Event planner contracts and approvals, signed online

What an event planning agreement covers

The agreement between you and the client sets the scope. Full planning, partial planning and day-of coordination are different jobs, and clients routinely expect the first while paying for the third.

• Services by phase, with the number of meetings and site visits included.
• Fee: flat, a percentage of the event budget, or both, and the payment schedule.
• Who contracts with vendors. Usually the client does, so vendors invoice the client.
• How budget changes are approved, and a limit above which you need written approval.
• Hours on the day, assistants, and travel and accommodation for destination events.
• Postponement, cancellation and force majeure.

Routing vendor contracts in the right order

Venues, caterers, bands and florists all send contracts. If the client is the one contracting, you can upload the vendor's PDF, add the client and the vendor as signers, and set the order: client first, vendor second. Each signs on their own device, and both get the sealed copy.

Only do this with the vendor's agreement, and never sign for the client unless they have authorised you in writing. If the vendor uses its own e-signature tool, let them run it.

Budget approvals as you go

A two-line approval for a change in linens or an extra hour of the band takes the client a minute to sign. Keep them short and dated. When the final reconciliation comes, every change has a signature beside it.

That is a lot of small documents, so Full at $10 a month for unlimited sends is the plan most planners need. Light at $5 covers 2 documents a month, enough for someone doing an event a month with one contract each.

Corporate clients and signing authority

A company event is often booked by an assistant who cannot sign contracts. Ask who holds signing authority and put that person's name and job title under the signature box; Sign PDF has name, job title and company fields for exactly this. If finance needs to approve too, add them as a second signer and set them after the budget holder.

For weddings, ask whether the parents paying for the day should sign as well as the couple. Adding them costs nothing extra, because a document counts once however many people sign.

What we leave to other tools

Sign PDF is not planning software. We do not build timelines, seating plans, guest lists or budgets, and we do not take payments. Use your planning tool for those and send anything that needs a signature through us.