Requesting Payments

Once your client has signed a contract, you can request payment directly from the event page. Gilded handles the payment link, the client-facing payment page, and the status tracking.

You do not need a payment method set up to send a request. The email, the record, the reminders and the workflow all work regardless. Plenty of planners take cheques or offline transfers, and there is no reason to hold up the paperwork for that.

What a payment method changes is what happens after. With Stripe connected, or a Zelle or Venmo handle saved in Settings → Payments, the email carries a link the couple can pay from. Without one, the request still goes out with the amount and the due date, and you record the money yourself when it arrives. See Recording a Payment Collected Outside Gilded.

How Payment Requests Work

A payment request sends your client an email with a secure link to a payment page. On that page they see the amount due, what it is for, its due date and your business name. The link always works, but what they can do there depends on what you have set up:

• Stripe connected — they pay by credit card or ACH bank transfer, right there, no account needed.
• Zelle or Venmo saved — the page shows your handle and what to send, and you confirm receipt once it arrives.
• Neither — the page shows the amount and the due date, the email invites them to view the details and get in touch, and you record the payment yourself however it reaches you.

Setting Up a Payment Schedule

The payment schedule lives on each document, not on the event itself. Open the Pricing & Payment Schedule panel in the document builder (proposal, agreement, or combined) and define any number of installments, each with a label, amount, and optional due date.

For example, a $6,000 package might have:

• Deposit — $2,000, due at signing
• Second Payment — $2,000, due 90 days before the event
• Final Balance — $2,000, due 30 days before the event

The total of all installments must equal the contract value. Gilded shows an allocation indicator ("Fully allocated," "$X remaining to allocate," or "$X over-allocated") so you can see at a glance if the numbers add up.

If you start the package from a saved template via Use saved package, Gilded auto-creates a two-payment schedule (deposit + balance) based on the template's defaults. You can then add more installments or adjust the amounts.

When the document is approved (proposal) or signed (agreement/combined), its schedule becomes the schedule the event uses for payment requests.

Once an installment has money against it (paid, a bank transfer still clearing, or a request the couple can still pay), the builder locks it: its amount can't be changed and it can't be removed, and a note beside it says why. To free a line held by an open request, cancel that request from the event's Payments card first. To lower the total, take the difference off an installment with nothing against it.

Offering Multiple Payment Options

You don't have to commit the couple to a single schedule. In the Pricing & Payment Schedule panel you can click Offer another payment option to give the couple more than one way to pay the same total: for example "Pay in full," "Pay in 3," and a monthly plan. The couple picks one when they approve or sign.

Each option has its own name (e.g. "Pay in 3") and its own set of installments. You can mark one option as Recommended with the star toggle. It shows a "Recommended" badge to the couple, and its numbers fill in your {{deposit_amount}} and {{payment_schedule}} auto-fill fields until the couple actually chooses. The recommended option is badged but not pre-selected, so the couple makes a deliberate choice.

When the couple approves or signs, the option they picked becomes the event's committed schedule. The event's Payments card records what they chose ("Client chose Pay in 3 of 3 options"), so you have a record of the selection.

For what choosing an option looks like from the couple's side, see The Client Signing Experience.

Requesting Each Payment

After the contract is signed, the action panel shows the next payment to request based on your schedule. Gilded walks you through each one in order:

1. The action panel shows Request [Payment Name] (e.g., "Request Deposit")
2. Click it to open the payment request dialog, where the label, amount, and due date are pre-filled from your schedule
3. Confirm to send the payment request email to your client
4. Once paid, the next installment becomes available to request

You do not need to remember amounts or due dates. Gilded pulls them from the document's payment schedule.

What Your Client Sees

The payment page carries your business name and branding, the event details, and the amount due with its label: "Deposit", "Second Payment" and so on. It never requires them to create an account.

What they can pay with depends on what you have set up. See How Payment Requests Work above. For a fuller walkthrough of their side, including the Zelle and Venmo panel and what happens after they pay, see The Client Payment Experience.

Tracking Payment Status

Payment progress is visible in several places:

• Status badge on the event — shows action-oriented labels like "Request Deposit," "Deposit Requested," or "Request Payment 2"
• Client Workflow timeline — shows each payment as a pair of steps (Requested and Received) so you can see exactly where things stand
• Payments card — lists every payment request with its current status (Requested, Processing, Paid, Partly refunded, Refunded, Cancelled, or Failed). ACH payments sit in Processing ("bank transfer clearing") for a few business days before settling to Paid.

The status badge updates automatically when payments are received. You also receive a notification when a payment comes in.

Cancelling a Payment Request

A pending or declined request can be cancelled from the Payments card. Cancelling voids the couple's pay link and stops that request's reminders. A payment that's already been collected, or a bank transfer that's still clearing, can't be cancelled (refund a collected payment in Stripe if needed). Cancelling only closes the link: anything already recorded against the request, such as a partial payment, still counts toward the installment. A refund made in Stripe is recorded against its payment and shown on the Payments card, and it reduces what that installment counts as paid — so an installment refunded below its amount shows as owed again, with the refund named against that installment (Deposit $1,750 · $100 refunded). Gilded won't request it automatically after a refund; if the couple should still pay it, click Request yourself. Clicking Request again on an installment that already has a pending request nudges the payor instead of creating a duplicate. With automated requests on, an installment whose request you cancelled is not requested again automatically — a cancel usually means the couple is paying another way — so click Request yourself when it's owed, which also switches automation back on for it.

Complimentary $0 events skip the payment phase entirely: no schedule, no requests.

Automating Payment Requests

Gilded can send payment requests for you. In Settings → Preferences, in the Automation card, turn on "Send payment requests automatically." With it on:

• The deposit request goes out as soon as the contract is fully signed
• Each later installment goes out about a week before its due date

This works whether or not you have a payment method connected. Without one, the requests still go out and you record the money as it arrives.

Installments only auto-send if they have a due date. If one doesn't, the event's Payments card warns you: "No due date — we won't request it automatically. Add one, or request it manually." Nothing silently slips.

You can still send any request manually at any time; automation just covers the ones you'd otherwise have to remember.

Recording a Payment Collected Outside Gilded

If a client pays you outside of Gilded (check, cash, Venmo, direct transfer), record it so your collected total stays accurate. On the event's Payments card, click Record a payment.

In the dialog:

• What was this payment for? — attach it to a scheduled installment, or choose "Something else — an add-on, expense or fee". Picking one fills in the label and the amount still owed on it.
• Label — what the payment is for (defaults to "Payment")
• Amount
• Date received — defaults to today

Click Record payment to save it. This isn't a Stripe charge; it just keeps the collected total and the workflow accurate. Recorded payments advance the schedule the same way Stripe payments do, and they're marked Manual on the Payments card.

Attaching it matters: money recorded as "Something else" counts toward your collected total but settles no installment, so the schedule keeps showing that one as owed.

If you record less than the installment is worth, Gilded records exactly what arrived and leaves the rest outstanding. See Partial Payments below. Only once an installment is fully covered does Gilded mark it paid and void any open pay link for it, so the client can't also pay it online.

Partial Payments

Sometimes only part of an installment arrives. The usual reason is a transfer limit: most banks cap how much can be sent by Zelle in a day, and Venmo caps its own, so a couple paying a $1,500 deposit may only manage $1,000 of it.

Gilded records what actually arrived and keeps the rest owed. Say $1,000 lands against a $1,500 deposit:

• The Payments card shows $1,000.00 received · $500.00 still outstanding
• The schedule reads Deposit $1,500 · $500 remaining
• The action panel asks for $500, not $1,500, so you never over-collect
• The installment stays open, and the event does not advance to the next payment

The couple keeps the same payment link from the same email. It now asks for the remaining $500, and they can send it by Zelle or Venmo again, or pay it by card or bank transfer instead. When the balance is covered, everything completes normally: the installment is marked paid, reminders stop, and the workflow moves on.

To record a partial, use Confirm on the payment row (or Record a payment) and enter the amount that actually arrived rather than the full figure. Gilded tells you what will stay outstanding before you commit.

If automated payment requests are on, recording a partial re-sends that request for the new, smaller balance, so the couple is told what's left without you having to chase it.

Confirming and Chasing Individual Payments

Each pending payment on the Payments card carries its own controls, so you never have to guess which one you're acting on:

• Confirm — records money you've received for that specific installment. When a couple has told you they're paying by Zelle or Venmo, this becomes a Confirm Zelle / Confirm Venmo button so it's obvious which one is waiting on you.
• Resend — sends that request again, with the option to switch who it goes to. Useful when a deposit gets ignored but a later installment is paid; you can still chase the deposit.
• Cancel — voids that request and stops its reminders.

Seeing When Payments Were Collected

The Payments card shows a collection date on every paid installment ("Collected Aug 2, 2026"), whether the money came in through Stripe or was recorded manually. Upcoming installments show their Due date instead.

Sending a Request to Someone Other Than the Couple

Sometimes a parent or another party is paying for part of the wedding. Gilded lets you send a specific installment to a different payor.

First, add the person as a contact: on the event, open the Additional contacts card, click Add, and enter their details. Check "Can pay" to make them eligible to receive payment requests (they need an email address for this).

Then you can assign a payor to an installment two ways:

• On the schedule — use the payor picker next to an upcoming installment to choose who pays it (the couple by default, or any contact you've flagged with "Can pay")
• In the request dialog — when you click Request, the "Who's paying?" picker lets you choose the recipient before sending, and you can Add someone else inline

When you resend a request, the Send to picker lets you keep the current recipient or switch to a different one.

Payment Methods

Your clients can pay in a few ways:

• Credit or debit card — processed immediately, and the most expensive for you
• Bank transfer — takes 3-5 business days to clear, and costs you no more than $5
• Zelle or Venmo — no Stripe fee, if you have added them in Settings → Payments

All available options are shown on the payment page, and your client pays the same amount whichever they choose.

Receiving Your Money

Payments go to the bank account you connected through Stripe. After processing:

• Stripe deposits funds according to your payout schedule (typically 2 business days for established accounts)
• Stripe's processing fee is deducted from the payout — see Understanding Payment Fees for what each method costs
• Gilded takes no cut of any payment, on any plan
• You can view all transactions in your Stripe dashboard

Next Steps

Wondering about the fees? Read Understanding Payment Fees to learn exactly who pays what.