How to organise a gallery opening, from the invitation to the day after

It is nearly ten o’clock. The last guests of the gallery opening have gone, someone has left a scarf on the bench, and you are gathering glasses. A couple spent a long time in front of the large canvas by the window; the husband asked to come back when it is quieter, and you wrote his name on the back of an invitation card. An architect nobody knew left you her card. Three people who had said yes never turned up.

The next morning, the invitation card is no longer in your pocket. The scarf is still on the bench.

A gallery opening takes weeks to prepare and three hours to happen, and what it leaves behind, the sales, the follow-up visits, the new names, is mostly decided in the days after.

Start the gallery opening with the guest list, not the invitation

It is tempting to begin with the card. Yet it is the list that makes the evening: a beautiful invitation sent to the wrong people fills the room and does nothing for the artist.

Begin with what you already know:

• collectors who have bought this artist, or who have asked after their work;

• people who have followed the gallery for years and come to every show;

• the people the artist wants in the room, which you only get if you ask for their list early enough;

• then press, curators, friends of the gallery.

For each name, ask one thing: why this person, for this show? If nothing comes to mind, they can have the newsletter rather than a personal invitation. Keep the size of the space in mind too: a room that is too full stops anyone looking at the work.

The invitation, and what to do with the replies

Send the invitation three weeks ahead and a reminder a few days before. A printed card still has its charm, especially for regulars, but the email version gives you the thing you actually need: replies.

Ask for them plainly. “Do let us know if you can make it” is enough, with a link or a simple reply. Then keep every answer in one place, not across three inboxes: yes, no, maybe, and how many people they are bringing. A reply like “yes, and I’ll bring my daughter, she’s just started collecting” is worth keeping word for word.

People who do not reply are not lost: a short personal note a few days before often brings the quieter ones round. Those who decline are not lost either: invite them to drop in during the week.

The days before the gallery opening

The hang always takes longer than planned. Finish the day before, so you have time to sort the lighting and walk the show as a visitor would. Labels are up, the price list is printed and checked, and everyone on the team knows which works are already on hold.

This is also the moment to go through the replies with the artist: who is coming, and who they would like to be introduced to. Then decide who does what: one person on the door, one or two in the room, and the artist free to talk to whoever they like. If you are serving wine, someone is in charge of it, and it is not the person who is meant to be selling.

On the night: the door, the room, the holds

The door comes first. Whoever is on it has the list of replies and ticks people off as they arrive: that is how you will know, the next day, who actually came. They also take down the people nobody was expecting: a friend of a guest, a neighbour, a passing art adviser. A name, an email address, and if possible a word about what caught their eye.

In the room, the job is mostly listening. A collector who keeps drifting back to the same small drawing, a question about a larger size, a price asked for under the breath: all of it disappears if nobody writes it down. Keep a notebook in your pocket and jot things down as the evening goes, three words at a time: the name, the work, what was said.

When a work goes on hold, mark it straight away. The red dot on the label is an old habit and a good one, as long as it matches something written down: who reserved it, at what price, and until when.

The day after, where the opening pays off

The day after is the best time to write, while the evening is still fresh in your guests’ minds.

Thank the people who came, the same day or the next. A short message, personal where you can manage it, with one or two installation shots and a reminder of the dates. If you talked to someone about a work, send it with the price and dimensions, so they do not have to ask again.

Then write to those who said yes and did not come. No reproach: something came up, it rained. Tell them you thought of them and offer a private viewing on a weekday, at whatever time suits them.

Last, the newcomers who left their name at the door: a note to thank them for coming by, and the offer of hearing from the gallery if they would like to. No more than that, they do not know you yet.

Holds from the night before are confirmed in writing, with the period you agreed. If one falls through, let the next interested collector know without delay.

What to keep for next time

Before you close the file, take half an hour to look back. Which of the people you expected came, and who was missing. Who turned up without an invitation. Which works went on hold, and which sold during the week. That tells you, next time, who to invite first and who to chase earlier.

Note on each collector’s record that they came. It feels trivial, but a year from now, preparing the artist’s next show, knowing that someone has been to the last two openings without buying, or buys without ever coming, changes the way you write to them.

And note what went wrong: not enough glasses, the reminder sent too late, the twenty minutes when nobody was on the door.

What MARMALADE actually does

The fairs and events module in MARMALADE keeps the thread from the invitation to the day after. You invite collectors from your contact book, and their replies are tracked in one place. On the night, whoever is on the door checks arrivals in. Afterwards, the event summary brings together who came, who was expected and did not come, who was added on the spot, the works reserved and the sales. From there you send a thank-you email to those who came and an offer of a private viewing to those who did not, and the visit goes on each collector’s record.

The simplest thing is to try it on your next show: the trial lasts 30 days, with no card during the trial.

First published on 16 October 2026, updated on 20 October 2026.