimal.. on the flipside, a charging bar will usually yield tips as people are happy anyway so services are "emphasised"..

either way, i charge my customers.. my tips come when i can finish a 8 hour edit in 2 days... ;)

as for travel.. i have a set fee of $132 per hour or within 100kms of the city centre. Then i have another charge of $330 if i need accomodation.
Last year i did about 45 thousand ks with no charge..
that was dumb..
not anymore..

Tim,

Amen to that.


Peter,

Amen to that as well, lol.

here in aus, tipping isnt customary.. in fact, its not a requirement or an expectation..

BUT its a nice gesture to give someone a tip if they provide good service.. wedding or otherwise..

,,..

There are many employees in service industries here in North America that don't get any wages at all (or are nominally paid so far below even normal statutory minimum wage levels because the worker is undocumented or the industry & job categories are exempt from coverage by the law that they might as well be zero), working exclusively for tips. In fact, there are some locations and industries - not all of them jobs on the shady side like exotic dancing, etc, either - where the workers not only don't receive any wages, they must kick-back part of their tips to the "employer" to pay for the privilege of working.

I was experimenting with $0.30 a mile this year. Our market already seems to have a hard time spending ANY money on video. Tacking on $400 (for hotel and gas) might be too much for a lot of our clientelle. Can't say for sure yet, though.

I haven't been doing weddings but I'd certainly consider it a normal business practice - whether for videography or any other contract vender - to bill for actual expenses plus travel etc when they exceed a certain level. Establish a reasonable radius of "local operations" around your primary business location, say 25-50 miles, and bill for all mileage outside that radius. Required hotel accomodation should certainly be a billable item plus a reasonable amount for per diem coverage of meals and incidentals for overnight travel. Back in the day when I was producing/directing some corporate video and we hired crews and gear from broadcast production houses for the shoots, the standard practice was portal-to-portal billing for the crew, the clock starting to tick when the truck pulled away from the loading dock and running until they returned so they got paid for travel time as well as time on location.

If you don't set up some policies like that you can find yourself in a situation like I was offered just last week (and declined) where the after-tax income netted from a job doesn't cover the direct costs of getting to and from the job-site.

we've only been tipped once, but it was a doozy. the groom gave us an envelope at the end of the reception. in it was a check for $500.