The wedding planner contract: the clauses that protect you, and the ones always missing

A quote accepted by email, a date blocked in the calendar, a transfer received. Plenty of working relationships between a planner and a couple start exactly that way and end perfectly well. The trouble only surfaces in the rare cases where something goes wrong: a couple that separates, a date that has to move, a balance that never arrives. At that point, what is written down becomes the only thing that matters.

This article reads in both directions. If you are a planner, it lists what your contract needs. If you are a couple about to sign one, it tells you where to look. The same clauses protect both sides, provided somebody wrote them.

Note that the framework below is French: this is the law that applies if you are planning weddings in France, whoever your clients are.

The foundation, and why it gets rushed

The parties and the event: full identities, date, venue, expected guest count. That last figure deserves attention, because it usually drives the actual workload. A clause adjusting the fee beyond a certain threshold prevents an awkward conversation later.

The precise scope of the service. This is where contracts are vaguest. "Wedding planning" means nothing on its own. List it out: how many meetings are included, whether vendor sourcing is part of it, whether you are present on the day and for how many hours, what coordination covers, which travel is included. A couple who believes they bought full-day presence, against a contract that covers coordination until dinner, is a dispute waiting for a date.

An obligation of means, not of result. The planner commits to deploying the necessary means. They cannot guarantee the performance of third parties they do not carry out themselves. This distinction shapes everything that follows about liability.

Deposit or earnest money: the costly confusion

This is the clause that separates serious contracts from the rest, and almost nobody drafts it properly.

Under French law, arrhes, earnest money, allows either side to walk away. The client who withdraws loses the sum paid; the professional who withdraws owes double. That is the regime set by article 1590 of the Civil Code.

An acompte, a firm deposit, binds both parties. The contract must be performed, and a client who withdraws remains in principle liable for the agreed price, subject to what the contract provides.

The trap is in four words: unless otherwise stipulated. The earnest-money default applies only when the contract is silent about the nature of the payment. As soon as the contract qualifies it, that qualification prevails. Silence works against the planner, because it drops you into the regime most favourable to walking away.

So the clause has to state explicitly that the sum is a deposit, give the amount in both currency and percentage, set the payment date, and establish that it is non-refundable if the client cancels. Market practice sits around 30 to 40 percent on signature, with some agencies going higher.

For couples, this is the first thing to read. A deposit is entirely legitimate, and it secures the date the planner is holding for you. You simply want to know what you are agreeing to.

The payment schedule, which should not end on the wedding day

A solid contract sets out the full timetable: deposit on signature, one or more interim payments, balance on a stated date. That stated date belongs before the event, not on the night itself. Nobody wants to chase a payment during the cocktail hour, and a couple back from honeymoon is not thinking about it either.

Add late-payment penalties and the accepted payment methods while you are there.

A sliding cancellation schedule

This is the clause the pandemic made unavoidable, and it is still missing from many contracts.

The principle: the closer the cancellation is to the date, the greater the loss, because a slot freed three weeks out does not get resold. So the schedule should tighten over time, with clear thresholds. A common structure retains the deposit beyond six months out, then a growing share of the total price as the date approaches, up to the full amount in the final weeks.

Two refinements make the difference. The schedule has to stay proportionate: a manifestly excessive penalty clause can be reduced by a court. And it should cover the mirror case, where the planner is the one who cannot perform. Serious practice commits to proposing an equivalent colleague, and to returning sums paid if no solution is found.

The fourteen-day withdrawal period

Many planners do not know this one, and it is a genuine exposure.

When a contract is concluded at a distance or away from business premises, which describes nearly every signature in this industry, the client has a fourteen-day right of withdrawal under the French Consumer Code. During that window they can simply change their mind.

The remedy exists in the texts: if the client expressly requests in writing that performance begin before the period ends, they owe payment for the work already done should they then withdraw. Without that written request, you are working fourteen days at your own risk.

For couples, it is a real protection, and there is nothing adversarial about invoking it.

Force majeure, postponement, and what 2020 taught the industry

A contract written today has to separate cancellation from postponement.

Postponement assumes the planner is free on the new date, which is far from automatic. The clause should say so, and set out what happens if they are not: do sums paid stay with the planner, in part, in full? Are there postponement fees? Decide this calmly, in advance.

Force majeure should be defined rather than merely named, with its consequences spelled out: suspension, postponement, termination, and what becomes of the deposits. Naming the concept without explaining it means handing the question to a judge years later.

Consider adding a clause on prolonged client silence. Several agencies provide that a month without response amounts to termination. It reads harshly and it protects a schedule.

Liability, insurance, non-circumvention

Professional liability insurance should be named, with the insurer and policy number. It signals seriousness as much as it provides cover.

Third-party liability should be excluded explicitly. The planner recommends and coordinates vendors; they do not answer for vendor failures, which fall under those vendors' own contracts with the couple. This clause matters and is frequently absent.

A non-circumvention clause prevents the client from dealing directly with vendors introduced by the planner outside the agreed framework. It protects a network that is part of the profession's value.

Image rights deserve a line too. Can you publish the wedding photographs on your site and social accounts? Ask for that permission in the contract, not by message three months later.

For couples: five things to check before signing

What day-of coverage actually includes, in hours and in scope. This is the leading source of misunderstanding.

The nature of the sum you are paying: does the contract say deposit or earnest money, and what happens if you cancel?

The cancellation schedule, and whether it is symmetrical: what happens if the planner withdraws?

The balance date, which should fall before the wedding rather than on it.

Professional liability insurance, named and current.

What a contract does not replace

A good contract does not make the relationship cold. It makes it possible. It lets both sides say yes faster, because everyone knows what happens if things go badly. Planners with solid terms spend less time negotiating tense situations and more time on the work.

What it does not do is tell you what each booking actually costs you to deliver. That is a separate question, and we cover it in our article on real profitability per wedding.

This article is general information, not legal advice. Have your terms drafted or reviewed by a qualified professional.

Sources: French Civil Code, article 1590; French Consumer Code, articles L221-18 and L221-25; standard terms published across the French wedding industry.

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