Private events are different from public bookings. The guest contacts you about a date, you agree on terms, you send an invoice. ArtistryHost has a workflow built specifically for this.
When to use invoices vs the booking flow
Use the booking flow when the guest is buying a published experience at a published price. They click "book," they pay, they're confirmed.
Use an invoice when the price is custom. A corporate buyout, a bachelorette with add-ons, a private class with a specific menu. The guest can't self-serve through the standard flow because the price isn't on the website.
Creating the invoice
Invoices are created from a booking, not from scratch. The Invoices page in the sidebar is a read-only list of your outstanding invoices (money still owed) — there's no "new invoice" form and no manual customer entry there.
There are two ways into the invoice panel:
- Right in the booking flow. When you create a booking in Book A Guest that's a full-store buyout or meets the experience's large-party threshold, the dialog offers the invoice panel immediately after the booking is created — draft, preview, and send without leaving the flow. (Or close it and send later; the booking is already saved.)
- From the run sheet. Open the booking and expand its "Invoice (deposit / balance)" panel. This works for any booking, and it's the only path for ordinary bookings.
It's the same panel either way, and the guest's name and email come straight from the booking — you don't retype them. From there:
- Set the terms:
- Line item. A single quantity-priced line (e.g., "Custom Candle Pour, Private Event" at a per-head price × 12 guests). Add tax and a service charge if they apply.
- Deposit (% of total). The share due now, as a percentage of the invoice's grand total — after add-ons, any deposit the guest already paid at booking, tax, and the service charge. A 50% deposit on a $2,000 invoice requests $1,000 now. Enter 0 for a single full-balance invoice.
- Deposit due date and balance due date.
- A personalized note, if you'd like one on the invoice.
- Preview before send. This matters. ArtistryHost first builds a draft and shows you exactly what the guest will see. Read it. Catch the typo. Then publish to send.
Splitting into a deposit and a balance
Split invoicing is live: you can collect a deposit now and the balance before the event. Set a deposit percentage and two due dates, and Square builds a two-part invoice — a deposit request due first, then the balance request on its own due date. The percentage is applied to the invoice's grand total (everything the guest actually owes, including tax and service charge, less any deposit already paid at booking), so 50% of a $2,000 invoice means a $1,000 deposit request. Enter 0 and the guest receives a single full-balance invoice instead.
What the guest receives
When you publish, Square emails the guest the invoice — it's sent by Square, not from your venue's own email address. The email includes:
- A summary of the booking
- The amount due and the due date (deposit first, then balance, if you split it)
- A link to a secure, Square-hosted payment page
The guest opens the link, lands on the Square-hosted payment page, pays, and gets a confirmation receipt.
How paid status updates
When the guest pays:
- Square sends a webhook to ArtistryHost.
- The invoice marks Paid.
- You get an email notification.
- The event is now confirmed on your calendar.
The Invoices list keeps every outstanding invoice in one place, soonest-due first, with overdue ones flagged. There's no in-app resend: each row links View in Square ↗, and you resend or nudge the guest from the Square Dashboard.
Day-of add-ons
Anything added at the event itself — extra pours, take-home accessories, a longer bar package — rings through your Square POS at the venue like any other in-person sale. Total revenue, tax, and tip lines all roll up in your Square reports.
Editing or canceling an invoice
- Before payment: edit freely from the invoice detail page.
- After payment: edits to the price, date, or guest count require a confirmation step. We show the impact on Square (refund + recharge if needed) before applying.
- Canceling: if the guest cancels before the due date, just void the invoice. If after payment, your cancellation policy determines what's refundable.