What is the tipping etiquette for vendors in Marrakech?

Tipping culture in Morocco is different from Europe or America, and getting it right matters both practically and culturally. In Morocco, tips (called pourboire) are appreciated and expected in the service industry, but they are not built into vendor contracts the way they sometimes are elsewhere. Let me give you the specific numbers I recommend based on hundreds of weddings. Venue staff: 200 to 500 euros total, handed to the venue manager or maitre d' in a single envelope. They distribute it among the setup crew, servers, and kitchen staff. At a place like La Mamounia where you might have 30 to 40 staff working your event, 500 euros is appropriate. At a smaller riad with 8 to 10 staff, 200 to 300 euros is right. Photographer: 100 to 200 euros. These people work 12-plus hour days on their feet, carrying heavy equipment, and often skip dinner to keep shooting. If your photographer went above and beyond, 200 euros says thank you properly. DJ: 50 to 100 euros. Simple and direct. Florist team: 50 to 100 euros total for the setup crew. These people often start at 5am on your wedding day and work in the heat arranging hundreds of stems. Makeup artist and hair stylist: 30 to 50 euros each. If they stayed through the evening for touch-ups, lean toward 50. Caterer service staff: 10% of the catering bill or 10 to 20 euros per server. If you had 8 servers and they were attentive and professional, 100 to 160 euros total is the right range. Your wedding planner: this is debated. In Marrakech, it is not standard to tip your planner because their fee is their compensation. But if your planner truly went beyond the scope, some couples give a gift or 200 to 500 euros. I have seen both approaches and neither is wrong. Here is my practical advice. Prepare all tips in Moroccan dirhams (MAD), not euros. While some staff can exchange euros, dirhams are preferred because they can use them immediately without losing money on exchange rates. At roughly 11 MAD to 1 euro, a 200 euro tip is about 2,200 MAD. Your planner should handle all tip distribution on the wedding day. I always prepare labeled envelopes with the appropriate amounts the night before. This means the couple and their families never have to think about it during the celebration. Just hand the planner a single larger envelope with the total amount the morning of the wedding, and everything gets distributed at the right moments throughout the day. One important caveat. Some vendor contracts include a service charge (typically 10 to 15%), and in those cases, additional tipping is not expected but still appreciated for exceptional service. Check your contracts so you do not accidentally double-tip or, worse, not tip at all because you assumed a service charge was included when it was not. Total tipping budget for a typical 80-person wedding: 500 to 1,200 euros. Build this into your overall budget from the start so it does not come as a surprise on the final day.