Quick answer
Caterers need counts and dietary notes, not contact details. Venues need a final headcount and arrival times. Planners need ongoing access rather than a file. Export the first two, grant the third.
What a caterer actually needs
A caterer needs to cook the right number of the right things. That means confirmed attending numbers, the split across meal options, and every dietary note in full sentences. It does not mean your guests' email addresses or phone numbers — sending those is a habit worth breaking.
A dedicated caterer export gives you exactly that shape: the counts and requirements, without the contact columns nobody in a kitchen needs.
What a venue needs
Usually a final headcount by a stated date, sometimes broken down by session — how many at the ceremony, how many at the dinner, how many staying for the evening. If your event has several parts, a per-part headcount is the difference between a smooth handover and a phone call at 8am.
What a planner needs
Not a file — a live view. A planner working from a spreadsheet you exported on Tuesday is working from Tuesday. Giving them their own access to the event means they see replies as they arrive, and you are not the bottleneck for every question.
Access can be scoped: someone who runs the door on the day needs to check guests in, not to see your budget. Granting the narrow permission is both safer and less confusing than sharing your own login.
Handling the file responsibly
- Send the smallest version of the list that does the job
- Say when it was generated — an undated export gets used at the wrong moment
- Re-export after the deadline rather than annotating the old file
- Ask vendors to delete their copy after the event, and mean it
Keep one version of the truth
The failure mode here is not a missing file, it is three files. Export when someone asks, keep the live list as the source, and re-export rather than editing what you sent. Your final numbers should always be reproducible from the event itself.