A payment plan lets your clients spread the cost of a booking over multiple installments instead of paying everything up front. For many event professionals, offering payment plans is the difference between closing a deal and losing it — especially on higher-dollar packages.
Why Offer Payment Plans?
Clients booking event services are often planning months in advance. A $2,000 booking feels like a big commitment when it's due today, but $500 now and three monthly payments feels manageable. Payment plans remove that friction.
Types of Payment Plans
Check Cherry offers three ways to let clients pay over time:
- Automatic payment plans — Default plans presented to every client when they book online or accept a proposal. Check Cherry calculates the schedule and amounts automatically.
- Custom payment plans — A specific payment schedule you create for a specific client. Use these when a client has a unique situation — maybe they want to pay more up front, or need payments timed around their own billing cycle.
- Klarna — A third-party buy-now-pay-later option. Available for Check Cherry Payments users. Klarna handles the installments and pays you up front.
Setting Up Automatic Payment Plans
Automatic plans are the easiest to set up — configure them once and every client sees them as options at checkout.
Available Plan Types
- Deposit + Final Payment — Client pays a deposit now, then the remaining balance by a due date you set. Simple and clear.
- Deposit + Monthly Payments — After the deposit, the remaining balance splits into equal monthly installments. A booking 6 months out gets 6 payments. This is the most popular option.
- Deposit + Split Balance Equally — Splits the remaining balance into a fixed number of payments (e.g., "Pay in 4"). You can add this multiple times to offer both "Pay in 4" and "Pay in 10".
Creating a Custom Payment Plan
Custom plans are for when a client needs something specific. Maybe they want to pay 50% now and 50% the week before, or they need monthly payments on specific dates. You typically set these up on a proposal before sending it.
Auto Pay: Stop Chasing Late Payments
Auto Pay automatically charges a saved payment method (credit card or ACH) on each due date. No reminders, no follow-ups, no awkward conversations. The payment just happens.
When setting up a payment plan, you choose one of three Auto Pay modes:
- Auto Pay is required — Clients must enroll. Best for high-value bookings where you don't want to risk missed payments.
- Customer can choose — Clients opt in or out at booking time. A good default for most businesses.
- Do not offer Auto Pay — Clients manage their own payments. Use this if your clients prefer to pay manually.
What Happens If Auto Pay Fails?
If Check Cherry can't charge the card on file (expired card, insufficient funds, etc.), the client gets an email notification and is removed from Auto Pay. They can make missed payments through their client portal or a "Make a Payment" link.
Managing an Existing Payment Plan
To view or adjust a client's payment plan on a confirmed booking, click Manage Booking → Adjust Payment Schedule. You'll see what's been paid, what's outstanding, and you can edit dates and amounts.