Last week after we kicked off our Event Planner Series, we polled you on instagram to ask what YOU want to know about. One of the questions that we thought was great, especially in the setting of a pandemic, is “What should I make sure to have in my contract?”. We’re going to tackle this today, but first, we want to clarify that we are NOT lawyers and do not want any of the below to be taken as legal advice! We strongly recommend that when starting a business, one of your first investments should be to have a lawyer review all of your contracts. However, after over a decade in the industry, we do have some experience with contracts as small business owners and want to share some clauses with you that we’ve found to be essential.

1. Force Majeure Clause: With the emergence of COVID-19, Force Majeure or Act of God clauses are more essential than ever, but they are always important! At the very least, yours should specifically spell out what will happen in the case of a natural disaster or other Acts of God. Consider what happens to your payments and whether or not you will charge a rescheduling fee.

Pro tip: make sure to include what would happen if the event is canceled due to an Act of God anywhere from months in advance to the day before!

2. Payment Plan: Your contract should clearly state amounts and dates due for all payments as well as your preferred method of payment.

Pro tip: we include specific due dates rather than the more general “60 days before your wedding date” language. If you space your payments strategically, this will protect you in the case a client postpones or cancels their event but still has a payment due.

3. Conduct and Working Conditions Clauses: Make sure to include a statement in your contract that clearly outlines how you and your team expect to be treated by your clients and your rights to terminate in the case a client violates these guidelines. You should also include wording about the conditions you and your team will work in. Safety is important and you should never feel like you are putting yourself at risk.

Pro tip: We know this may sound excessive but trust us, after a decade in the industry we have seen everything - the good, the bad and the ugly!

4. Image Use: Including a clause that clarifies your rights regarding wedding-related images can save you from any image-use related issue that may arise later on. Remember, these images (and the memories, of course) are all that is left of your work product once the day is over!

Pro tip: We also include language allowing us to post these images to our website and various social media platforms!

5. Ironclad Cancellation Policy: Finally, in case the worst happens, make sure that your contract clearly states your cancellation policy in the case either you or your client needs to cancel.

Pro tip: We sometimes receive pushback from clients about having so much of our fees due ahead of time. We often remind clients that, as wedding planners, we are one of the only vendors who does the majority of their work before the day-of the wedding!

These are the basics to get you started, but again, we recommend hiring a lawyer to help you put your agreements together. They’re important and worth the investment! If you haven’t already, sign up below to get our checklist of 5 Essential Small Business Tasks for Event Planners. It’s chock full of steps you need to be taking now to make sure your business is on track for success. It’s completely free - what are you waiting for?

5 Essential Contract Clauses for Event Planners