love your wedding wait staff and bartenders
Virginia and Dave’s backyard gourmet feast created by Just Rennie’s.
Our special series of “loving your wedding vendors” continues:Today we are going to talk about your wedding wait staff and bartenders.Often overlooked, these players in your wedding are CRITICAL to a successful event.
Think about it. There are three things that a guest will remember from your wedding: Food, Fun and Service. You really don’t know how important good service is until your receive, um, bad service.That is why a good wait staff that can serve your wedding meal proficiently and quickly is so important to help keep the overall flow of the evening.
Reasons why you should love your wedding wait staff and bartenders?
- They work really hard. Ever serve meals or clear tables? How about at a reception where the bride was sure she could squeeze 280 guests in a room that seats 250. And it is a plated/served meal.
- Often unappreciated and sometimes not treated kindly, they still work really hard.
- Your bartenders are on their feet, working tirelessly to quickly serve your guests.
- Often understaffed, they have to work twice as hard.
- Your bartenders have to deal with your drunk guests. Seriously.
- They are grossly under paid.
- Really, they should be paid more.
- Oh, did we mention, they are often under paid for the services they perform.
Behind the scenes:
We planned a beautiful backyard wedding a few years ago (see the photo above); which was a fete to pull off and a sheer volume of work. So when the hailstorm and sky to ground lightening made the guests rush in the home for cover, we had a small problem on how to serve the gourmet courses to the guests. The wait staff and bartenders under unbelievable time constraints, pressure, and tight preparation quarters…served the guests quickly and the guests response was that the food was unbelievable!
Here’s a thought on gratuities. We know that gratuities are almost always included in caterer’s contracts which covers the wait staff and bartenders. You are already paying 18-20% of your bill.
However, I contend that if your wait staff or bartenders did an exceptional job, really went ABOVE and BEYOND (the scenario above for instance), then it is perfectly acceptable for you to give them an additional tip. If you choose to do so, be sure to give cash and directly to the servers.
Plan on! -saundra
Tomorrow: love your wedding florist!
“I contend that if your wait staff or bartenders did an exceptional job, really went ABOVE and BEYOND, then it is perfectly acceptable for you to give them an additional tip.”
I could not agree with you more. It’s always amazing how much work these people put in!