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Publishing Your Event

Publishing an event makes it “live” and ready for guests to interact with. This guide explains what publishing means, when to do it, and what happens when you publish.

What Does Publishing Mean?

When you create an event, it starts in Draft status. A draft event is essentially private - it’s a work in progress that guests cannot see or interact with.

Publishing changes your event’s status from Draft to Published. A published event is “live,” meaning:

  • Guests can view their invitation details via their unique link

  • The RSVP page becomes active and accepts responses

  • Guests can submit their attendance status

  • You can send invitations and messages

When to Publish

Publish When:

  • All event details are finalized (date, time, venue, etc.)

  • Your invitation messages are ready

  • You’re ready for guests to start RSVPing

  • You’re about to send your first invitations

Don’t Publish Yet If:

  • You’re still working out event details

  • You haven’t previewed your invitations

  • You’re not ready for guests to see the event

  • You want to keep making changes without pressure

How to Publish an Event

Method 1: From the Edit Page

  1. Go to My Events and select your event

  2. Click Edit to open the event editor

  3. Find the Status dropdown

  4. Change it from “Draft” to “Published”

  5. Click Save

Method 2: Quick Publish (if available)

Some views may include a quick “Publish” action button that changes the status without opening the full editor.

What Happens When You Publish

Immediately

  • Status changes to “Published”

  • Event becomes accessible to guests via their invitation links

  • RSVP functionality becomes active

What Doesn’t Happen

  • Invitations are NOT automatically sent - Publishing just makes the event live. You still need to manually send invitations.

  • Guests are NOT notified - No one knows about your event until you send messages.

Publishing vs. Sending Invitations

It’s important to understand these are separate actions:

Action

What It Does

Publish

Makes the event live and RSVP-ready

Send Invitations

Delivers invitation emails to guests

Typical workflow:

  1. Create event (starts as Draft)

  2. Add attendees

  3. Preview invitations

  4. Publish the event

  5. Send invitations to attendees

You can publish first and send invitations later, or you might send invitations to a published event in batches over time.

Can I Unpublish an Event?

Yes. If you need to take an event back to draft status:

  1. Go to your event and click Edit

  2. Change the status back to “Draft”

  3. Save the event

What happens when you unpublish:

  • Guests can no longer access the RSVP page via their links

  • Any existing RSVPs are preserved (not deleted)

  • Scheduled messages may not send (depends on timing)

When you might unpublish:

  • You discovered an error and need to fix it

  • Event plans changed significantly

  • You published by accident

Cancelling vs. Unpublishing

There’s a difference between reverting to Draft and Cancelling:

Action

Use When

Revert to Draft

You need to make changes before going live again

Cancel

The event is no longer happening at all

Cancelling is typically a permanent status indicating the event won’t occur.

Best Practices

Before Publishing

  1. Complete all details - Fill in date, time, venue, and other important fields

  2. Preview invitations - Check how messages look with your event details

  3. Review attendee list - Make sure everyone who should be invited is added

  4. Test with yourself - Send a test invitation to your own email

After Publishing

  1. Send invitations promptly - Don’t leave guests waiting with an empty event

  2. Monitor RSVPs - Check responses as they come in

  3. Communicate changes - If anything changes, send an update message

Troubleshooting

Guests say they can’t access their invitation

  • Check that the event is published (not still in draft)

  • Verify you sent invitations to those specific guests

  • Have them check spam/junk folders for the invitation email

I published by accident

  • You can change the status back to Draft at any time

  • If you haven’t sent invitations yet, no harm done

  • If invitations were sent, guests may have already seen links (but those links won’t work if you unpublish)

Status won’t change

  • Make sure you click Save after changing the status

  • Check for any validation errors on other fields

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