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An event-planning company sells on contracted dates, retainers, and whether the coordinator who actually runs the Saturday is still on payroll. Buyers want a pipeline with signed agreements, not last year’s highlight reel. Corporate accounts that rebook on a statement of work are a different asset than a wedding brand that is really your face and a group chat with florists.
Full-service planning, partial planning, and month-of coordination are different labor models. If you also mark up rentals or hold inventory, we draw a line so a warehouse of chairs does not quietly inflate a planning fee story.
Preferred-vendor status at hotels and barns is often a relationship with you, not a transferable slot. Some properties rebid the list every year. Some will keep a successor who has already shadowed a season. Seasonality is real: a calendar that was three large fall weddings and a scramble is not the same business as weekday corporate plus a documented Saturday team.
If the brand is your name, plan on a transition that is visible to couples and procurement—or a price that assumes the next planner has to rebuild trust. Owner-technician risk here is the person who still does every walkthrough and every vendor fight.
Unearned retainers are a liability. The purchase agreement has to say who delivers which events and who keeps which deposits. We would rather schedule that in the letter of intent than argue about a ballroom two weeks after close. A seller who will attend the first few large dates is common. A seller who must stay a year because the venues only know one cell number is a different deal.
Insurance for event cancellation and liquor or security riders, if you carry them, should match the jobs still on the books. A non-compete that is honest about the city and the event types keeps both sides from discovering a competing brand in the same hotel next spring.
Request a confidential consult or call (352) 515-0226. We will tell you whether a sale is realistic before you go to market.