Bella Wedding AI

Can I change plans later?

Yes! You can upgrade or downgrade your plan at any time from your vendor dashboard.

What payment methods do you accept?

We accept all major credit and debit cards through Stripe.

Is there a setup fee?

No! There are no setup fees, cancellation fees, or hidden charges — just your plan, billed monthly or yearly.

How does the commission work?

Commission varies by plan: Free (10%), Premium (5%), Featured (2%), Elite (0%). Commission only applies when you book a job through our platform.

When do I get paid?

You set the deposit percentage (30-50%) per booking when you accept. The couple pays that deposit immediately, and the balance is auto-charged to their saved card 30 days before the event.

Your deposit payout releases to your bank in ~48 hours so you can buy supplies; the balance payout releases at midnight of the event day. For short-notice bookings (less than 30 days to event), 100% is due upfront.

Can I try before I buy?

Absolutely! Our Free plan lets you list your business and connect with couples. Upgrade anytime when you're ready for more visibility and features.

What happens if I issue a refund to a couple?

If you need to refund a couple, the refund comes from your portion of the payment only. Platform commission is non-refundable once you accept a booking — it's earned when the connection is made.

Stripe automatically separates commission at payment time, so your refund is processed from your Stripe balance. Factor this into your cancellation policy.

Is commission ever clawed back from my account?

No. Commission is collected by Stripe at payment time and goes directly to the platform. It's never taken back from your account later, regardless of cancellations or refunds. Once you accept a booking, the commission is earned and stays earned.

Do I have to connect Stripe to get listed?

No. Your free directory listing is live the moment you register — no Stripe connection needed.

Stripe Connect is only required when you accept your first booking through the marketplace, so we can route the couple's payment to your bank. Until it's connected you can't accept — the Accept button stays disabled and your dashboard shows a "Connect Stripe" banner to finish Stripe Express onboarding. The couple's request stays pending while you do that, so nothing is lost; you come back and accept it once you're set up. By that point there's real money on the table, so the friction is worth it.

What if a couple cancels after I've accepted? Do I keep the deposit?

Yes — the retainer is non-refundable to the bride once you've accepted the booking. That's the whole point of charging it upfront. The balance (if not yet charged) is simply not collected.

If the balance was already charged (within 30 days of the event) and the couple still cancels, you keep that too unless you choose to issue a goodwill refund.

What if a bride disputes the charge with her credit card company?

Chargebacks are handled through Stripe's standard dispute process. Marketplace payments are still being finalised, so we can't yet promise a specific notification or evidence-submission workflow inside Bella — we'll document exactly how disputes are handled before the marketplace opens. Keep your signed contract and client communication either way; those are what a dispute turns on.

We recommend always uploading the signed contract to your booking record so it's available if needed.

Do you send a 1099 for my taxes?

Bella Wedding AI vendors operate as independent businesses and are responsible for maintaining their own financial records and meeting their tax obligations.

Payments processed through Bella Wedding AI use Stripe Connect. Tax reporting requirements depend on your account setup and applicable tax regulations. We will provide clear guidance before any tax reporting would be required.

Jobs and income you manually add to your account are for your own records and are not reported by Bella Wedding AI.

Can I add my existing clients — and can I get my list back out?

Yes to both. Under Analytics → Jobs & Income you can add past and off-platform jobs yourself (client name, date, service, revenue, expenses) and they arrive marked External, so no commission is calculated against them — leave that checkbox ticked unless the job really was booked through Bella. They're private to you and nobody is charged. There's no bulk spreadsheet importer today, so these are added one at a time.

One thing to know before you type in a year of history: jobs you add by hand are saved in the browser you add them in. They won't appear on your phone or another computer, and clearing your site data clears them. Income from work booked through Bella is different — that comes from your invoices, so it follows your account everywhere. If you're logging past clients for taxes, add them in one browser and export a CSV to keep your own copy. Moving the manual log onto your account so it syncs like everything else is on our list.

The same screen has an Export CSV button that downloads the jobs shown for the selected year — one row per job, so a repeat client appears once for each booking, with date, service, revenue, expenses, commission, net profit and status. Your business profile, photos and reviews can also be exported as a file from vendor dashboard settings.

What does the "Verified" badge mean? How do I get it?

The Verified badge is applied manually by our team after we review a business. There is no application form and no automatic path — it isn't granted by paying for a plan, and no tier turns it on by itself.

The badge appears on your profile and in search results. Note that a listing without it simply hasn't been reviewed yet — Bella is a claim-based directory, so couples should always confirm licensing and insurance themselves before hiring.

How are bride leads delivered to me?

When a couple messages you, it lands instantly in your vendor dashboard with an unread badge, and we email you too — unless you already have an unread message waiting in that same thread, in which case we skip the duplicate email rather than pile on. When a couple requests a quote, it appears in your Leads pipeline with their name, email, wedding date and message.

From there the couple can share their wedding questionnaire with you — that's what brings over the venue, guest count, and the rest of their details, so you're not starting from a blank page. Your dashboard also has a Sales Pipeline view showing every active lead and where it stands.

What's the difference between bookings through Bella vs DMing brides directly?

Both work. Messaging is commission-free — you can absolutely close a deal over messages and process payment outside Bella. (Messaging is unlimited on every paid plan; the Free plan includes 15 messages a month, and goes unlimited with any client you've booked.)

The marketplace booking flow only kicks in when you click "Accept" on a quote and the couple pays through Stripe — at THAT point the commission applies and the payout protections + auto-balance-charge engage. Off-platform deals = $0 commission but $0 protection too.

Can I add staff or assistants to my account?

Yes. Premium = 1 staff login, Featured = 2, Elite = 5. Staff accounts get their own login + access to the per-wedding workspace (shot list, music playlist, day-of timeline) but can't change billing or business profile. Useful for assistants, second shooters, day-of coordinators.

Is there a founder offer for vendors?

Yes — the first 100 vendors get Elite tier for 12 months at $479 one-time (regular Elite is $79.99/mo, or $799.99 billed yearly). Re-up each year at the same $479 founder rate — for life. Lifetime "Founder #X" badge on your profile. See /founders if it's still open.