Retainer vs deposit, and payment plans couples can keep up with

Retainer vs deposit: the general difference

In everyday use the two words describe different promises. A retainer is generally described as payment for holding the date and setting your time aside for that couple. A deposit is generally described as a prepayment toward the total, and depending on the wording and where you work, it may be refundable. Photographers ask the same question, and the retainer vs deposit photography answer is the same one.

That is common usage, not legal advice. Rules vary by state and by how your contract is worded, and the label alone may not settle it. Have a lawyer in your state review the clause, and ask your accountant how to record the first payment.

The non-refundable retainer is a contract question

If you want the first payment to be a non-refundable retainer, that is a decision for your contract and the law where you work, not for your software. Hailo never marks a payment refundable or not, and it never sends money back on its own. Any refund is yours to make.

What Hailo does let you match is the word itself. The first row of a payment schedule is labeled Deposit, but the label is whatever you type, so it can say Retainer, Booking fee or anything your contract uses. Your default first payment lives in Settings > Defaults as a percentage, and a proposal can take a flat dollar amount instead.

Building a wedding payment plan

A payment plan in Hailo is a first payment plus one or more later payments, set on the booking before the couple signs. Each row has a label, an amount as a percentage of the total or a fixed dollar figure, and a due rule: when the contract is signed, on a calendar date, or a number of days, weeks or months before or after the wedding.

It is the same wedding photographer payment schedule you may have kept in a spreadsheet, except Hailo works out each date from the real wedding date. Under the rows Hailo tells you whether the plan covers the full total and offers to add a final payment or split what is left into several. When the invoices are raised, the payments add up to the contract total to the cent.

Presets for the split you always use

If one payment plan for clients covers most of your bookings, build it once under Templates > Catalog > Payment terms, or tick Save this schedule as a preset while you set up a booking. On the next one, Load a saved preset fills in the rows, and your default preset is marked so you can find it.

A retainer holds your date, and the booking link makes sure it is not held forever: every link expires 30 days after you make it, and the page then tells the couple so.

After the first payment lands

When the couple signs and pays on their booking link, Hailo makes them a client, creates the wedding, and raises an invoice for each later payment with its due date worked out from your rule. Each one appears under Finance > Invoices with "from proposal" under the couple's name.

Those invoices remind the couple when they come due even if automatic reminders are off for the rest of your invoices, because setting up the plan counts as switching them on. A reminder emails the pay link from your mailbox and never charges a card. Automatic payment reminders covers the timing.

For a quick plan on a one-off charge, split the invoice itself into up to three installments. The couple sees each part and its date, though the invoice stays one balance with one due date for reminders.