Invoicing for event planners

Invoice Koi is an invoice app for event planners, separating the planning from the day itself and re-billing suppliers at cost on lines that say so.

Make an invoice free

The iPhone app is coming to the App Store.

An illustration of a seating plan of ruled lines, a roll of ribbon, a clipboard, a bundle of place cards and a small vase of flowers, with a koi swimming among them.

The client is paying for two different things and usually only recognises one of them. There is the day, which they see, and there are the four months before it, which they do not. Then there are the suppliers, whose money passes through you and is not yours, and which an invoice has to say so.

01On the document

What event planners
put on an invoice.

Save these items with your own rates. Tap to add them to an invoice, with the unit, price and totals filled in.

Line	Unit
Planning and design	job
Coordination on the day	each
Event staff	hrs
Venue visits and walkthroughs	each
Supplier management	month
Supplier costs, re-billed	job
Hire, tables and linen	job

Set your own prices. The app's starter rates are placeholders. To bill one job today with nothing installed, the free event planner invoice template opens in your browser with these lines on it.

A job, grouped Subtotals per section

PLANNING

Planning and design£1,200

Venue visits, 3£270

Subtotal£1,470

ON THE DAY

Coordination and two staff£850

Subtotal£850

SUPPLIERS

Florist, re-billed£640

Hire, tables and linen£380

Subtotal£1,020

Total£3,340

Grouped line items work on all nine templates.

A photograph of an event planner with a clipboard checking a laid table in a hall being set up, chairs stacked at the far end.

02Why event planners use it

Three things that
save the evening.

Supplier money, shown as theirs

Scan a supplier invoice into an expense and re-bill it as a line at what it cost. Under its own heading it reads as money passing through you rather than as your fee.

Payments in stages, recorded as they land

A deposit at booking, a stage at three months, the balance after the day. Each one is a payment against the invoice, and the balance and the status follow from them.

A diary that is not in your head

The jobs schedule holds what is booked and when, so the walkthrough in March and the day in June are a list rather than something you keep remembering to check.

03 · Questions

Asked by event planners.

How do I show supplier costs without marking them up?

Re-bill them from their receipts under their own heading. The line carries the amount that was on the supplier invoice and the subtotal says what the suppliers came to.

Can I take a booking deposit and the balance later?

Yes. Record each payment against the invoice as it arrives and the balance updates. A part-paid booking shows what is still owed and when it is due.

Can I invoice a venue rather than the couple?

Yes. The client on the document is whoever is paying, and the reports total by client either way.

Weighing up apps? Invoice Koi vs Invoice2go and Invoice Koi vs Billdu set the features side by side, including where they win. Or see all 12 comparisons.