Setting Up Payments

Gilded uses Stripe to process card and bank-transfer payments from your clients. Connecting it is a one-time setup that takes about five minutes.

Stripe isn't the only option. You can also offer Zelle or Venmo, which carry no Stripe fee — see Offering Zelle or Venmo below. Neither is required to send a payment request — what they change is whether the couple can pay from a link, or whether you record the money yourself when it arrives.

What Is Stripe Connect?

Stripe Connect is the technology that lets Gilded send payment requests on your behalf while directing the money straight to your bank account. When a client pays through Gilded, the payment is processed by Stripe and deposited into your connected bank account — Gilded never holds your funds.

Starting the Connection

1. Navigate to Settings in the left sidebar
2. Select the Payments tab
3. Click Connect Stripe Account

This opens a Stripe-hosted onboarding flow. You will leave Gilded briefly to complete the setup on Stripe's secure site.

What Stripe Asks For

During onboarding, Stripe will ask for:

• Business type — Individual or sole proprietor works for most wedding planners
• Personal information — Name, date of birth, last four digits of your SSN (for identity verification)
• Business details — Your business name, address, and website
• Bank account — The account where payments will be deposited

This information goes directly to Stripe for identity verification and compliance. Gilded does not see or store your banking details.

Completing the Setup

After you fill in the required information, Stripe may need a moment to verify your identity. In most cases, this is instant. Once verified, you are redirected back to Gilded and your Stripe account is connected.

You will see a confirmation on the Payments settings page showing your connected status.

What Happens Behind the Scenes

Once connected:

• Card and bank transfer appear as payment options on every request you send
• When a client pays, Stripe processes the transaction and deposits the funds into your bank account
• Payouts from Stripe typically arrive in 2 business days (this depends on your Stripe settings)
• You can manage payout schedules and view transaction history directly in your Stripe dashboard at dashboard.stripe.com

If You Already Have a Stripe Account

If you already use Stripe for other purposes, you can connect that same account. During the Connect flow, Stripe will recognize your existing account and let you link it. You do not need to create a separate account for Gilded.

Offering Zelle or Venmo

Money sent by Zelle or Venmo goes directly between accounts and never touches Stripe or Gilded, so Gilded and Stripe take nothing — on a $3,000 payment that is the difference between $2,912.70 and the full $3,000.

Check what your own account charges, though. Venmo takes a cut of payments made to a business profile, and some banks charge for Zelle transfers on a business account. Personal-to-personal transfers are typically free. Whether these are genuinely free for you depends on how your Zelle or Venmo account is set up, not on anything in Gilded.

In Settings → Payments, enter the Zelle and/or Venmo handle you want couples to send to — an email address, phone number, or username, whatever your app is set up to receive at. Save, and they appear on every payment page from then on, listed above card and bank transfer with a Preferred badge.

Two things to know about how these work:

• You confirm receipt yourself. Because the money bypasses Gilded entirely, we can't see it arrive. The couple taps "I've sent it", you get notified, and you mark it received once it lands in your account. Until you do, the payment stays open and reminders keep running — a couple saying they've paid isn't the same as money arriving.
• Transfer limits are real. Banks cap daily Zelle transfers and Venmo caps its own, often lower than people expect. Gilded warns couples about this at $500 and above, but a capped transfer sends part of the amount rather than failing, so check what actually arrived before confirming.

You can offer Zelle and Venmo alongside Stripe, or on their own. With no Stripe connected, the payment page simply shows those options and no card form.

Collecting Without Any Online Payment Method

If you'd rather handle money entirely outside Gilded — cheques, cash, bank transfers arranged directly — you can still run the whole event here, and you lose less than you might expect.

You can still send payment requests. The couple gets the email with the amount and the due date, the request is recorded against the installment, reminders keep running, and the workflow advances. The link still works too — it shows them the details and invites them to get in touch, rather than offering a way to pay online.

What changes is only the last step: instead of the money arriving through Stripe, you use Record Payment once it reaches you, and the schedule advances exactly as it would have.

Disconnecting Stripe

There is no disconnect button in Gilded. If you need to stop taking card and bank payments, revoke Gilded's access from your own Stripe dashboard, and Gilded picks the change up automatically. Card and bank transfer stop being offered on new requests, payments already processed are unaffected, and you can still send requests and record money as it arrives.

Troubleshooting

• Verification pending: Stripe occasionally requires additional documentation (like a photo of your ID). Check your email for any requests from Stripe.
• Bank account not showing deposits: Payouts can take 2-7 business days initially while Stripe verifies your account. After the first payout, transfers typically arrive in 2 business days.
• Connection error: If the onboarding flow fails, try again from Settings > Payments. Make sure you are using a modern browser with pop-ups enabled.

Next Steps

With a payment method set up, you are ready to start requesting payments. Learn how in Requesting Payments, and see Understanding Payment Fees for what each method costs you.