Sub-Events & Special Treatments: Multi-Track RSVPs for Real-World Events

Most real-world events aren't a single moment. A wedding is a ceremony and a reception, often with a welcome dinner the night before and a brunch the morning after. A conference is the main programme, a VIP networking dinner, and a workshop track only some attendees can access. A milestone birthday is the family gathering, then the open after-party at midnight.

For years, organizers have stretched single-RSVP invitations to cover this — clunky "are you also coming to the brunch?" radio buttons, separate Google Forms for the after-party, screenshots of hotel block codes sent over WhatsApp. None of it scales, and the data lives in five different places.

Today we're shipping two new building blocks inside Fotify's invitation system: sub-events and special treatments. Together they let you model events how they actually happen — multiple parts, different access rules per guest, real perks for the people travelling in.

If you're already using Fotify for wedding photo sharing or digital invitations with RSVP, the new feature lives right inside the same invitation. No new tool to learn, no separate guest list.

Beta: This feature is rolling out in beta on paid and subscription events. We're iterating quickly based on organizer feedback — let us know what you'd like next.

What sub-events solve

A sub-event is a child experience inside your main event. Each one has its own:

• Name, description, photo, dress code, accent color
• Date, time, location with a map link
• RSVP deadline, plus-one rules, capacity, waitlist
• Access rules: open to everyone, gated by guest tags, or fully explicit
• Optional access code for "secret" sub-events
• Optional dependency on another sub-event (e.g. "must accept ceremony first")

The big unlock isn't capacity tracking or dress codes — those exist on other tools. The unlock is access rules tied to your guest list. You can run a welcome dinner that's only for out-of-town family. A reception that's open to everyone. A bridal brunch limited to the wedding party and immediate family. Each guest sees only the sub-events that apply to them — no "is this for me?" confusion, no awkward follow-ups asking people not to come.

What special treatments solve

A special treatment is a perk you've arranged for some or all guests. The perks engine supports ten different types, from simple recognition badges all the way to first-come-first-served allocations with unique redemption codes:

• Hotel block discount — Marriott Downtown, 20% off, group code WEDDING2026
• Per-guest unique code — $40 Uber credit; each guest gets their own one-shot code
• Included service — "Welcome dinner is covered, no separate RSVP needed"
• Transportation details — shuttle pickup from the hotel at 5pm Saturday
• VIP pass / ticket — backstage access for the wedding party
• Gift — physical welcome bag at their hotel
• Limited-quantity perks — first 20 guests get a spa pass, FCFS

Treatments show up privately on each guest's invitation, grouped into categories like "Where to stay", "Getting there", "Experiences", and "Gifts". A guest only ever sees the perks assigned to them. If a treatment uses unique codes, each guest who claims it pulls one code from your pool atomically — no double-assignment, no manual code distribution.

Both features are managed from the new Sub-events & VIP tab in the RSVP dashboard (look for the Beta badge). Each one has its own editor drawer with the full set of options.

Five real use cases

1. The full wedding weekend

This is the headline use case. A typical Saturday wedding becomes a Friday-to-Sunday experience:

• Welcome dinner (Friday) — tag-gated to out-of-town-family, capacity 30, requires RSVP. Only guests with that tag see it.
• Ceremony (Saturday afternoon) — public, no plus-ones beyond the main party size, no separate capacity (covered by the venue).
• Reception (Saturday evening) — public, depends-on the ceremony. The acceptance flow won't let a guest RSVP to the reception without accepting the ceremony first.
• Sunday brunch — tag-gated to wedding-party + immediate-family, capacity 20.

Pair with treatments:

• Marriott group rate (shared code) → tag out-of-town-family
• $40 Uber credit per guest (unique code per guest) → tag out-of-town-family
• Welcome bag at your hotel → tag wedding-party
• VIP suite access (private, manually assigned) → 4 specific guests

Compare this to the old workflow: a wedding website, a paper itinerary card, a hotel block email, an Uber promo code in a Slack DM, and a Google Sheet tracking who's coming to brunch. The new workflow is one invitation, one guest list, one CSV export per sub-event.

If you're planning the photo side too, our guide on collecting wedding photos from guests walks through how the QR-based photo capture works in parallel.

2. Hotel block + transportation for destination weddings

Destination weddings have a particular pain: getting guests to the venue is half the work. Sub-events handle the schedule, but the magic is in treatments.

Set up a "Lodging" treatment with the hotel name, group code, booking URL, validity window, and the price (e.g. "$249 USD"). Assign it to the out-of-town tag. On the guest's invitation, it renders as a card under "Where to stay" with a Copy button for the code and a Reserve link.

Add a "Transportation" treatment for the shuttle — a per-guest unique pickup time would be overkill, but a shared "Shuttle from the Hyatt at 5:00pm" with the contact number works perfectly. Or use unique codes if your travel partner gave you a stack of Uber/Lyft promos.

The whole thing reads like a concierge handoff inside the invitation. Guests see exactly what's available to them, can claim/copy/redeem inline, and you get redemption tracking back in the dashboard so you know what's actually being used. This connects naturally to broader event photo sharing workflows — guests who feel taken care of share more.

3. Conference VIP track

For corporate events and conferences, the access-rule engine is the killer feature.

• Main conference — public, everyone with an RSVP can attend.
• VIP networking dinner (Thursday) — explicit access only (capacity 50). You manually grant access to specific guests from the Guests tab. Hidden from everyone else.
• Speaker breakfast (Friday) — tag-gated to speakers.
• After-hours rooftop — tag-gated to executive-passes with an access code "ROOFTOP". Even guests with the executive tag only see the card after they type the code in the "Have a code?" field at the bottom of their invitation.

Treatments layer on:

• "Premium hotel block" (shared code) → tag out-of-town
• "Backstage pass" (limited quantity 25) → no tag, first-come-first-served. Once 25 guests claim, the rest see an "Out of stock" state.

The dashboard shows you live counts: how many VIP dinner seats are taken, how many backstage passes remain, who claimed each one. CSV export per sub-event for catering headcounts, per treatment for redemption tracking.

For matching the right people up at the conference itself, our event networking and matchmaking feature is the natural counterpart — sub-events handle who's invited, matchmaking handles who connects when they get there.

4. The surprise event with an access code

Maybe the bride's best friends are throwing a secret bachelorette night before the wedding weekend. Or the company is doing a surprise founders' toast at midnight after the gala. You want to invite a small group without leaking the surprise to the rest of the guest list.

Configure the sub-event as tag-gated AND with an access code. The matching guests see a card on their invitation that says "Have a code?" — they type the code, the surprise unlocks, they can RSVP. Everyone else has no idea it exists. The dashboard tracks who's coming so you can plan catering, transport, and the rest. Once the surprise is revealed, you can clear the access code if you want and the card stays unlocked.

5. Limited-quantity perks (first 20 get a spa pass)

For weddings or retreats with a wellness component, you often want to offer a perk that's genuinely limited — say, the venue's spa has 20 slots available and they're allocated FCFS.

Create a treatment with quantityTotal: 20. Guests see "Spa pass — first 20 claim" on their invitation with a Claim button. The first 20 to tap Claim atomically lock their slot. After that, the button switches to "Out of stock". You can pair it with unique-code-per-guest (each of the 20 gets a distinct booking code) or with shared booking instructions.

Race conditions are handled server-side with a transactional lock on the treatment row, so even if a hundred guests tap Claim simultaneously you get exactly 20 winners — no overbooking, no manual reconciliation.

How it stays clean for guests

Three design decisions keep the experience focused:

1. Sub-events and treatments are hidden until the main RSVP is accepted. The first impression is the headline event. Once a guest taps Accept, the new section reveals itself with a gentle follow-up notification: "We've also unlocked 2 additional sub-events and 1 special perk for you — scroll down to explore." Guests with no extras assigned never see the notification.

2. The party-size cap respects what they actually confirmed. If the main RSVP invited 3 people but the guest confirmed only 2, sub-events cap at 2 too. You can't bring a phantom plus-one to the after-party that you didn't bring to the wedding. The same logic applies to treatments — a VIP lounge access for 2 of 4 family members works as expected.

3. Names get captured and they're exportable. When a guest accepts a sub-event, they're prompted for the names of each attendee. If you turned on collect guest names on the main RSVP, those names are pre-filled and editable. Treatment claims have a "Applies to: ☑ Alice ☑ Bob ☐ Carol" picker so the guest can specify which party members the perk covers. Everything exports as semicolon-delimited CSV ready for Excel — including unique codes, redemption state, and attendee names per sub-event or per treatment.

The dashboard experience

Inside the dashboard, the new tab sits right between Tables and SMS. The interface is two stacked panels:

• Sub-events — card grid with the photo thumbnail, status chip, and a live capacity progress bar. Click any card to open the editor drawer.
• Special treatments — grouped by category, with the same drawer pattern. The editor changes its fields based on the type you pick — Lodging surfaces "Provider", "Group code", "Booking URL"; Allowance surfaces "Monetary value", "Currency", "Redemption URL"; and so on.

For treatments with unique codes, the drawer has a built-in code pool manager — paste a CSV, drag-drop a file, or click "Generate 25 codes" to have Fotify create them for you. Once a guest claims, one code is atomically pulled from the pool.

Live response counts appear inside each editor so you can see at a glance how many people accepted, declined, or are waitlisted on a sub-event — and how many treatment claims have been redeemed. Each panel has an "Export CSV" button right next to those counters.

Premium feature, ready for production

Sub-events and special treatments are part of Fotify's premium feature set. They're available on:

• Paid events (any event purchased with credits)
• Subscription events covered by an active organizer or team subscription

If your event isn't entitled yet, the tab shows an upgrade card with a one-tap path to enable it. See our pricing page for the current tiers — the same plan that unlocks the premium invitation templates (Atelier, Cinematic, Marigold, Vesper, Linen) also covers sub-events.

The five premium templates already ship with on-brand styling for the new sections — foil-outlined treatments in Atelier, ticket-stubs in Cinematic, rounded pills in Marigold and Vesper, hairline rectangles in Linen — so the experience stays cohesive whether you're using the default kit or a paid design.

Getting started

If you're already running a Fotify event with RSVP:

1. Open your event at dashboard.fotify.app
2. Click RSVP in the sidebar
3. Open the Sub-events & VIP tab (the one with the Beta badge)
4. Add your first sub-event — give it a name, date, location, and access rule
5. Optionally add treatments for the perks you've arranged

Our step-by-step help article walks through every field. If you don't have an event yet, create one in a few minutes — the free tier covers the basics and the premium tier unlocks the multi-track flow described above.

If you're planning a wedding and want the full picture, start with the 10 best wedding photo sharing apps for 2026 to see how the photo and RSVP sides work together. For parties, conferences, and corporate events, see event photo sharing for the broader feature map.

What's next

We're shipping in beta so we can iterate fast. On the immediate roadmap:

• Per-sub-event reminders wired into the existing email/SMS scheduling
• Per-sub-event QR check-in — bouncer scans the same QR for sub-event-specific attendance
• Bulk treatment assignment UI from the Guests tab (the API already supports it)
• Marketplace integrations — pre-built treatment templates with hotel/transport partners

Have an event coming up that needs sub-events or treatments? We'd love to hear how you'd use it. Reach out via the chat widget in the dashboard, or just start building — we read every piece of beta feedback.