Bridesmaid dresses and group orders: organising the fittings

Run a group order as a series of fitting days, and let each person book their own fitting within them. After a first meeting with the bride or the organiser to settle the design, fabric and deadlines, open fitting slots on a few set days per stage, with a clear last date for each stage. Each bridesmaid picks a slot that suits her, writes her name and the group's name in the note, and you see at a glance who has been fitted and who hasn't.

One dress for one client is a conversation between two diaries. Five dresses for one wedding is a conversation between six or seven: the bride, each bridesmaid, sometimes a mother who pays. They live in different towns, work different hours, and each one needs measurements, a first fitting and a final fitting. Arranged by message, it turns into dozens of exchanges and a fitting nobody can remember agreeing to.

Fitting days with bookable slots put the choice in each person's hands. You decide when you're available; they decide which of those times suits them.

On Book, each service has a name, a price and an optional description shown on your public page. Each slot belongs to one service, with its own start and end. Clients pick a service, then a free slot. With one place per slot, a booked slot is full and disappears from your page.

Lengths are examples: set your own. The dress price is agreed per person in your quote; the fitting services show at no price because they're part of it. Say in each description which group orders it's for and the last date for that stage.

The public booking form asks for first name, last name, email and phone, plus an optional note that you read in your new-booking email. Ask each person to write the group's name, such as the bride's name and wedding date, and any measurement or comfort point. Keep a simple list per group and tick each stage as bookings arrive.

A bridesmaid lives far away or can't make any of the days. Options: a video call for measurements with guidance, measurements taken by someone else following your sheet, or a slot you create just for her and book her into from your calendar. First and last name are required, email and phone optional; with her email, she gets a confirmation and a calendar file.

Group orders slip when one person books late. Put the last date of each stage in the description and in your quote, and remind the organiser, who is often the one chasing the group. If a slot needs to move, clients can't do it online: they contact you, and you reschedule from your bookings list and confirm yourself, since Book doesn't email them about changes. Book doesn't take payments; say in the quote who pays, how, and when. Book costs €5/month, everything included: unlimited services and bookings, no commission, no contract.