CONTRACTS! CONTRACTS! CONTRACTS!

As a business owner, I operate contract-minded but I also must have a contract in many instances of my personal life. Event planning is the most wonderful and fulfilling professional work I have ever performed, but I never allow the beauty of it all blur my vision when it comes to the importance of having agreements in writing.

No matter how kind and friendly a company representative may be, always get everything in writing. If at your wedding anniversary celebration a vendor is to provide 15 vases with a dozen roses in each vase, please get it in writing. The monetary section is most important. If you and a vendor discussed a charge for service at the total of $1500, be sure the contract reads so. If the vendor later returns to say I meant $1800, you are protected. The vendor is also protected by the fact that the client has agreed to pay $1500.

If you have ever planned an event (even the smallest event), where you hired a professional caterer, a band, a DJ, a tent company, etc. my hope is that you signed a contract which became a legal agreement between you and the company you hired. If you have slipped in the past, please do not make that mistake in the future. Contracts are an important piece of doing business professionally and personally -- consider very carefully before moving forward with planning your special event without one.

-KW