what's the difference between a service charge and gratuity on a wedding contract?

they're often two separate things, even though they sound similar. a service charge (usually 18% to 24%) covers the vendor's staffing, setup, and overhead, and it goes to the business. gratuity is a tip that goes to the staff. some contracts include gratuity inside the service charge, some don't, and some allow both, which means you could be charged twice. always ask in writing whether gratuity is included in the service charge or billed separately, and get the answer before you sign.

is a $900 event coordination surcharge normal?

it can be. coordination fees are real, especially at venues that provide a day-of coordinator, manage the timeline, or handle vendor logistics. the issue isn't usually the fee itself, it's that the fee often doesn't appear in the original quote. if it shows up in the contract but not the quote, that's a conversation to have before signing, not after. ask whether it's optional, what it covers, and whether it's already included in any other line item you're being charged for.

what should i do if the contract total is higher than the quote?

ask the vendor to walk you through every line that's different, in writing. don't accept a verbal explanation. nine times out of ten, the difference is a service charge, a surcharge, or a fee that wasn't itemized in the quote. once you have the breakdown, you can decide if you're okay with the real number. if you'd rather not do that line-by-line comparison yourself, altared will run the contract against the quote and flag the gaps for you.

can i negotiate clauses in a wedding vendor contract?

yes, more often than couples realize. vendors expect questions, and many will adjust nonrefundable deposit timelines, overtime caps, or specific fees if you ask. what you usually can't negotiate are baseline service charges and gratuity policies, because those are tied to staffing. focus your asks on the things that protect you: a clear cancellation policy on both sides, an overtime cap, and dollar figures replacing any vague 'standard rate' language.

how long should i spend reviewing a wedding contract before signing?

give yourself at least 48 hours between receiving a contract and signing it, even if the vendor is pressuring you to lock in a date. plan on 30 to 60 minutes of focused review per contract: read it once for the overall structure, once for the money pages, once for cancellation and overtime, and once with your quote open beside it. if that sounds like a lot, it is. that's the whole reason altared exists, to do the cross-check in two minutes so you don't have to do it four times at midnight.

Read Your Wedding Contract Four Times and Still Confused? Same.

Wedding vendor contracts are written to protect the vendor. Here's how to actually understand what you're signing, and how to spot a $900 markup hiding in plain sight.

it's 11:47 pm. you have the catering contract open in one tab, the original quote open in another, and a Google search for "what does force majeure mean in a wedding contract" sitting half-typed in a third. you've read the thing four times. you've highlighted clauses. you've messaged your sister a photo of page 6. and you still aren't sure what you're actually agreeing to.

that's not a you problem.

vendor contracts are written to protect the vendor. that's their job. the fees in them are real, they're just nested inside language that's easy to skim past, especially at midnight when you've already had a long day and the deposit is due in the morning. a $900 "event coordination surcharge" looks a lot like a formality until it lands on your final invoice and you realize it was never in the quote you said yes to.

here's how to read a wedding contract like someone who's done it a hundred times, even if this is your first one.

why wedding contracts feel impossible to decode

most couples sign two to twelve vendor contracts before their wedding day. venue, catering, photo, video, florals, DJ or band, hair and makeup, rentals, transportation, officiant, planner. each one is written by a different vendor (or their lawyer) using slightly different language for slightly different things.

a few reasons they feel impossible:

the quote and the contract don't match. the quote says "$6,400 all in." the contract references a service fee, a coordination fee, and a gratuity policy that together add roughly 22% on top.
fees get renamed. what one vendor calls a "service charge," another calls an "administrative fee," another calls "event coordination." they aren't always the same thing, and they aren't always disclosed up front.
the important numbers are buried. the price is on page 1. the cancellation policy, the overtime rate, and the surcharges are on page 7, in a paragraph that starts with "additionally."
you've never seen this language before. force majeure, liquidated damages, indemnification, set strike. nobody teaches you this in advance, and your vendor isn't going to slow down to explain it.

none of this means your vendor is shady. it just means the contract isn't written to make things easy for you. it's written to make things clear for them.

the fees most likely to surprise you

if you only have ten minutes to review a contract before signing, go straight to the money clauses. these are the line items that show up most often as surprises on the final invoice.

service charges and "coordination" fees

this is the big one. catering and venue contracts routinely include a service charge of 18% to 24%, and it's almost never the same as gratuity. it covers staffing, setup, and the vendor's overhead. some venues add a separate "event coordination surcharge" on top of that, which can run anywhere from a few hundred dollars to well over $900 depending on the size of the event. if it isn't in your quote but it is in your contract, that's the gap to ask about before you sign.

overtime

ask what happens if dinner runs late, the band plays an extra 20 minutes, or the bar stays open past the contracted end time. overtime rates can be $150 to $500 per hour per vendor, and they often kick in at the 15-minute mark, not the full hour.

setup, breakdown, and "labor"

rental contracts in particular love to list a flat rental rate and then tuck a separate delivery, setup, and strike fee into a different section. on a $3,000 rental order, that can add $400 to $700.

travel and lodging

photographers, planners, and DJs based outside your wedding's metro area often have travel minimums. if your contract says "travel billed at standard rates," ask for a number.

payment processing

some vendors charge 2% to 3% to pay by credit card. on a $10,000 deposit, that's $200 to $300 you didn't budget for.

a real example: the $900 markup

picture this. the quote said $8,400 for catering, all in. the bride signed the contract a week later, assuming all in meant all in. when the final invoice arrived, there was a $900 event coordination surcharge she didn't recognize.

it wasn't a scam. the line was in the contract. it lived on page 5, under a heading called "additional services," in a paragraph that mentioned "venue coordination support provided at standard rate." standard rate, in this case, was $900.

she could have caught it. but she would have needed to:

notice the heading didn't match anything in her quote
understand that "standard rate" meant a specific dollar amount, not "included"
cross-reference the contract line against the quote line by line
do all of that at midnight, four reads in, while exhausted

that's the gap altared was built to close. you drop in the contract, it reads every line, compares it against your quote, flags the numbers that don't match, and shows you the real running total. the $900 surcharge gets surfaced before you sign, not after.

if you want to try it on a contract you're sitting on right now, you can get started here. the first contract takes about two minutes to run.

red flags to watch for before you sign

not every weird clause is a dealbreaker. some are standard. but a few patterns should make you slow down and ask questions before you put your name on anything.

vague pricing language. phrases like "billed at market rate," "standard fees apply," or "additional charges as needed" with no actual numbers attached. ask for the numbers in writing.
a deposit that's nonrefundable from day one. most reputable vendors have a sliding refund or transfer policy. a 100% nonrefundable deposit on signing, with no grace period, is worth a conversation.
the contract references documents you haven't seen. "per the attached pricing sheet" or "as outlined in our policies document" means there's another document. ask for it.
automatic gratuity plus a tip line. if 20% gratuity is already built into the service charge, you shouldn't be tipped again on the final invoice. some contracts allow both. read carefully.
the cancellation clause is one-sided. what happens if you cancel is usually clear. what happens if they cancel, double-book, or go out of business should be just as clear. if it isn't, ask.
no overtime cap. "overtime billed at $300/hour" with no maximum means a runaway timeline can cost thousands. ask if there's a cap.
the quote and contract totals don't match. this happens more than you'd think. if the contract says a number that's higher than your quote and nobody told you why, that's the first question to ask.

how to actually read it (a five-step approach)

if you're going to read a contract yourself, here's the order that works.

read the money pages first. find every dollar amount, every percentage, and every "rate." write them down in one column.
pull up your quote. write those numbers in a second column. anything that doesn't match gets a question mark.
read the cancellation and refund section twice. once for what happens if you cancel, once for what happens if they do.
search for "additional," "surcharge," "fee," and "rate." these are the words hidden fees hide behind.
ask three specific questions in writing. vendors take written questions more seriously than texts. keep the answers.

if any of that feels like more bandwidth than you have, that's fine. you can also just drop the contract into altared and let it do the cross-check for you. either way, the goal is the same: no surprises on the final invoice.

what to do before you sign anything

a short, actionable list to keep open the next time a vendor sends you a PDF.

match every number in the contract to a number in your quote
ask for a dollar figure anywhere the contract says "standard rate"
confirm whether service charge and gratuity are the same thing or two separate fees
get the overtime rate, the overtime trigger (15 minutes? 30?), and the overtime cap in writing
read the cancellation policy in both directions
run the contract through altared before you sign so the markups surface before they hit your invoice

you shouldn't have to read a contract four times to feel safe signing it. once is enough, if you know what to look for, and if something is doing the cross-checking with you.

for more on what to watch for in vendor agreements, browse the rest of our contracts coverage or our deep dives on hidden costs.