The wedding vendor starter

General is not the same as neutral. Every wedding vendor sells one irreplaceable Saturday, turns away every other inquiry for it, and cannot resell it if the couple changes their mind. This starter is built around that fact rather than around an open-ended consulting engagement.

Who it is for

Cake makers, stationers, celebrants and officiants, transport, photo booths, childcare, styling — any wedding trade that does not yet have a starter of its own.

Start here, or with a specialty starter

If your trade has its own starter, install that one instead — it will be closer to how you actually work. There are six, each with its own guide linked at the end of this page:

• Photo & video — coverage hours, shot lists, an edit queue, and image licensing.
• Catering & bar — tastings, dietary capture, and a guaranteed head count.
• Floral, decor & rentals — install and strike windows and hired-goods inventory.
• Entertainment — song lists, announcements, power, sound limits, and curfews.
• Venue — tours, capacity by layout, and outside-supplier insurance.
• Hair & makeup — trials, per-person services, and a schedule built backwards from the ceremony.

You can install more than one and compare them. Each uses its own record keys, so neither claims the other's records.

The workflow it installs

Nine phases:

New inquiry → Date held → Quote sent → Booked → Details gathering → Final details confirmed → Event day → Wrapped up, plus Not proceeding for an inquiry that closes or a date you release.

Date held gives an informal hold somewhere to live, with a checklist that makes you state the hold period in writing and diary its expiry. Not proceeding carries a required checklist item to put the date back into availability the same day.

Fields installed: the service booked as a structured choice rather than free text, what exactly you are delivering, delivery or arrival time, when the date hold expires, whether the venue requires proof of insurance, items to collect after the wedding, and venue access notes.

What it asks your clients

Two forms:

• Wedding inquiry — a public form asking the date and how fixed it is, the venue, guest count, what they are looking for, what time of day they need you, and an honest budget range.
• Booking details — what you are delivering in detail, quantities, preferences, anything to avoid, ceremony time and when you are needed, the run of the day, the full venue address, a venue contact so you deal with the venue directly, access and parking, known venue restrictions, other suppliers, and a day-of contact who is not the couple.

The agreement it installs

A wedding services agreement whose cancellation terms match a single-date business. The deposit is non-refundable because you decline every other inquiry for that date; cancellation inside the stated window makes the balance payable because a wedding date released close to the day cannot realistically be rebooked; postponement transfers subject to availability.

It also covers changes and their cost, venue access and conditions, proof of insurance, that you are responsible only for your own work and not for other suppliers' timekeeping, hired items and replacement value, substitution if you cannot attend, and a liability limit.

The agreement says plainly that it is a starting point and not legal advice. Have qualified counsel adapt it for your trade, your state, and your actual cancellation exposure.

The reminders it drafts

Five recipes, installed as drafts so you review the trigger, the recipient, and the cost before anything sends:

• A new inquiry gets a same-day reply, an availability task, and a notification to you.
• A signed agreement moves the booking to Booked, tells the couple what happens next, and creates an urgent task to take the date out of availability.
• Eight weeks out, the details questionnaire goes out and the booking moves to Details gathering.
• Three weeks out, a task to confirm access and timings with the venue directly.
• A week out, a confirmation email, a move to Final details confirmed, and a notification to check the balance and the day-of contact.

Date-relative recipes read the project's Event date field. The inquiry form's wedding date question sets it automatically as soon as a lead comes in, so these are ready out of the box. A project started another way still needs the date set on the record by hand, or those recipes never fire.

What it does not do

• It does not know your trade. The questions are deliberately general. If your trade has a specialty starter above, that one will fit better out of the box.
• Date holds are not enforced. The hold expiry is a field and a checklist item, not a lock — nothing stops the date being booked by someone else in the meantime.
• It does not price anything. The service page ships three example tiers. Replace them.

Make it yours

Everything installed is a normal editable record owned by your workspace. Rename the phases, rewrite the details questionnaire, change the agreement, and edit any automation before you activate it. Reset restores untouched defaults; Uninstall removes only untouched, unused ones — anything you edited or already used stays yours.