Features

Payments

Request deposits and balances, let couples pay via your own handles, and track what's paid. No processor in the middle.

Updated Mon Sep 21 2026 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

spinbook tracks the money for each event without taking a cut or sitting between you and your client. You request payments; couples pay you directly via your saved handles and mark them paid.

Add your handles first

Set your Venmo / PayPal / Zelle in Settings so couples have a way to pay. Without them, payment requests show but have no pay buttons, and emailing a request will stop and point you to the settings page.

Wherever a couple sees your pay links on a bigger screen (their payments page, the booking link), each tappable method also shows a QR code, so they can scan it with their phone and pay in the app they already use. Zelle has no scannable link, so it stays a displayed handle.

Receipts

Every payment marked paid (by card, Venmo, Zelle, or one you record by hand) automatically emails the couple a branded receipt: what they paid, how, when, the confirmation number, and their remaining balance, with a link back to their payments page. Nothing to configure.

Emailing a payment request

On any unpaid request, staff can tap Email request to couple. The couple gets a branded email with the amount, the due date, and every way to pay you've configured: the card link front and center (when the request has one), plus your Venmo / PayPal / Zelle. Replies go to you.

Card payments via your own processor

Each payment request can also carry a Pay by card button. SpinBook doesn't process cards itself. Instead, an automation on your side (for example a Make.com scenario listening to the payment.requested webhook) creates a checkout link on your own Stripe account and writes it back through the API. The couple pays there, your automation marks the request paid, and the balance updates like any other payment. No card details ever touch SpinBook.

Pay-to-book: one link from sales call to booked

After the sales call, lock in the deal on the event's payments page with a booking offer: the package, the total, and the deposit percent (25, 50, or 100). You get one link to copy or email. No login needed on their side.

The couple opens the link, sees exactly what you agreed, and taps Reserve your date. That lays down the deposit and balance requests on the offer's terms, and shows every way to pay: the card button (as soon as your card automation mints the link; the page waits for it) plus your Venmo / PayPal / Zelle.

The booking confirms itself once the money is real.

• Card: your automation marks the payment paid, and the event books instantly.
• Venmo / PayPal / Zelle: the couple taps "I sent it", you get an email, and the request shows as Sent with a Confirm received button. Check your app, confirm, and the event books: booking email, portal unlock, the works. If nothing arrived, tap It didn't arrive and the request goes back to due.

Your dashboard counts deposits waiting on your confirmation, so a claim never sits unnoticed. Replacing an offer voids the old link; an unclicked link expires after two weeks, and an accepted one stays live so the couple can come back and finish paying.

Instant quotes plug straight in: every quote lands with a ready booking offer, and the quote confirmation shows the same Reserve your date button.

Your default schedule (set it once)

Most bookings run on the same terms, so spinbook applies yours automatically. In Settings → Payment schedule you set two numbers:

• Deposit: a percent of the total, due to book. Default 50%.
• Balance: how many days before the event the rest is due. Default 15.

When you mark an event Booked, the deposit and balance requests are created for you. Nothing to type, and the dates are already right.

A few deliberate details:

• It waits for a total. No quoted total when you book? Nothing is created; the couple never sees a $0 deposit. The schedule appears the moment you enter the total.
• It runs once per event. If you delete or rewrite what was created, it stays that way; later edits to the total won't put it back.
• It never touches an event you're already managing. If the event has any payment requests already, spinbook leaves them alone.
• The balance is never due in the past. Book an event inside your lead time (or after the date) and the balance is simply due right away.
• The maths always adds up. Any rounding goes on the balance, so the two requests total the quote exactly. Selected add-ons are included.
• 100% deposit creates a single request rather than a request plus a $0 balance.

Changing your terms affects future bookings; events that already have payments are left as they are.

Payments central: the whole business at a glance

Payments in the top navigation (staff only) is the one place to track money across every event, so you don't have to open weddings one by one to know where you stand:

• Three numbers up top: total outstanding (with how many events it's spread across), overdue requests (count and amount), and total collected.
• Outstanding balances: each event still owing, with paid-of-total and what's left. Click through to that event's payments page.
• Payment requests due: every pending request across all events, soonest due first, overdue flagged in red, each with a one-click Mark paid.
• Record a payment: add a request to any event without leaving the page. Pick the event (ones with an outstanding balance are listed first, with what's left), give it a label, amount, and optional due date. Tick "Already paid" to log money you've already received. It lands directly in the collected history.
• Recently collected: the latest payments in, with method and date.

Lost or cancelled events stop counting toward what's owed, but anything they already paid stays in your collected history.

When you mark a payment paid (or record one), you can note the method and an optional confirmation number (the Venmo transaction id, a check number). Both show in your collected history and in the API export. Clicking through to an event from this page keeps a ← Back to Payments link, so review → act → back never strands you on the event.

For your books: GET /api/v1/payments returns every payment (filter status=pending for all outstanding), and /api/v1/payments/summary gives per-month collected and scheduled/overdue totals. See Using the API.

Request a payment by hand

You can still add one-off requests at any time. On the event's payments page, add a request with a label (e.g. "Deposit" or "Balance"), an amount, and an optional due date. The couple sees it in their portal with pay links for your handles.

Keep the words "deposit" and "balance" in your labels where you can. The matching checklist items and the contract's deposit_amount / balance_due merge fields find them by name.

Marking paid

When the couple pays, they (or you) mark the request paid. The button opens a short prompt: how it was paid, the confirmation number, and (for staff) a receipt image, so the record is traceable later. Everything in the prompt is optional; completing it with nothing recorded shows a gentle warning first, then lets you mark it paid anyway. Staff can revert a payment to unpaid or delete a request.

Editing a payment

Plans change: a due date moves, an amount splits, a confirmation number was typo'd. On the event's payments page, Edit opens the payment in its own screen where staff can change the label, amount, due date, method, and confirmation number.

Paid payments are editable too, so fixing a reference number never means unmarking a payment. The edit screen flags when you're editing a paid record, and every edit fires the payment.updated webhook with the previous values, so a connected automation (a Stripe link, a Monday board) can follow along.

Attach a receipt

The edit screen also takes a receipt image: screenshot the PayPal, Zelle, or Venmo receipt and attach it to the record. Receipts are private to your team and open from the payment row. One per payment; uploading a new one replaces the old.

Add-ons roll into the total

If a couple selects any priced add-ons, those are added on top of the quoted total (shown as an "add-ons +$X" line), so the remaining balance always reflects what's actually owed. No processor is involved; they pay the higher total with the same handles.

Ties into the checklist

Deposit and balance checklist items complete automatically when a matching payment is marked paid. See Checklists & forms.

Checklist

• Add your payment handles in Settings
• Set your default deposit % and balance lead time in Settings → Payment schedule
• After the sales call, create a booking offer and send the couple their link
• Confirm claimed deposits as they land in your account; the event books itself
• Or book by hand: enter the total, mark the event Booked, and the schedule appears
• Mark payments paid as they come in