How to Start an Event Planning Business in Canada

The short answer

Event planning is a coordination business, not a licensed trade and not a food business. There is no trade ticket to earn before you can call yourself an event planner in Canada. What you do need, before the first paid event, is the ordinary business paperwork (a registered name and a free CRA business number), a check of your city's business licence and home-occupation rules, a GST/HST plan for the $30,000 threshold, two kinds of liability insurance, and a written contract with a deposit. The planning skill is the product; the paperwork is what lets you sell it without taking on someone else's risk.

Step 1: Pick one type of event to sell first

Do not launch with "we plan everything." Each event type has a different client, timeline, vendor list, and fee shape.

• Weddings. Long timelines, emotional stakes, and a vendor list that runs from venue to flowers to photography. Referrals carry this niche, and one well-run wedding books the next.
• Corporate events. Meetings, conferences, product launches, and holiday parties. Clients pay by invoice, expect a GST/HST number, and usually require proof of insurance before they sign.
• Private celebrations. Birthdays, anniversaries, and milestone parties. Shorter timelines and smaller budgets, but faster decisions and a steadier flow of small events.
• Non-profit and community events. Galas, fundraisers, and festivals. Budgets are tight and committees decide slowly, but a good result travels fast in a small community.
• Day-of coordination. You do not plan the whole event; you take over the final weeks and run the day itself. This is the usual starting point, because it needs less upfront planning time and lets you build a vendor list event by event.

Start with one. A wedding planner who also takes corporate conferences is running two vendor lists, two sales conversations, and two fee structures. Get one type repeatable first.

Step 2: Register the business name and get a CRA business number

The business paperwork follows the same shape as any service business:

1. Choose a structure. Most solo planners start as a sole proprietorship and incorporate later if liability or income makes it worthwhile.
2. Register the business name with your province if you trade under a name other than your own. In Ontario the fee is $60 and the registration is valid for 5 years. Other provinces set their own fees, so check the provincial registry rather than assuming Ontario's figure travels.
3. Get a Canada Revenue Agency business number. It is free, and you need it for tax accounts. Online registration runs through Business Registration Online, which has required a CRA-account sign-in since July 14, 2026.
4. Open a separate business bank account. Planning fees and vendor pass-through money must never mix with personal spending, and a separate account is what makes that separation provable.

Step 3: Check the municipal licence and home-occupation rules

There is no federal event planning licence to apply for. The local layer is where new planners get caught.

Check three things with your municipality before your first paid event:

1. Business licence: some cities license home-based or service businesses, others do not. Run your city and business type through BizPaL, the federal-provincial-municipal permit lookup, and confirm the result with the city.
2. Home-occupation and zoning rules: if you run the office from home, check what the bylaw allows — client visits, staff reporting to your home, signage, and storage of event supplies can each have their own limit.
3. Where you work vs where you are based: you plan events in venues across your region, but the licence question is answered by the city where your business is based. If you take on events in another municipality, check whether that city also requires anything of a business operating within its boundaries.

Do this once, in writing where you can. A five-minute check now is cheaper than a bylaw complaint or a venue asking for a licence you do not have.

Step 4: Sort GST/HST before the $30,000 line surprises you

Planning fees are taxable supplies. The rule to watch:

You must register for GST/HST once your taxable supplies pass $30,000 in a single calendar quarter or over four consecutive calendar quarters.

It is revenue, not profit, and it is a rolling four quarters, not a calendar year. Under $30,000 you are a small supplier and registration is optional.

Two reasons planners often register before they have to. First, corporate clients expect a GST/HST number on an invoice, and an unregistered supplier reads as a hobbyist to a procurement department. Second, registration lets you claim input tax credits and recover the GST/HST you paid on software, travel, and other business costs. If your clients are mostly private individuals paying out of pocket, the math is closer, because they cannot claim the tax back and your quoted fee has to absorb that comparison.

Once you register, charge the tax from your effective date, show it as a separate line on invoices with your business number, and keep the money aside. It was never your revenue.

Step 5: Get the two insurance policies before you sign a venue contract

A sole proprietor has no separation between the business and personal assets. If a client claims your mistake cost them money, or a guest is injured at an event you ran, that claim lands on you.

Talk to a broker who handles event businesses about these two policies:

• Commercial general liability. Covers claims for third-party injury and property damage connected to your work, including claims arising from visits and meetings with clients. Venues commonly require proof of this policy, and some require the venue to be named as an additional insured on it. Read the venue contract before you buy, because the venue's requirement decides the limit you need.
• Professional liability (errors and omissions). Covers claims that a mistake, oversight, or error in judgment in your professional work caused a client financial loss, including legal defence costs. This is the policy that answers a claim like a missed vendor booking, a wrong guest count committed to a hotel, or a timeline error that cost the client money. General liability does not cover that kind of financial-loss claim, which is why planners carry both.

Also confirm these three points with the broker: whether your policy covers events you plan but do not attend in person, whether volunteers or day-of assistants you bring are covered, and whether each vendor's own certificate of insurance is still required (it is — your policy does not cover a vendor's work). If you hire staff rather than using contractors, payroll and workers' compensation obligations start with the first hire; in Ontario, most businesses must register with the WSIB within 10 days of hiring their first worker, and other provinces run their own boards.

Step 6: Write the contract and take the deposit

Never plan an event on a handshake, even for a friend. A one- or two-page agreement, signed before any vendor is booked, should cover:

• Scope. Exactly what you will plan and deliver, and what you will not. Name the event, the date, the venue if known, and the services included (vendor sourcing, timeline, rehearsal, day-of coordination) versus excluded (food, alcohol, decor purchases).
• Fee and payment schedule. How the planning fee is charged, when each instalment is due, and what happens if the event date moves. Take a deposit at signing and tie later payments to dates, not to vague milestones.
• Vendor money. State plainly whether the client pays vendors directly or money passes through you. If it passes through you, say so, keep it identifiable, and never use one client's deposit to pay another event's vendors.
• Changes and cancellation. What happens if the guest count changes, the date moves, or either side cancels — and what part of the fee is kept at each stage. This is the clause that saves you when a client cancels the week of the event.
• Vendor bookings in your name. Avoid signing a venue or vendor contract that commits you personally to a minimum spend or guest count unless the client has signed the same commitment to you first. The commitment chain must run client to you to vendor, never vendor to you alone.
• Certificates and confirmations. Your duty to collect vendor certificates of insurance and confirm bookings in writing, and the client's duty to give you final numbers (guest count, dietary needs, seating plan) by a stated deadline.

Send the contract, get the signature, take the deposit — in that order, every time.

Step 7: Build the vendor list and the run-of-show habit

Your vendor list is the asset of this business. Build it deliberately:

• Start with the roles every event needs: venue, caterer, photographer, florist, DJ or musicians, rentals, and stationery. Add specialists (lighting, videography, officiant, transportation) as your chosen event type demands them.
• Collect a certificate of insurance from each vendor before the event, and keep it on file with the booking confirmation. Venues will ask, and a vendor who cannot produce one is a vendor you have not vetted.
• Confirm everything in writing. Verbal vendor bookings fail exactly when they matter most. A short confirmation email — date, venue, arrival time, scope, fee, and cancellation term — is enough, and it is what you will rely on if a vendor disputes the booking.
• Write a run-of-show for every event. A timed schedule from load-in to last dance, with vendor arrival times, contact numbers, and a backup plan for the two things most likely to go wrong (weather for outdoor events, a late vendor). Share it with the venue and every vendor before the day, not on the morning of it.
• Debrief after each event. Note which vendors delivered, which did not, and what the timeline missed. That note is what turns one event into a repeatable service instead of a fresh scramble each time.

Step 8: Price from hours and costs, not from a guess

Quote a fee for a defined scope. Set that fee from your own numbers, not from a rate you heard:

• Your target hourly rate multiplied by your estimated planning hours for this event type (track your hours on the first few events — most new planners underestimate them).
• Travel, site visits, rehearsals, and day-of hours, counted separately from planning hours.
• Software, phone, insurance, and other monthly costs, given a share of each event.
• Any vendor coordination time that is not covered by vendor commissions — and if a vendor does pay you a commission, disclose it to the client rather than letting the client discover it.

If the market in your area will not pay the fee your hours require, the fix is not to work for free. The fix is a tighter scope (day-of coordination instead of full planning), a different event type, or a minimum fee that makes small events worth the calendar space. Put extras in writing before the event: additional planning meetings, extra venues, or a second day are chargeable changes, not favours.

Step 9: Get the first clients without spending on ads

Your first events will probably come from trust, not advertising.

• Offer day-of coordination first. It is a smaller commitment for a client to say yes to, it puts you inside real events quickly, and it builds the vendor list and the portfolio that full-planning clients want to see.
• Set up a free Google Business Profile with your service area, event types, and photos you have permission to use. Reviews on that profile are what a couple or a corporate organizer checks before calling.
• Introduce yourself to venues, not just to clients. Venue managers recommend planners they trust, and a venue that has seen you run a smooth event will send you the next inquiry. Bring a one-page summary of your services and your insurance, not a pitch.
• Ask every finished client for a review and a referral. One sentence from a happy client, attached to photos of the event, is worth more than a paid ad for a business sold on trust.
• Keep a simple portfolio from day one. With permission, photograph the room, the table, and the timeline working — not just the decor. Future clients buy the feeling that the day will run smoothly, and a run-of-show that held is the proof.

Startup checklist

• One starting event type picked (weddings, corporate, private celebrations, non-profit, or day-of coordination)
• Business name registered with your province (Ontario $60 for five years)
• CRA business number obtained (free) and GST/HST status decided
• Revenue tracked against the $30,000 rolling GST/HST threshold
• Municipal business licence and home-occupation rules checked via BizPaL and confirmed with the city
• Commercial general liability and professional liability insurance quoted, and in place before signing a venue contract
• Written contract template ready: scope, fee, deposit, vendor-money rule, cancellation terms
• Vendor list started, with certificates of insurance collected for each vendor
• Separate business bank account, with client deposits kept identifiable and never mixed with personal spending
• Run-of-show template and post-event debrief habit ready for event one

Related guides

• How to start a wedding planning business in Canada — the wedding-specific version of this guide: full-service, partial, and month-of coordination, the wedding vendor team, and the ceremony edges (officiant authorization, marriage licence) that general event planning does not have.
• How to start a catering business in Canada — the food side of events: the provincial food premises approval, the approved kitchen, and why a planner does not hold the caterer's permit.
• How to get a business number in Canada — the free CRA registration behind Step 2.
• Do you need a GST number as a sole proprietor in Canada — the $30,000 threshold in detail.
• How to start a cleaning business in Canada — another unregulated local service business: the same registration, municipal licence, and insurance shape.
• Do freelancers need a business licence in Canada — the municipal licence question for home-based service work.

Sources

• CRA, What to expect during a GST/HST trust accounts examination (Canada.ca) — the $30,000 registration threshold (any calendar quarter or the last four consecutive quarters), the small-supplier definition, and input tax credits on business purchases.
• CRA, Business Registration Online (Canada.ca) — online registration for a business number and program accounts; a CRA account is required to access it, and has been since July 14, 2026 (live-browser verified November 11, 2026; page text re-confirmed this run).
• Ellis Chart, Special events coordinator (Government of Canada) — not a Red Seal trade, with no compulsory certification anywhere in Canada; certification available in Ontario only.
• BizPaL — business permits and licences (Government of Canada) — the free federal-provincial-municipal permit and licence lookup.
• Manitoba, Licences and Permits (Government of Manitoba) — the provincial licences-and-permits example: BizPaL Manitoba, Winnipeg business licences, and tax-account registration.
• PROLINK, CanSPEP Insurance Program for Professional Event Planners — professional liability and commercial general liability tailored to event planners, plus event cancellation and event liability cover.
• Eventist, Event Insurance in Canada: Coverage, Cost and How to Get It — $2 million to $5 million liability limits, the venue or municipality named as an additional insured, vendor certificates not covered by the planner's policy, and host liquor liability.
• ServiceOntario, Cost and time required to register, change or search for a business name, corporation or not-for-profit (ontario.ca) — $60 for a new business name registration and $60 for a renewal, online or by mail; updated September 29, 2026.
• WSIB, Operational Policy Manual 14-02-02 — Registration — mandatorily covered employers must contact the WSIB within 10 calendar days of the first worker starting; applies to decisions made on or after September 22, 2025.

Licence rules and registration fees change, and they vary by province and city. Confirm your provincial fee and your city's licence rules before you file or pay.