Installation and basic usage

Installation

From GitHub

Download the latest events-made-easy.zip from GitHub releases
Go to Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin
Upload the ZIP file and activate

From the WordPress Plugin Directory (coming soon)

EME is working towards being listed in the WordPress Plugin Directory. Once available, you will be able to install it directly from Plugins → Add New in your WordPress admin.

WordPress plugin search showing Events Made Easy

Note: Your database user must have rights to create and modify tables. EME creates 25+ custom tables on activation for events, bookings, people, memberships, and more.

After activation — the Events page

Important: Upon first activation of the plugin, a new WordPress page is created (typically called “Events”). That page is very special. Don’t change it, don’t use it in your menus, don’t delete it. Just make sure the EME setting called “Events page” points to this page. EME uses this page to render any and all event or location info, bookings, maps, payments — anything. So again: don’t touch it, don’t use it in your menus, don’t delete it.

After activation, a new Events Made Easy menu appears in your WordPress admin sidebar with 19 dedicated admin pages:

The most important ones to get started:

Events — create, edit, and manage all your events
Locations — manage venues with addresses and map coordinates
Categories — organize events into categories (these are EME categories, not WordPress categories)
Custom Fields — add extra data fields to events, people, or booking forms
Templates — define reusable format strings for event listings, emails, and more
Settings — configure everything: payments, email, maps, access control, and more

Create your first event

Go to Events Made Easy → Events. The “Add a new event” form is right at the top of the page.

Event name — give your event a title
Start and end date/time — these follow your WordPress timezone and date format settings (Settings → General)
Location — click the Location tab to assign or create a venue. Enter an address and a map is generated automatically.
Description — add event details in the rich text editor

Events management page showing the list of created events with dates, locations, and RSVP status

Recurring events

Need an event that repeats? Check the “Repeated event” checkbox in the sidebar to reveal recurrence options:

Daily — every N days
Weekly — pick specific weekdays
Monthly — by weekday or date
Specific days — pick individual dates from a calendar

Each occurrence is stored as a separate event in the database. You can edit individual occurrences, but once modified, they’ll no longer follow the recurrence rule.

Event visibility

Public — visible to everyone
Private — only visible to logged-in WordPress users
Draft — only visible to the event author and contact person

→ See also: Inserting events and locations

Display events on your site

Events are not WordPress posts. To display them on your site, create a regular WordPress page and add EME shortcodes. Here are the three essentials:

[eme_events] — event list

Displays a list of upcoming events. Add this shortcode to any page:

[eme_events scope="future" limit="10"]

Frontend page showing a list of upcoming events with dates, names, and locations

[eme_calendar] — interactive calendar

Displays a month-view calendar with events. Click a date to see its events:

[eme_calendar full=1]

[eme_locations_map] — location map

Displays an OpenStreetMap with markers for all your event locations:

[eme_locations_map width="100%" height="400"]

Common shortcode options

Option	Example	Description
`limit`	`limit="5"`	Maximum number of events to show
`scope`	`scope="this_month"`	Which events: `future`, `past`, `today`, `this_week`, `this_month`, `all`, or a date range like `2025-01-01--2025-12-31`
`category`	`category="1,3"`	Filter by EME category ID (comma = OR, plus = AND)
`template_id`	`template_id="3"`	Use a saved format template instead of the default layout
`paging`	`paging=1`	Enable pagination for browsing through results

Customize the layout

Every piece of EME output is controlled by format strings that use placeholders. A placeholder looks like #_EVENTNAME or #_STARTDATE and gets replaced with actual data when the page renders.

Key placeholders

Placeholder	Output
`#_EVENTNAME`	Event title
`#_LINKEDNAME`	Clickable event title (links to single event page)
`#_STARTDATE`	Start date (formatted per WP settings)
`#_STARTDATE{d/m/Y}`	Start date in custom PHP format
`#_STARTTIME`	Start time
`#_LOCATIONNAME`	Venue name
`#_ADDRESS`	Venue address
`#_MAP`	Embedded map
`#_NOTES`	Event description
`#_ADDBOOKINGFORM`	RSVP booking form
`#_EVENTIMAGE`	Featured image
`#_AVAILABLESEATS`	Remaining seats

Where to set format strings

Globally: Events → Settings → Events tab — set the default format for single events, event lists, etc.
Per event: In the event editor, scroll down to override the format for just that event.
Via templates: Go to Events → Templates to define reusable format strings, then reference them in shortcodes with template_id="3".

Templates management page for defining reusable format strings

Tip: EME supports both attributes and custom fields for adding extra data to events. The plugin maintainer recommends using custom fields — they support dropdowns, checkboxes, date pickers, file uploads, and more. Attributes are still available but are limited to plain text.

Enable bookings (RSVP)

To let visitors register for an event:

Edit the event and click the RSVP tab
Check “Enable bookings for this event”
Set seats (the maximum number of attendees; 0 = unlimited)
Set a price (leave empty for free events)
Make sure your single event format includes #_ADDBOOKINGFORM

RSVP tab in the event editor showing booking settings, payment methods, and email template sections

The RSVP tab also lets you configure:

Booking approval — require manual admin approval or auto-approve
WordPress login — require visitors to be logged in to book
Waiting list — automatically offer a waiting list when seats are full
Invitation-only — restrict booking to people with an invite URL
Booking form format — customize the form fields and layout
Email templates — separate templates for booking confirmation, approval, cancellation, reminders, and more

Visitors see the booking form directly on the event page:

Single event page showing event details and the booking form with name, email, seats, and comment fields

What happens when someone books?

Visitor fills the form — name, email, seats, custom fields, discount codes
Validation — anti-spam honeypot, nonce check, seat availability, email uniqueness, required fields
Person + booking created — returning visitor? Existing record updated. New? Person created, optionally added to a group
Payment (if price > 0) — redirect to Stripe, Mollie, PayPal, or 13 other gateways
Payment confirmed — server-to-server webhook from gateway, booking marked as paid
Auto-approved — if configured; otherwise stays pending for manual admin review
Emails sent — confirmation to attendee (with optional PDF ticket), notification to event manager
Reminders — automated emails sent X days before the event via the mail queue
Event day — check-in via QR code on ticket, real-time attendance tracking

Set up payments

Go to Events → Settings → Payments tab. EME supports 16 payment gateways out of the box:

Payment settings showing all available gateways: PayPal, Mollie, Stripe, Braintree, Worldpay, and more

Supported gateways: PayPal, Mollie, Stripe, Braintree, Payconiq, SumUp, Opayo, Worldpay, Instamojo, Mercado Pago, Fondy, FirstData, 2Checkout, Bancontact/Wero, Webmoney, and offline payments.

For each gateway:

Expand its section and activate it
Enter your API keys / credentials
Optionally enable test mode first to verify everything works

No fees from EME — EME doesn’t charge anything on top of the payment gateway’s own fees. Free events skip the payment step entirely.

→ See also: Payment gateway placeholders

Configure email

Go to Events → Settings → Email tab to set up how EME sends emails.

Email configuration settings with SMTP options

SMTP is recommended over PHP’s built-in mail() function for reliable delivery. Example Gmail setup:

SMTP host: smtp.gmail.com
Port: 587
Encryption: TLS
Username: your Gmail address
Password: an app-specific password (required if 2FA is enabled)

EME provides separate email templates (in the Email templates settings tab) for every stage of the booking lifecycle:

Booking confirmation / approval / update / cancellation / deletion
Payment confirmation
Booking reminders (sent automatically X days before the event)

Each template supports all event, location, person, and booking placeholders — see the RSVP mail formatting documentation for the full list.

Test your setup via Events → Email management → Send Mails — there’s a built-in test mail feature.

→ See also: Mail notification settings

Going further

EME is a deep plugin with 10+ years of real-world event management built in. Here are some of the advanced features you can explore:

Feature	Description	Documentation
Custom fields	Add unlimited fields to events, people, and booking forms (dropdowns, checkboxes, file uploads, etc.)	Custom fields
Dynamic fields	Show/hide form fields and adjust pricing based on visitor selections	Custom fields
Discounts	Fixed amount, percentage, code-based, or per-seat discounts	Discounts
Memberships	Recurring subscriptions, content protection, PDF membership cards	Memberships
Tasks & volunteers	Per-event volunteer task signup with slot management	Tasks
CSV import	Bulk import events, locations, people, members, and payments	CSV import
Maps	OpenStreetMap integration with clustering and custom balloons	Maps
Conditional logic	`[eme_if]` shortcode for conditional content in templates	Conditional tags
REST API	Integrate EME with external systems	REST API
Multi-language	Full qTranslate-XT and Polylang support	Languages
Newsletter	Scheduled mailings to groups with event-aware templates	Newsletter
GDPR	Data requests, view/edit via secure links, automated cleanup	Compatibility
Hooks & filters	40+ hooks for developer customization	Hooks

Watch the full walkthrough: The plugin maintainer has recorded a 41-minute video tour covering installation, event creation, shortcodes, custom fields, RSVP, multi-price booking, payments, email, and settings.

Common pitfalls

Maps or calendar not working? Your theme must call wp_head() and wp_footer(). Without these hooks, EME cannot load its JavaScript.
“Form tampering detected”? A caching plugin is likely caching EME’s nonces. Exclude the event page from your cache.
Emails not sending? Configure SMTP in Settings → Email. Test with the built-in test mail feature.
Multi-price booking form broken? When using multiple price categories, replace #_SEATS with #_SEATS{1}, #_SEATS{2}, etc. in your booking form format.
Events not appearing in search results? Events are not WordPress posts — they won’t appear in the default search. See the FAQ for how to customize your theme’s search.php.
SEO plugin conflicts? Plugins like Yoast or The SEO Framework may add duplicate meta tags on event pages. See Compatibility for the correct filters to add.