Stop Chasing Quotes. Get All Your Event Bids in One Place.
GoodEvent Planner is a free event tendering tool that lets you create detailed quote requests, send them to multiple suppliers in one go, and compare all responses in a single dashboard. No email chains. No spreadsheets. No chasing. It works for weddings with five suppliers or festivals with fifty.
Before & After Using GoodEvent Planner
Before
- ❌ Writing out the same requirements in separate emails to every supplier - takes 2+ hours per event
- ❌ Chasing suppliers by phone and email to find out if they’ve seen your request
- ❌ Comparing quotes across multiple email threads, spreadsheets, and scribbled notes
- ❌ No idea which suppliers have responded, which have declined, and which haven’t opened your email
- ❌ Sending updated specs to every supplier individually when requirements change
After
- ✅ Write your requirements once, send to every supplier in one click - done in 10 minutes
- ✅ Live status tags show you exactly who has viewed, quoted, or declined - no chasing needed
- ✅ All quotes land in one dashboard for instant side-by-side comparison
- ✅ Colour-coded tracker shows response status for every supplier at a glance
- ✅ Update specs once, all invited suppliers get notified automatically
What is Event Tendering?
Event tendering is the process of sending detailed quote requests to multiple suppliers and collecting their responses in one place. It replaces the back-and-forth of individual emails with a single, organised workflow - from writing your requirements through to awarding contracts. GoodEvent Planner handles the full cycle so you can focus on planning the event, not managing inboxes.
Whether you call it a tender or an RFP, the idea is the same: write what you need once, send it to the right people, and compare what comes back. GoodEvent Planner makes that process as fast and clear as it should be.
Why Email Fails for Event Supplier Sourcing
Most event planners start with email. Most event planners eventually hit the same wall.
You write the same thing ten times. Every supplier needs the same brief - dates, quantities, specifications, site details. So you copy, paste, adjust, and send. Again. And again. For every event.
You lose track of who’s responded. Your inbox fills up. Quotes arrive in different formats. Some suppliers reply, some don’t. You’re left manually tracking status in a spreadsheet that’s already out of date.
Comparing quotes takes hours. Supplier A sends a PDF. Supplier B sends a spreadsheet. Supplier C calls you. Pulling it all together to make a fair comparison is its own half-day job.
Amendments cause chaos. The brief changes - as it always does. Now you’re re-emailing everyone, hoping they all got the update, hoping no one quotes on the old version.
There’s no paper trail. When a supplier disputes what was agreed, you’re digging through weeks of emails trying to find the right thread.
Wedding planners, corporate event managers, and festival organisers all run into these problems. GoodEvent Planner was built to fix all of them.
How GoodEvent Planner Works - Step by Step
Create your first tender in under 10 minutes. Here’s exactly what happens:
Step 1: Create your event. Add the event name, date, location, and any relevant notes. This becomes the container for all your packages and supplier communication.
Step 2: Build your packages. Add the services or equipment you need - marquee, furniture, catering, AV, staging, generators. Each package has its own specification, quantity, and budget. Have a Bill of Quantities? Import it directly from Excel or CSV and all line items are created automatically.
Step 3: Upload your documents. Attach site plans, technical drawings, H&S requirements, or any other files suppliers will need. Attach a site map from GoodEvent Maps or a floor plan from GoodEvent Layout so suppliers know exactly what they’re quoting for.
Step 4: Select your suppliers. Use your own supplier list or search the GoodEvent Network to find verified companies in your area. Invite as many suppliers as you need - each one only sees their own invitation.
Step 5: Send the tender. One click. Every supplier gets notified with the full brief and a direct link to respond. No logins required on their end.
Step 6: Track responses in real time. Your dashboard updates as suppliers open, view, and submit quotes. Colour-coded status tags show you who has responded, who is in progress, and who you might need to chase.
Step 7: Compare quotes side by side. All received quotes sit in one view. Compare pricing, terms, and details across suppliers without switching tabs or opening emails.
Step 8: Message suppliers directly. Have a question about a quote? Reply in the platform. Every message is threaded per supplier, timestamped, and permanently stored. No more hunting through email.
Step 9: Award the contract. Mark your chosen supplier as awarded with one click. They get notified. Other suppliers can be informed too. The full decision trail is documented automatically.
Step 10: Manage amendments. If anything changes, update the package specification and all affected suppliers are notified immediately. No need to re-send everything manually.
Time to first tender: under 10 minutes.
What the Status Tags Mean
Every supplier in your tender has a live status so you always know where things stand:
- Not Sent - Tender created, invitation not yet issued
- Sent - Invitation delivered to supplier
- Viewed - Supplier has opened the tender
- In Progress - Supplier is working on their quote
- Quoted - Quote received and ready to review
- Awarded - Contract confirmed with this supplier
- Declined - Supplier has passed on this tender
No spreadsheets. No manual tracking. The dashboard does it for you.
GoodEvent Planner Capabilities
BOQ Import: Upload a full Bill of Quantities from Excel or CSV. Every line item is created automatically - no manual data entry.
Multi-package tenders: Build large-scale tenders with dozens of packages across different trades, zones, and dates. A festival with power, staging, toilets, catering, and security can all live in one tender.
Budget tracking: Set budget targets per package and track quotes against them in real time. Know immediately whether you’re on track or over.
Document attachments: Attach specs, drawings, safety documents, site maps, and floor plans to the tender so suppliers have everything they need to quote accurately.
Private quoting: Suppliers only ever see their own quote. Pricing remains confidential between you and each supplier.
Quote revisions: Suppliers can revise their quotes if you request changes. Version history is tracked automatically.
Internal notes: Add private notes to any package or supplier response - visible only to your team, never to suppliers.
Permission settings: Control what different team members can see and do. Viewers, editors, and owners each have the right level of access.
Supplier profiles: View ratings, past work, and profile information for any supplier before inviting them.
Mobile-ready: Suppliers respond from any device. Your dashboard works on desktop, tablet, and phone.
Why GoodEvent Planner is Different
Most tendering tools were built for procurement teams in construction, government, or enterprise buying. They’re powerful but complex - and they don’t understand events.
Eventbrite is for ticket sales. Cvent is an enterprise event management platform built for large corporate programmes with six-figure budgets. Facebook groups lack any structure at all. Generic procurement tools like Jaggaer or Coupa require IT teams to set up and maintain.
GoodEvent Planner was built from the ground up for event professionals who need to source suppliers quickly, clearly, and without weeks of training. It understands event-specific terminology - marquees and marquee hire, tenders and packages, zones and dates, BOQs and specifications. It handles the multi-trade complexity of a festival without breaking a sweat, and it’s just as useful for a wedding planner sourcing five suppliers for a single event.
Suppliers don’t need to create an account or install anything. They click the link, see the brief, and submit their quote. That means you get higher response rates and faster turnaround - not suppliers complaining about another platform they don’t want to use.
It’s also free. No trial period. No credit card. No per-user fees for the planners using it.
For marquee hire companies and tent rental businesses receiving tenders, GoodEvent Planner works the other way too - you can respond to incoming tenders professionally and win more business through the network.
How Wedding Planners Use GoodEvent Planner
Wedding planners typically source between five and fifteen suppliers per event - marquee or venue, furniture, catering, bar, floristry, AV, photography, entertainment, transport. Coordinating that across email is a full-time job on its own.
With GoodEvent Planner, a wedding planner builds one tender with all required packages, attaches the venue plan and mood board, and sends invitations to their preferred supplier list in a single session. Quotes arrive in the dashboard. The planner compares options, follows up with questions in the message thread, and confirms selections before the client meeting.
The whole process that used to take two to three days of back-and-forth email can be done before the week is out.
Jodie, Sami Tipi:
“Thanks to Good Event we can send absolutely stunning quotes and give our customers an unbeatable service.”
How Festival Organisers Use GoodEvent Planner
Festival and large-scale event organisers face the most complex sourcing challenges in the industry. A single event might require 50+ suppliers across power, staging, fencing, toilets, catering concessions, waste, security, medical, and more - with different requirements by zone, day, and site area.
GoodEvent Planner handles this with multi-package tenders that can be organised by zone and trade. Import the full BOQ, attach the site map, assign suppliers to the packages relevant to them, and track every response from one dashboard. When specs change (and they always do), one update notifies every affected supplier automatically.
Joel, TL Marquee Hire:
“10x more time to grow the business. The biggest benefit of Good Event for me has been the ability to delegate tasks and focus on other aspects of the business. The team can access everything they need online from their phone or iPad. Now I no longer worry about the general stresses of running a rental company, such as ensuring jobs are loaded, quoted, and paid.”
How Corporate Event Managers Use GoodEvent Planner
Corporate event managers often need to demonstrate due diligence - showing that multiple suppliers were considered and that procurement was handled fairly and transparently. GoodEvent Planner creates that audit trail automatically: every invitation, every response, every message, every revision, and every award decision is timestamped and stored.
For multi-day conferences, product launches, or roadshows, corporate planners use GoodEvent Planner to manage AV, staging, furniture, catering, and registration systems across different venues or locations. The side-by-side quote comparison makes presenting options to stakeholders straightforward.
Common Supplier Sourcing Mistakes
Only contacting your usual two suppliers. If you always go to the same people, you never know whether you’re getting the best price or the best fit. GoodEvent Planner makes it easy to invite more suppliers without extra work.
Sending requirements in different formats. When every supplier gets the brief differently, you get quotes back in incompatible formats. Standardise your tender once and every supplier works from the same foundation.
Not setting a response deadline. Without a deadline, quotes trickle in over weeks. GoodEvent Planner lets you set a clear closing date for responses.
Forgetting to attach the site plan. Suppliers quoting blind - without understanding the access, terrain, or layout - often come back with questions that delay everything. Attach your GoodEvent Maps site plan or GoodEvent Layout floor plan from the start.
Not keeping a record of what was agreed. When a dispute arises months later, you need to show exactly what was in scope. GoodEvent Planner stores every message, quote, and amendment automatically.
Chasing suppliers one by one. The platform’s follow-up function lets you send reminders to non-responding suppliers in one action.
Treating all quotes as equal. Price is only one factor. Use the message thread to dig into what’s included, what’s excluded, and what the supplier’s experience is before making a decision.
Choosing an Event Tendering Tool
Built for Events vs Adapted from Other Industries
Generic procurement tools were built for office supply buying, construction contracts, or government tendering. They can technically handle event supplier sourcing, but you’ll spend more time configuring them than actually running tenders.
What to look for in an event-specific tendering tool:
- Understands event terminology (packages, zones, BOQ, marquee, staging)
- Handles multi-trade, multi-date, multi-location tenders in one workflow
- Suppliers can respond without creating accounts
- Mobile-ready for suppliers responding on-site or on the road
- Budget tracking built in, not bolted on
- Document and drawing attachment without file size headaches
- Full message history and audit trail included
- Free or clearly priced - no surprise per-tender fees
Red flags: tools that require IT setup, tools that charge per tender or per supplier, tools that require all parties to have paid accounts, tools with no event-specific terminology or workflows.
GoodEvent Planner was designed by people who work in events, for people who work in events. It’s why marquee hire companies, furniture rental businesses, and event agencies use it without training.
GoodEvent Planner Access & Compatibility
Access from Any Device:
GoodEvent Planner works on desktop, laptop, tablet, and mobile. No downloads. No installations. Always up to date.
Easy Supplier Access - No Login Required:
Suppliers receive a direct link to the tender. They click it, review the brief, and submit their quote. No account creation needed on their end. This is why response rates are higher.
Works with Other GoodEvent Tools:
- GoodEvent Maps - Attach site plans directly to tender packages so suppliers understand the location and access requirements
- GoodEvent Layout - Include floor plans and venue drawings with your tender documentation
- GoodEvent Docs - Require specific documentation or forms from suppliers as part of their response
- GoodEvent Network - Discover and invite verified event suppliers you haven’t worked with before
- GoodEvent Business - Convert awarded tenders into confirmed bookings and track costs against actuals
Getting Started with GoodEvent Planner
- Create a free account - no credit card needed
- Set up your first event and add packages
- Invite suppliers from your list or search GoodEvent Network
- Send your tender
- Track responses and compare quotes in your dashboard
Time to first tender: under 10 minutes.
Becki, South Coast Marquees:
“Good Event has revolutionised the way we work here at South Coast Marquees. It’s saved us time, enabled us to respond quickly to prospective clients with a far more professional looking quotation system and therefore won us more business. Not only that but as an employer, we’ve been able to be more organised and professional giving staff the accurate information they need to deliver a job.”Ryan, UK Marquee Hire:
“Logistically it has saved us so much time and money. Super easy to use, full support from the team, very good value for money and endless features to help with the running of our company.”
Related Resources
Other GoodEvent Planner Features
- Tender creation and packages
- Quote comparison and management
- Supplier invitations
- Team collaboration
- For suppliers responding to tenders
Industry Resources
- Wedding planners guide
- Corporate event planning
- Festival and large-scale events
- Furniture rental companies
- Marquee hire companies
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