Event contracts--for catering, event planning or design, or event services--are CONTRACTS. That means they are legal documents that the client is entering into with a vendor. Today we offer 4 tips to help you avoid problems with your wedding or event contract.
Not every event has or needs a detailed contract. For smaller or recurring events, generally event professionals do not prepare a detailed contract. But weddings and larger, typically more expensive events do use contracts to protect both the client(s) and the vendor(s). At Fandango we prepare event contracts for events over $3,000.
We're astonished when a client doesn't, or doesn't make sure their event planner does, read their event contracts carefully. People are insanely busy nowadays, but not reading your contract can cost you money unexpectedly. Event professionals are nothing like credit card companies, in our view, but the same holds true as when you sign up for a credit card: read the fine print (read everything). Fortunately, event contracts are usually short and straightforward, not overly complicated.
Here are the typical areas in an event contract that can cost you money if you don't read them:
Guarantees
Most event professionals including caterers, hotels, restaurants, and country clubs, require a guaranteed number of guests for a large and/or expensive event as these events require a lot of work, time, and resources, and we event professionals don't want to be told, after a deposit is made and a lot of time and work has gone into the event, that a dramatically lower number of guests will be attending as we've already spent money on the event and often our suppliers won't let us change an order.
Savvy people understand this and guarantee for a few more than they believe will come, then arrange for any food leftovers to be given to them or their guests or donated.
Cancellation Fees
Check out that cancellation fee clause; or if not a separate clause, find in the contract where it deals with cancellations. Cancelling your event can go as high as 50%, so you want to know what the vendor's policy is on that.
Change Fees
Check out the change fees too--they run from 10%--30% or more per change. After any deposit or payment is made the only change we allow without charging the change fee is the final head count.
The time to decide any changes is BEFORE you make your deposit or pre-payment. The best way to avoid change fees is to sit down and visualize every aspect of your event--will the way you want to do things be practical or do you need to rethink? Get a second opinion if necessary. Recently a bride wanted to change the whole timeline of the wedding reception to cut the cake late in the evening and when we pointed out the change fee and the resulting costs involved (increased overtime fee for cake cutting by our pastry chefs, need for more plates and cutlery as the original plan was to have the cake as part of a dessert trio in the sit-down dinner), she decided to go with the original timeline.
Down here in Houston our contracts also include severe weather clauses because of hurricanes and tropical storms.
Line-by-Line
We suggest that you don't leave any reading of contracts for expensive services to an event planner unless in a former incarnation your event planner was an attorney. We've seen too many event planners that are ditsy and trying to juggle kids too, and for the same reason, we've seen clients have to pay out or unable to make a change important to them because their event planners claimed to have reviewed all contracts for an event and in reality had only skimmed them. My father was an attorney so I'm a stickler for creating solid contracts and for reading line-by-line any contracts we sign with other vendors. We advise you to be as vigilant.
If anything, ask your event planner about these 3 points in each contract: guranteed number of guests, cancellation fees, and change fees. And while you're at it, ask about terms: "What are the terms the vendor is proposing?"
Terms
This means things like the client will provide tables and not the caterer, for instance, and can also include payment methods or payment timelines or deliverables timelines, though these are sometimes specified in their own clauses.
We have fairly detailed terms, but they're to protect us as well as the client. For instance, twice we had to pay expensive paid parking at a client's (generally we do not have to pay for parking as our clients arrange it at their business or home) and the third time they hired us we put in the terms that they had to pay or validate the parking for our van and one other vehicle, and they did.
If no terms or policies are presented, we caution you, as often these are companies who book in volume, with few repeat clients, and thus don't care much about the kind of job they do. If you have any questions or concerns, write them down and make sure they're answered, either to your planner or you.
Remember, you're paying, so you want to make sure the final contract is acceptable both to you and your vendor(s).
Warmly,
Kristina
Fandango Catering and Events
(713) 522-0077
http://www.fandango-catering.com/
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