Before adding a planner or relative as a digital invitation cohost, decide exactly what they should be able to change, send, and pay for. Check those permissions in the platform, test the access with a small task, and agree on when it ends. A helpful title alone does not tell you what someone can do inside your event.
Start with the job, then choose the access
“Help with invitations” can mean several different jobs: checking a venue address, correcting a guest’s email, watching responses, or sending a reminder. Those jobs do not require the same level of control. Write down the actual assignment before opening the cohost menu.
For example, a relative who is confirming spelling may only need a short list of names to review. A planner managing weekly responses may need access to guest statuses. Someone approving the invitation’s appearance may need a preview rather than the ability to change the live design.
Keep the event under an account the host can continue to access. Use each helper’s own account where the platform supports it, rather than sharing the host’s password. That gives the collaboration a clearer beginning and end.
A practical cohost permissions table
Use this as a planning worksheet. It describes possible responsibilities, not a promise that every platform offers a separate switch for each one. If the available role grants more access than the job needs, choose a different way to collaborate.
| Task | Access to check | Boundary to agree on |
|---|---|---|
| Check invitation wording | Preview access or design editing | Who approves the final version? |
| Correct contact details | Guest editing | Which records may change? |
| Watch attendance | Response viewing | Is updating a response also allowed? |
| Add late invitees | Guest creation and sending | Who approves each addition? |
| Send reminders | Guest messaging | Which audience, wording, and date? |
| Handle paid sends | Payment or balance permissions | Whose balance may be used? |
| Close out the event | Removal and pending-action controls | When does the helper’s access end? |
Two separate questions belong beside every row: “Can this person do it?” and “Have we agreed that they should?” A platform permission answers the first. Your working arrangement answers the second.
Why the platform’s definition matters
The same cohost label can describe very different access. These examples come from the providers’ official help pages, checked October 21, 2026. Recheck the settings in your own event before relying on them.
Paperless Post: adjustable guest permissions
Paperless Post’s default tracking permission is view-only. Hosts can grant guest editing, additions and removals, and messaging, but cohosts cannot edit the Card or Flyer itself. Advanced settings can restrict which guests a cohost may remove.
For Coin-funded events, hosts can control whether a cohost uses the host’s Coins, their own, or either. If either host or cohost is a Paperless Pro subscriber, cohost sends must be paid through the host’s account. Check the selected setting rather than assuming that sending access leaves the host’s balance untouched.
The host can change permissions or remove a cohost. A send scheduled with that cohost’s own Coins must be canceled before their removal or removal of that payment permission. Removing cohost access does not also remove their separate guest access. See Paperless Post’s official cohost guide.
Greenvelope: broader mailing collaboration
Greenvelope says a cohost can change the mailing’s design and details, edit its guest list, send invitations and follow-up messages, and monitor responses. The role does not provide access to the host’s entire Address Book, account settings, or purchases on the host’s behalf.
The linked guide does not describe a view-only cohost option or a removal procedure. Verify those points in the product or with support if they matter to your arrangement. See Greenvelope’s official cohost guide.
Separate design approval, sending, and spending
These are three decisions, even when one person handles all of them. A planner may be trusted to correct a typo but still need the couple’s approval before sending. A relative may be covering invitation costs without being responsible for the final wording.
Name one person who gives the final go-ahead for the design, one who authorizes the recipient batch, and one who approves any paid action. They can be the same person. The important part is making the answer visible before someone clicks a button.
For paid sends, agree on the intended payer and how the helper should handle a request for additional funds. Have them pause when the payment screen differs from that agreement. Permission to use a balance is not a useful substitute for a shared spending decision.
Give each helper a short, specific brief
A useful brief fits in a few sentences. For a planner, it might read: “Please review attendance every Friday and flag missing responses. Send the approved reminder only to unanswered invitations after I confirm the recipient list. Please leave the design and event details unchanged.”
For a relative: “Please check these twelve names and send me corrections by Sunday. I’ll make the updates and send the invitations.” That second arrangement may work without cohost access at all.
Keep this permission discussion focused on operating the invitation account. If your family still needs to decide who belongs on the list, settle that separately with our family guest-list approval guide. Otherwise, access to an editing screen can become an accidental way of making a larger hosting decision.
Verify access before the first real send
Ask the helper to sign in with the exact email address you invited. Then review what they can see together. Use a preview, draft, or harmless test record if the platform provides one. Avoid experimenting with a real guest’s attendance or sending a test message to the full list.
- Confirm the helper opened the correct event.
- Check whether they can edit the design and event details.
- Check whether they can view, add, change, or remove guests.
- Identify the controls for sending now and scheduling later.
- Review any visible payer or balance settings.
- Locate the host’s controls for changing or ending access.
If the role is broader than expected, stop and adjust the arrangement before uploading more guest information or sending anything. A short screen review is easier than reconstructing who changed a date after invitations have gone out.
Plan the handoff and removal now
Give temporary access an end point, such as after the final reminder or after the planner’s agreed responsibilities finish. Before removing a helper, review pending sends, drafts, and unresolved corrections together. Assign an owner to anything still outstanding.
Then use the platform’s access controls and verify the result. Check the cohost list from the host account and, where practical, ask the former helper to confirm that the management view is no longer available. Do not assume that deleting a name from an internal planning document changes platform access.
Revoking access also cannot retrieve information someone already copied, downloaded, or photographed. Share only what the job needs from the beginning. For the separate question of retaining your own usable records, see our RSVP platform guest-list export and portability test.
Keep physical invitation approval equally clear
If your event also includes physical invitations, give the proof its own approval owner. LunaInvites’ acrylic wedding invitation with bow features a clear acrylic card, gold printing and floral line art, a white envelope cover, a large satin bow, and a dried-flower detail. A digital proof for a physical order is the design approval stage for that order.
Under the current shipping policy, LunaInvites offers free US shipping, with an estimated total of 7–8 days after final proof approval, including 2 days of production. This is an estimate, not a delivery guarantee. Make sure the person reviewing the proof knows who will approve it and how any corrections will be collected before that approval.
The five-question check before adding a cohost
- What exact job will this person do?
- Which actions will the selected role actually allow?
- Who approves design changes, sending, and spending?
- Have we checked the access without affecting real guests?
- When will access end, and who will verify its removal?
When those answers are clear, cohosting becomes easier to manage. Your helper knows where to take initiative, you know which decisions remain with you, and the invitation process has a clear owner at every stage.
Cover image disclosure: AI-assisted layout using a LunaInvites store photograph. The surrounding botanical styling and editorial decorations are not additional set contents. The cover illustrates invitation planning, not a digital platform service.