Last Saturday I spent 90 minutes mediating a ‘fairy garden vs. noir ballroom’ debate, then built a Canva mood board at 1 a.m., and I’m wondering how you all bill that heart work. Do you fold it into design fees or add a separate line for care hours?
I fold the first 2 hours of mediation into my design fee, then track anything extra as “care hours” at my standard hourly and invoice it monthly with a one-line recap of what got decided. To make it visible, I book them as “alignment sessions” on the calendar so couples see the bucket filling; late-night requests are pre-agreed at 1.25x. Would a small built-in credit toward those hours help your clients accept it up front?
I take a small retainer labeled ‘decision facilitation’ at booking and track time against it; once it’s used, I switch to hourly at my planning rate — keeps the 1 a.m. Canva spirals from becoming a free hobby. If they want lots of handholding, I offer a ‘white-glove’ tier with a higher design fee that absorbs it. Do your couples respond better to a retainer bucket or a clean per-hour line on invoices?
Building on @lramirez, I sell a pre-set block of “alignment time” (e.g., 4 hours that includes a weekly office hour for calls/texts) and anything past the cap bills at my consult rate with a 30-minute minimum so the 1 a.m. Canva sprints aren’t free — do your clients do better with a hard cap or rollover on unused time?