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Tickets Please

Quick Start Guide

Quick Start Guide

You have Tickets Please installed and activated. Now you want to see it work. This guide walks you through creating a venue, an event, a paid ticket, and an RSVP ticket. The whole process takes under five minutes. By the end, you will have a live event page on your site with working ticket purchasing and RSVP registration.

Step 1: Create a Venue

Every event needs a location. You create venues separately so you can reuse them across multiple events.

  1. Go to Events > Venues > Add New in your WordPress admin.
  2. Enter a name for the venue (e.g., “Riverside Community Center”).
  3. Fill in the address fields: street address, city, state/province, zip/postal code, and country.
  4. If you configured a Google Maps API key during setup, the address is geocoded automatically and a map preview appears.
  5. Click Publish.

That is it for the venue. You can add a phone number, website URL, and description if you want, but only the name and address are required.

Step 2: Create an Event

Now create the event itself.

  1. Go to Events > Add New.
  2. Enter an event title (e.g., “Summer Jazz in the Park”).
  3. Add content in the block editor — a description, images, schedule details, whatever your attendees need to know.
  4. In the Event Details meta box below the editor, set the start date and time and the end date and time.
  5. Select the venue you just created from the Venue dropdown.
  6. Optionally, select or create an Organizer to show who is hosting the event.
  7. Set a featured image in the right sidebar — this appears on the events archive and calendar views.
  8. Click Publish.

Your event now has a public page. Visit it by clicking View Event in the admin bar. You will see the event details, venue with map, and organizer info. But there are no tickets yet.

Step 3: Add a Paid Ticket

Paid tickets require WooCommerce to be installed and active with at least one payment gateway configured. If you are only doing RSVPs, skip to Step 4.

  1. Go to Events > Tickets > Add New.
  2. Enter a ticket name (e.g., “General Admission”).
  3. Set the Ticket Type to Paid.
  4. Enter the price (e.g., 25.00).
  5. Set the capacity — the maximum number of this ticket type that can be sold. Enter -1 for unlimited.
  6. In the Linked Event dropdown, select the event you created in Step 2.
  7. Optionally, set sale start and sale end dates to control when the ticket is available for purchase.
  8. Click Publish.

The ticket now appears on your event’s frontend page inside the ticket selector. Visitors can add it to their WooCommerce cart and complete the purchase through your configured payment gateway.

Step 4: Add an RSVP Ticket

RSVP tickets are free and do not require WooCommerce. They are useful for free events where you still want to track attendance and enforce capacity.

  1. Go to Events > Tickets > Add New.
  2. Enter a ticket name (e.g., “Free Registration”).
  3. Set the Ticket Type to RSVP.
  4. Set the capacity — how many RSVPs you want to accept. Enter -1 for unlimited.
  5. In the Linked Event dropdown, select your event.
  6. Click Publish.

On the frontend, visitors see a registration form instead of a purchase button. They enter their name and email, confirm, and Tickets Please creates an attendee record and sends a confirmation email.

Step 5: View Your Event on the Frontend

  1. Go to yoursite.com/events/ to see the events archive. Your new event appears in the default calendar view (List, Month, or Day, depending on your settings).
  2. Click the event title to open the single event page.
  3. Scroll down to the ticket section. You should see both your paid ticket with an “Add to Cart” button and your RSVP ticket with a “Register” button.
  4. Test the paid ticket flow by adding it to your cart and going through checkout.
  5. Test the RSVP flow by clicking Register, filling in the form, and submitting.

After completing either flow, an attendee record is created automatically. You can see all attendees under Events > Attendees in the admin.

What You Just Built

In five steps, you set up the core workflow of Tickets Please:

  • Venue holds location data and displays a map
  • Event is the main content with dates, description, and links to a venue and organizer
  • Paid Ticket routes through WooCommerce for payment processing and creates attendees on order completion
  • RSVP Ticket handles free registration directly, creates attendees on form submission
  • Attendees are tracked in the admin with check-in status, export, and management tools

This is the foundation. Everything else in Tickets Please builds on these five content types and their relationships.

Common Questions

Can I add multiple ticket types to the same event? Yes. You can have as many paid and RSVP tickets on a single event as you need — early bird, VIP, general admission, free volunteer spots, and so on. Each ticket has its own price, capacity, and sale dates.

What happens when a ticket sells out? The ticket is automatically marked as sold out on the frontend. The purchase or RSVP button is replaced with a “Sold Out” notice. Other ticket types for the same event remain available if they still have capacity.

Can I edit a ticket after people have already purchased it? Yes. You can change the name, price, and capacity at any time. Existing attendees and orders are not affected by price changes. If you reduce capacity below the number already sold, no new sales are allowed but existing attendees keep their tickets.

How do I test the checkout without real payments? Enable WooCommerce’s built-in “Check payments” gateway under WooCommerce > Settings > Payments. This lets you complete orders without processing real money. You can also use Stripe’s test mode with test card numbers.

Where do I see RSVPs and purchases? Go to Events > Attendees for a list of all attendees across all events. You can filter by event, ticket type, and status. Each attendee record shows the linked event, ticket, order (for paid), and check-in status.

Can I create an event without any tickets? Yes. Events work as standalone content. You can publish an event with just a description and date, then add tickets later when you are ready to open registration.

Next Steps

  • Core Concepts — understand the data model, capacity types, and content relationships in depth
  • Managing Events — learn about recurring events, event series, categories, and advanced event features
  • Ticket Configuration — explore shared capacity, sale windows, attendee limits, and registration forms