Table of Contents
"We do event management" tells a client nothing — the industry's service menu spans everything from a two-hour coordination gig to a ₹2 crore destination-wedding production. Whether you're a client trying to understand what you're buying or a new company deciding what to offer, here's the complete service taxonomy, with pricing models and an honest note on where the margin actually lives.
1. Planning & design services
- Full event planning — concept to execution: budgeting, theming, vendor selection, timeline management. Priced as 10–15% of managed budget (weddings) or flat fees (corporate)
- Partial planning — client has some vendors; planner fills gaps and manages. 60–70% of full-planning fees
- Day-of / month-of coordination — the client planned; professionals execute. Flat ₹25,000–1,50,000 by scale. The gateway service for new companies: low risk, builds vendor exposure
- Design & styling only — mood boards, decor direction, styling supervision (execution by decorators). The Pinterest-era growth service
- Budget consulting — hourly/flat advisory for DIY families; small money, great lead generation
2. Vendor & production management
- Vendor sourcing and management — the core: caterers, decorators, photographers, makeup artists, sound/light, transport, security — contracted, scheduled, supervised. Priced inside planning fees or as per-vendor markups (10–15%, disclosed — opacity here is the industry's reputation problem)
- Production — staging, trussing, AV, LED walls, power, fabrication. Corporate/concert territory; quoted per rider, margins 15–25%
- Venue scouting & booking — often "free" (venues pay planner commissions of 5–10%); clients should know this incentive exists, planners should disclose it
- Permits & licensing — police permissions, PPL/IPRS music licences, fire NOCs, drone permissions. Charged at cost + service fee; undervalued and gladly paid
3. Guest & hospitality services
- RSVP and guest-list management — increasingly digital (WhatsApp invitation workflows)
- Hospitality desks — airport pickups, hotel room-block management, itinerary cards; the backbone of destination weddings
- Travel & logistics — fleet coordination (transport billing), shuttle scheduling
- Gifting & favours — curation and fulfilment; 15–25% markup convention
4. Specialised event services
- Wedding-week management — the multi-day Indian wedding as one production: mehendi through reception, one team
- Corporate services — conferences, dealer meets, launches, offsites; PO-based, 30–60 day payments, repeat annuity revenue
- Entertainment booking — artists, anchors, choreographers, DJs; commission-based (10–20%)
- Micro-events — birthdays, anniversaries, proposals; fixed packages, fast cycles
Where the margin actually lives
New companies chase full weddings; experienced ones know the margin map: coordination services (high skill, zero procurement risk) and corporate repeat contracts (predictable, unseasonal) out-earn glamour work per hour. Procurement-heavy services (production, decor resale) carry the revenue but also the working-capital burden and vendor risk — the advance architecture exists to manage exactly that. And every service on this menu obeys one pricing law: scope defined in writing or margin leaks silently.
For clients reading this: how to buy
Match the service tier to your real need (most families over-buy planning and under-buy coordination) · ask which pricing model applies — percentage, flat, or markup — per service · get the quotation itemised and the contract explicit on what's excluded · and treat disclosed venue/vendor commissions as normal, undisclosed ones as a flag.
For companies: the menu is a positioning tool
Publish your service list with named tiers and starting prices — "full planning from ₹2L / coordination from ₹40k" converts enquiries that "customised solutions for your special day" never will (pricing-page strategy). Then run every service through one operational spine: bookings with sub-events, vendor payments as tracked expenses, client advances and balances per event, branded invoices — the BrightDesk workflow, built for event professionals at ₹99/month. The company-building context around this menu: starting an event management company and the wedding planner's version.