Event Planner Contract Template for India: 15 Clauses, Free Word Download

Most planner disputes begin with a WhatsApp message that two people remember differently. Here is the usual shape, as an example and not a real client. A planner collects ₹2,00,000 as a 10% advance on a ₹20,00,000 wedding sangeet and pays the decorator ₹1,20,000, which is 30% of a ₹4,00,000 quote, to hold the dates. Forty days before the event the family moves the celebration to another city. They ask for the full ₹2,00,000 back and point out that nothing was signed. The decorator's own terms make the advance non-refundable inside 45 days. The planner refunds everything and is left ₹1,20,000 short, plus three weeks of design work nobody will pay for. With a signed agreement and a committed-cost clause, the same cancellation costs the planner time and nothing else.

Clause 2 is where scope creep gets priced or absorbed. The word "coordination" means nothing until it is counted. Write deliverables as numbers: two site visits, one technical rehearsal, a run-of-show approved 7 days before the event, a vendor contact sheet with arrival times, an on-ground team of 6 for 14 hours. Then add the sentence that protects your margin: anything outside Schedule A is a change order, quoted in writing and approved by message before work starts. A guest count moving from 300 to 340 adds about 13% to seating, hospitality and staffing, so say in the agreement that the fee scales with it. Keep the signed run-of-show attached, because it is the paper both sides actually use at 6 pm on the day.

Choose your fee model on purpose. A percentage of spend, like the 15% in the sample, is easy to explain but pays you more when the client spends more, and careful clients notice. A flat fee plus a capped handling charge of, say, 5 to 10% on vendor bills is easier to defend when they compare quotes. Whichever you pick, split milestones into taxable amounts and add GST to each invoice. At 18% under SAC 998397, ₹6,00,000 becomes ₹7,08,000, then ₹8,00,000 becomes ₹9,44,000, then ₹6,00,000 becomes ₹7,08,000: ₹23,60,000 in all. The TDS rate under Section 194C depends on who receives the money, 2% if you bill as a company or firm and 1% as an individual or HUF, and it applies to the value excluding GST. On this contract that is ₹40,000 at 2%, so your bank receives ₹23,20,000 and the ₹40,000 comes back only as a tax credit once the client files and issues Form 16A.

Clause 7 decides whose vendor it is, and in practice vendors chase the planner, not the family. If the decorator's contract is in your name you owe the decorator whether or not the client pays you. Two habits help. First, send the vendor's quote to the client and get written approval before you pay any advance, and write the approved amount into Schedule B as an estimate billed at actuals. Second, pass the vendor's cancellation terms through: if the decorator keeps 50% of the advance inside 45 days, your client forfeits the same amount inside the same window. On a turnkey package billed as one invoice, our GST guide for event management treats the whole amount at 18%. If you plan to bill vendor costs as separate reimbursements, ask your CA first, because that changes what sits inside your GST base.

Cancellation is the clause clients read hardest, so make it look fair. Indian courts apply Section 74 of the Indian Contract Act: where a sum is named for a breach, you can recover reasonable compensation not exceeding that sum. An advance labelled "non-refundable, full stop" invites a challenge, while one tied to committed costs holds up better. A workable schedule keeps actual non-recoverable vendor money plus a share of your fee that rises as the date nears: 25% of the fee beyond 90 days, 50% from 90 to 30 days, 100% inside 30. On the sample contract, cancelling at 100 days with ₹1,20,000 of vendor advances that cannot be recovered retains ₹1,20,000 plus 25% of ₹3,00,000, which is ₹75,000. That is ₹1,95,000, so a ₹6,00,000 advance returns ₹4,05,000, all before GST, with a credit note for the refunded part. Offer one date transfer within 6 months as the alternative, because most clients would rather move than lose money.

Force majeure is a drafting job in India. The Contract Act does not define it, so without a clause you fall back on frustration under Section 56, which is all-or-nothing and ends the contract instead of sharing the loss. List what actually stops events in your market: a government order or curfew, venue closure, a bereavement that forces a muhurat change, unseasonal rain that the venue declares makes an open lawn unusable, a lead artist withdrawing. Then say what happens to the money. Costs already paid or committed are shared in proportion to the notice given, unspent advance is credited to a new date within 6 months, and neither side owes damages for the delay. Decide in advance who pays for an indoor rebuild after rain, a ₹80,000 stage and lighting re-do for example, or you will decide it at 4 pm on the day.

Cap your liability at the fee you received, ₹3,00,000 in the sample, and exclude losses caused by guests, the venue or a vendor the client insisted on. Uncapped liability on a ₹20,00,000 event can close a small agency, and if the client asks for more, settling at ₹5,00,000 or the contract value is a fair place to land. On content, a common split is that the photographer keeps copyright, the client gets a usage licence and you keep a portfolio licence. Treat stamping as part of signing. Stamp duty on agreements is fixed state by state, and under Section 35 of the Indian Stamp Act an instrument that is not duly stamped cannot be admitted in evidence until duty and penalty are paid. Use the e-stamp or stamp paper your state requires, name your own city as the seat of arbitration under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, and keep the signed PDF in one folder with the payment receipts.