Get paid in stages. Keep cash moving all year.
Split any invoice into instalments - deposit, mid-payment, final balance. Set the dates, send the plan, and let clients pay each stage online. Cash comes in throughout the year, not just in peak season.
Before & After Using Payment Plans in GoodEvent Business
Before
- ❌ Chasing one large final payment weeks before the event when clients are already stretched
- ❌ Cash sitting flat during winter while summer bookings are already confirmed
- ❌ Manually creating separate invoices for deposits and balances and tracking each one
- ❌ Clients going quiet or pulling out because the total felt too big to commit to
- ❌ No consistent payment schedule across bookings - every client handled differently
After
- ✅ Payment plan set up once per booking - deposit, mid-payment, final balance all scheduled
- ✅ Cash flowing in through winter from summer bookings already in the diary
- ✅ Each instalment generates its own invoice automatically on the due date
- ✅ Clients commit more easily because the total is broken into manageable stages
- ✅ Consistent payment structure across every booking - office team handles it the same way every time
What are Payment Plans in GoodEvent Business?
Payment plans in GoodEvent Business let you split any hire invoice into scheduled instalments - a deposit, one or more mid-payments, and a final balance. Each instalment has its own due date. GoodEvent Business tracks each stage, sends payment reminders automatically, and lets clients pay online at each stage. Event hire businesses use payment plans to improve cash flow through quieter months, reduce the size of the final payment clients have to find, and win bookings that might otherwise stall over price.
Payment plans are part of GoodEvent Business, the invoicing, quoting, and operations tool built for event hire companies.
Why the Final Balance Model Hurts Your Business
Most event hire businesses take a deposit to secure the booking and then invoice the full remaining balance close to the event date. It is the industry default - but it creates three problems that payment plans fix directly.
The cash flow problem. If your busy season runs April to September, the majority of your revenue arrives in those six months. The other six months - when you are maintaining stock, storing equipment, renewing insurance, and keeping staff on - come with far less cash coming in. Bookings confirmed in October for the following June sit in the diary for eight months before you see the bulk of the money. Payment plans move cash forward, turning future bookings into present income.
The commitment problem. A couple booking a wedding marquee in November for the following August is looking at a four-figure balance due in July. That final balloon payment can feel large enough to create hesitation - not because they cannot afford it, but because it sits in the future as a looming cost. Breaking it into three or four payments over the booking period reduces that psychological barrier. Clients who might have gone quiet commit more readily when the stages feel manageable.
The admin problem. Without a formal payment plan system, managing split payments is manual. Separate invoices created by hand. Due dates tracked in spreadsheets. Chasing done from memory. One person on the team knows the status of each payment. When they are away, nothing happens. GoodEvent Business removes all of that.
Rhys & Tedd, Alpha Hire:
"Today I had 3 site visits. During each site visit, I used my phone to make changes to the customer's quote. In minutes the quote was perfect for their event and all 3 customers paid the deposit there and then! Before Good Event it could take us days or weeks to get clients to pay after their site visit."
How Payment Plans Work in GoodEvent Business
Here is the full workflow for setting up and managing a payment plan on a booking.
Step 1: Convert the accepted quote to an invoice. Once a client confirms their booking, convert the quote to an invoice in GoodEvent Business as normal. This is the same one-click process used for all bookings.
Step 2: Set up the payment plan. Within the invoice, select the payment plan option. Define the stages - how many instalments, the amount or percentage due at each stage, and the due date for each one. A typical wedding booking might be 25% deposit on booking, 25% six months before the event, and the 50% balance four weeks before. A long-term hire job might be invoiced monthly throughout the hire period.
Step 3: Send the payment plan to the client. The client receives their invoice with the full payment schedule clearly laid out - each stage, the amount due, and the date it falls. They can see the full picture from day one. No surprises.
Step 4: Clients pay each instalment online. When a payment stage falls due, the client receives an automatic reminder. They click the pay now link and settle that instalment by card, Apple Pay, or Google Pay. You receive notification of the payment. The invoice updates automatically.
Step 5: Track all stages in one place. Your GoodEvent Business dashboard shows the payment status of every booking - which instalments have been paid, which are due, and which are overdue. No spreadsheet. No separate calendar. Everything visible in one place.
Step 6: Automatic reminders handle the chasing. When a payment stage is approaching or overdue, GoodEvent Business sends the client an automatic reminder. You do not have to chase manually. The system handles it.
Most payment plans take under two minutes to set up per booking.
Paul, Monaco Events:
"Now 8 times out of 10 I build quotes with clients whilst on a site visit. Which my clients absolutely love because they are not waiting around for me to email them a price, they receive it instantly."
Payment Plan Options in GoodEvent Business
Fixed instalments: Set a specific number of payments - deposit plus balance, or deposit, mid-payment, and balance. Works for most event bookings where the total is known upfront.
Percentage splits: Define each instalment as a percentage of the total invoice. 25% deposit, 25% mid-payment, 50% balance is a common structure for wedding and corporate bookings.
Custom amounts: Set each instalment as a fixed amount rather than a percentage. Useful when a client wants to pay a specific deposit figure regardless of the total.
Weekly or monthly schedules: For long-term hire - equipment left on site for an extended period, ongoing corporate contracts, or multi-week festival setups - invoice weekly or monthly throughout the hire period. GoodEvent Business tracks each recurring payment as part of the same booking record.
Custom dates: Set any due dates that suit your business terms and your client. Align payments with the client's own cashflow - end of month, start of quarter, or specific milestones in the event planning process.
Automatic reminders: Each instalment due date triggers an automatic reminder to the client. You set the schedule once. The reminders go out without manual action.
Online payment on every instalment: Every stage of the payment plan includes an online pay now link. Clients pay by card, Apple Pay, or Google Pay. No bank transfer chasing. No cheques. The payment is recorded instantly. See online payments for full details on payment processing.
How Marquee and Tent Hire Companies Use Payment Plans
For marquee hire and tent rental businesses, payment plans are most commonly used on wedding bookings - the highest-value jobs in the diary, booked furthest in advance.
A typical summer wedding is booked in autumn or winter of the previous year. The total hire value might be anywhere from a few hundred to several thousand pounds. Under a deposit-and-balance model, the hire company receives the deposit in November and then waits until June or July for the rest - eight months of confirmed revenue sitting uncollected.
With a three-stage payment plan in GoodEvent Business, that same booking generates cash at three points: deposit in November, a mid-payment in March, and the balance in June. The winter gap narrows. The summer rush delivers less of a peak spike because revenue has already been arriving through the quieter months.
For equipment rental and furniture rental companies with corporate clients on longer contracts, the monthly invoicing option removes the need to manually create and send recurring invoices. Set the schedule once per booking and GoodEvent Business handles each instalment automatically.
Megan, Raj Tent Club NZ:
"Our switch to Good Event just over a year ago has been a game-changer. Quicker and more accurate quotes and bookings. Our clients love that it's so easy to view quotes and pay invoices."
How Wedding and Corporate Event Planners Use Payment Plans
Wedding planners and corporate event managers often work with clients who are managing large event budgets across multiple suppliers simultaneously. A clear, structured payment plan from each supplier helps their clients budget properly - and makes the planner look organised and professional.
For corporate event planning, payment plans align with procurement and accounts payable processes. Corporate clients frequently need invoices raised in specific financial periods. A payment plan that generates invoices at the right times - end of quarter, new financial year, specific project milestones - fits within corporate purchasing workflows that a single large invoice does not.
For party hire businesses handling private clients, the ability to offer split payments can be the difference between a client booking with you or going to a competitor who accepts instalments. Offering a payment plan is a sales tool as much as an admin one.
Common Payment Plan Mistakes Event Businesses Make
No payment plan at all. Many hire businesses still work on deposit-and-balance only. For bookings confirmed six to twelve months in advance, that means a long wait for the bulk of the revenue. Payment plans are not complex to set up and the cash flow benefit is immediate.
Making the final balance too large. A 10% deposit and 90% balance shifts almost all the payment risk to the client at the last moment. A more even split - 25%, 25%, 50% or even thirds - reduces the size of that final payment and makes late cancellations less likely because the client has more skin in the game throughout.
Not including payment plans in the booking conversation. Clients often do not ask for split payments because they do not know it is an option. Mentioning the payment plan structure when a booking is confirmed - rather than waiting for a client to request it - can accelerate commitment and reduce the risk of a booking stalling over price.
Tracking payments outside the system. Managing payment stage due dates in a spreadsheet or calendar alongside GoodEvent Business creates two sources of truth that will eventually conflict. All payment tracking belongs inside GoodEvent Business where it sits against the booking record and is visible to the whole team.
Not setting reminders. Manual chasing is time-consuming and easy to miss during peak season. The automatic reminder feature in GoodEvent Business handles instalment chasing without any manual action. Set it up when the payment plan is created and it runs itself.
Identical payment terms for every booking type. A four-hour private party and a two-week festival build have different financial profiles. Payment plan structures should reflect the size and duration of the job. Larger, longer bookings benefit from more stages. Shorter, lower-value jobs may need no more than a deposit and a balance.
Choosing an Invoicing Tool for Event Hire
Event-Specific vs Generic Invoicing Tools
Generic invoicing tools like Xero, QuickBooks, or FreeAgent handle payment plans to varying degrees - but they were not built for event hire businesses. They do not understand the relationship between a booking, a quote, a load list, and an invoice. Payment plans in those tools are separate from everything else happening on a job. You end up managing the financial side in one place and the operational side in another.
Rentman and Current RMS were built for AV and production companies. Goodshuffle started with furniture rental in the US. None were designed around the cash flow patterns of a UK marquee hire company quoting weddings twelve months in advance.
GoodEvent Business is built for event hire from the ground up. Payment plans sit inside the same booking record as the quote, the stock availability check, the load list, and the delivery notes. When a client pays an instalment, the booking record updates. When a payment is overdue, the sales pipeline reflects it. Everything is connected.
What to look for in an event hire invoicing tool:
- Payment plans built into the booking record, not managed separately
- Automatic reminders on each instalment due date
- Online payment link on every instalment - not just the final invoice
- Visible payment status across all live bookings
- Flexible instalment structures for different booking types
- Works for both short-event bookings and long-term hire
Red flags:
- Payment tracking in a separate system from the booking and operations
- Manual invoice creation required for each instalment
- No automatic reminders - chasing is always manual
- Built for a different industry with no understanding of seasonal cash flow
Payment Plans Access and Compatibility
Access from any device:
GoodEvent Business works on desktop, laptop, tablet, and mobile. Set up a payment plan from your phone on a site visit. Check overdue instalments from the office. Review cash flow from anywhere.
Online payment on every stage:
Every instalment includes a pay now link for card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. Clients pay online at each stage without needing to call or send a bank transfer. See online payments for processing fees and setup.
Xero integration:
Invoices generated through GoodEvent Business - including instalment invoices from payment plans - sync to Xero automatically. Your accounts stay up to date without manual entry at each payment stage. See Xero integration for details.
Works with other GoodEvent Business features:
Payment plans sit alongside quote generation, stock availability tracking, load lists, and the CRM. The full booking - from first enquiry to final payment - lives in one place. Use GoodEvent Docs to collect signed terms of business before the first instalment falls due.
Getting Started with Payment Plans
Start a free trial of GoodEvent Business or book a demo to see payment plans in action.
Once your account is set up, convert any accepted quote to an invoice and select the payment plan option. Set your instalments, amounts, and due dates. Send to the client. The system handles reminders and tracks every stage from there.
Most businesses have their first payment plan created and sent within their first hour of using GoodEvent Business.
Becki, South Coast Marquees:
"Good Event has revolutionised the way we work here at South Coast Marquees. It has saved us time, enabled us to respond quickly to prospective clients with a far more professional looking quotation system and therefore won us more business."
Related Resources
Other GoodEvent Business Features
- Invoicing
- Online payments
- Quote generation
- Sales pipeline
- Xero integration
- CRM and lead management
- Analytics and reporting
Industry Pages
- Marquee hire
- Tent rental
- Wedding planning
- Corporate event planning
- Equipment rental
- Furniture rental
- Party hire