Below we’re talking all about wedding officiant gifts, tips and more. Do you have to tip your wedding officiant? Do you need to buy your wedding officiant a gift? And what sort of present would they actually want? Let’s find out!
Bottom line: The best present for a wedding officiant is getting to be present on your special day! Cheesy, but true. All gifts and tips are always optional – a cherry on top of an already amazing wedding sundae!
How do you thank a wedding officiant?
As officiants, we absolutely love hearing from our couples that they enjoyed the experience of working with us. A sincere thank you on the day of the wedding puts a huge smile on our face.
Of course, weddings are busy and you might not have time to pull your wedding officiant aside and thank them properly. Sending an email afterwards sharing your feedback and thanking your officiant is always so appreciated. Or, if you prefer snail mail, a thank you card is a nice touch too!
Bonus: If you can put that positive feedback into an online review, we really appreciate those too!
Do you have to give your wedding officiant a gift?
No, wedding officiant gifts are not mandatory or expected in any way. In fact, you do not have to give any wedding vendor a gift. No one will be upset or confused to not receive a gift on your wedding day.
If you do choose to give gifts to your wedding vendors, they should be small tokens of your appreciation. Don’t let wedding officiant gifts or other wedding vendor gifts become something to stress out about. Think of them as a sweet surprise that your vendors will appreciate (but not expect!) and only give gifts if your time and budget allows.
Do you have to tip your wedding officiant?
Tips are never required. Besides vendors who have tips written into their contracts (e.g. serving staff), tips are appreciated, but never expected, by your wedding vendors.
However, many couples do choose to tip their wedding vendors. There are guides you can consult, such as this one, to determine who to tip and how much. But in our experience, there is no uniform answer. Some couples choose to tip, some don’t. Some tip a little, some tip a lot and some tip nothing. And some couples choose to give gifts instead of a tip.
While there are articles online that can advise you about tipping, you need to be personally comfortable with the amount you’re tipping and who you are tipping. Don’t let an online guide override what you feel is right in your situation.
If you do decide to tip your vendors, sit down with your partner ahead of time to decide who you will tip and how much. Then come up with a plan for how you will distribute those tips. You could designate someone you trust in the wedding party to hand out envelopes with tips, you could give out tips at the wedding rehearsal, or you could take a modern and simple approach and send tips via e-transfer after the big day.
What are the best wedding officiant gifts?
The best wedding officiants gifts are a sincere thank you, an online review and a personal referral. In fact, these are probably the best gifts you could give all of your wedding vendors!
Taking a moment to thank your officiant on the big day, or follow up with an email or card after the fact, is truly the best gift we could ask for. If you loved your experience with us, we’d love to hear about it!
Leaving a review is another amazing way to thank your officiant for their work. With a review you’re helping to spread the word to other couples by sharing your honest (and hopefully positive!) feedback about your experience. Your officiant feels the love and more couples find out about their services.
Lastly, there’s no better gift than a personal referral. It means so much to us when couples have such a good experience with Young Hip & Married that they can’t wait to tell their friends. Many of the couples we book are actually referred to us from past couples we’ve married. We love keeping it all in the YHM family!
Plus it’s so much fun seeing past couples we’ve married as guests at another wedding we’re officiating because they recommended us for the job!
Okay, but what about actual, physical wedding officiant gifts?
While gifts aren’t necessary, some couples do like to go beyond a thank you, review and referral to gift an actual item to their wedding vendors. Whenever this happens, we are always pleasantly surprised and super appreciative that you thought of us!
Bottles of wine, coffee, candles, flowers, gift baskets and gift cards all make great wedding officiant gifts. You can arrange to have the gift given to your officiant on the wedding day or at the wedding rehearsal, or coordinate to send it to them afterwards. Or look for online options, such as gift cards you can send via email.
While any gifts are appreciated, our absolute favourite gifts are ones that are connected to the couple. For example, Officiant Jane recently married a couple who own their own brewery and they gifted her with beer they made themselves. Similarly, we’ve married restaurant owners who have given us gift cards to their restaurant as a thank you.
It’s always fun when the couple has a personal connection to the gift they’re giving and when we can help support their business or passion.
The best gift we could ask for is booking us to officiate your big day! Check out our packages, meet our team and book your wedding officiant today!
Riana Ang-Canning has been working with Young Hip & Married since 2017. She is a professional content writer with experience in travel, lifestyle and weddings. Riana not only writes Young Hip & Married blog posts but is also involved with the company's internal communications, social media, copywriting and more. She knows YHM, and the wedding world, inside and out!
