Invoicing as a wedding planner

Wedding work runs on a calendar with one immovable deadline, so your billing should follow the same rhythm: lock the date with a retainer, bill the milestones as they land, and make the final payment effortless. Fee-Lion is built for exactly this — couples approve and pay from their phone with no login, and the money lands straight in your own Stripe account.

Lock the date with a deposit

Most planners won’t hold a date without a signed estimate and a retainer. Fee-Lion handles both in one move: the couple approves the estimate, and the same screen asks for the deposit.

1. From the left sidebar, open Estimates and create a new one for the couple.
2. Price the package with line items — your planning fee as a task (hours × rate), per-guest or rental costs as units (qty × rate), and any package discounts or surcharges.
3. Set your tax and turn on a deposit % (say 30%) so the retainer is collected the moment they say yes.
4. Add a validity window so a held date doesn’t sit open forever, then send it.

The couple opens a magic link, reviews the package on their phone, taps approve, and pays the deposit by card. You can set a default deposit percentage under Settings → Preferences so every wedding estimate starts the same way.

Tip: Set your tax and deposit defaults once under Settings → Preferences (Estimates, tax, deposit defaults) so a couple inquiring at midnight gets a polished, correctly-priced estimate without you touching a calculator.

Bill the milestones as the day nears

A wedding isn’t one invoice — it’s a deposit now, a payment at the venue walkthrough, and the balance before the big day. After the estimate is approved, convert it to a project so everything for that couple lives in one place.

1. On the approved estimate, click Convert and choose to create a project for the wedding.
2. As each milestone arrives, open Invoices and create the next invoice — the deposit is already credited, so you’re billing the remaining stages.
3. Bill any tracked planning time straight to the invoice, and rebill vendor costs (florals, rentals) as line items.
4. Send it; each invoice carries a Pay button so the couple pays by card on their own time.

Because expenses you attribute to the project roll up against what you billed, you can see the real margin on each wedding — not just the top-line package price.

Make the final payment effortless

The last thing you want in the final week is to chase a check. Fee-Lion keeps the closing payment simple and visible.

• The couple pays by card in the portal; funds settle into your own Stripe account (Fee-Lion takes only a small platform fee).
• If a parent pays by check or transfer instead, record it as an offline payment so the invoice still reads as paid.
• Watch what’s outstanding with invoice aging, and send a gentle reminder on anything running late.
• Working a recurring multi-event client, like a venue you plan for monthly? Set up a recurring invoice with auto-pay.

One more time-saver: the ⌘K command palette. Type “create invoice for the Reyes wedding” or “pay INV-204” and you’re there in a keystroke — handy when a couple texts you a question mid-tasting.

What’s next

• Collect a deposit on an estimate
• Estimate to deposit to project to final invoice
• Set a default deposit percentage
• How a client pays an invoice