Appointments

The appointment system in CloudBridal helps you manage your bridal shop's schedule while providing a professional booking experience for your customers. This guide covers how to effectively use the system in your daily operations.

Initial Setup

To configure your appointment system, refer to the Appointments Setup documentation.

Calendar Overview

The appointment calendar serves as your central hub for managing customer appointments. You can view your schedule in day, week, or month format, with each view optimized for different planning needs.

Understanding Appointment Statuses

Each appointment status serves a specific purpose and may trigger different system behaviors:

Pending

Description: Awaiting staff confirmation
When It Occurs: Customer requests appointment through booking system. Can be skipped altogether if the Auto-accept incoming appointment requests setting is enabled for the related appointment schedule.
System Actions:

• Appears in Pending Appointments table
• Staff receives notification via email and notification center
• Customer notified of request receipt

Confirmed

Description: Approved and scheduled
When It Occurs: Staff confirms a pending appointment or creates new appointment
System Actions:

• Sends confirmation email to customer
• Creates customer's profile in the system
• Processes payment if applicable (e.g. paid appointment)
• Can be charged as no-show if applicable

Declined

Description: Rejected by staff
When It Occurs: Staff declines a pending appointment request
System Actions:

• Sends declination email (optional)
• Releases time slot for rebooking
• Can include reason for declination

Cancelled

Description: Cancelled by customer or staff
When It Occurs: Customer cancels or staff cancels confirmed appointment
System Actions:

• Sends cancellation notification
• Releases time slot

Incomplete

Description: Appointment didn't complete as planned
When It Occurs: Staff marks completed appointment as incomplete (no-shows, etc.)
System Actions:

• Can be charged as no-show if applicable
• Easily distinguishable in calendar

Creating appointments in CloudBridal is designed to be intuitive while ensuring all necessary information is captured. The system guides you through the process while enforcing your shop's scheduling rules and policies.

Quick Creation Methods

1. Calendar Click: Click any time slot in Day or Week view to instantly create an appointment for that time
2. New Appointment Button: Use the "New Appointment" dropdown for more control over appointment type
3. Customer Profile: Create appointments directly from a customer's profile page

Smart Time Slot Selection

CloudBridal automatically calculates the possible slots within an appointment schedule and clearly indicates whether a slot is available for booking.

Slot Status Indicators

🟢 Available: Time slot is open and recommended
🔴 Unavailable: Time slot is fully booked or blocked
🔒 Staff Only: Slot restricted to staff bookings only

Override Options

• Override Time Slot: Manually set times outside recommended slots
• View Slots: Switch between manual time entry and slot picker
• System warns about potential conflicts while maintaining flexibility

Staff Assignment

For schedules based on staff scheduling, the staff field pre-fills with the person CloudBridal would assign automatically, marked Automatic — leave it as-is to keep automatic assignment, or pick someone specific. The dropdown shows each person's status for the selected time (Available, Booked at this time, Not working at this time, or At daily limit), and choosing someone with a conflict shows a warning.

When you save, CloudBridal re-checks the slot and staff member. If either was taken while you were editing, you'll be asked to confirm before overbooking — no accidental double-bookings.

Payment Integration

If enabled, the payment system integrates directly with appointment creation and management. All payment processing is handled securely through Stripe. For more information, see Stripe Integration.

Waitlist Management System

How Waitlists Work

When a desired time slot is fully booked, customers can:

1. Join Waitlist: Request to be notified if slot becomes available
2. Flexible Waitlist: Indicate willingness to accept nearby time slots
3. Specific Time: Request exact time slot only

If the slot becomes available, the appointment will surface in the Pending Appointments section, where a staff member can confirm the appointment after ensuring the customer is still interested.

Customer Self-Service

Customers can join a waitlist when a slot is full and remove themselves later from their request page, without calling the store. Each customer can hold one active waitlist request at a time.

Schedule Blocking and Time Management

Managing a Day's Schedules

Click Manage Day in the calendar's Notes row to adjust a specific date without touching your regular weekly schedules. Rooms are grouped by how they're staffed — fixed-hours rooms, staff-scheduled rooms, and rooms you've opened just for this day — and each room can be opened or closed for the date, with a reset button to return it to its default.

For staff-scheduled rooms you can also:

• Set a booking window for the date — bookable times stay driven by staff working hours, but only inside the window
• See exactly which staff members are working that room that day, with a shortcut to adjust their shifts
• Enable Allow bookings without staff coverage to let the day be booked even when nobody is scheduled — useful for trunk shows and special events; those appointments save without an assigned staff member

CloudBridal warns you when a booking window extends beyond staff hours, so a date is never silently unbookable.

Types of Schedule Blocks

Closing the Store

You can mark the store as closed for a given date. This prevents all bookings for that day and is great for holidays. Simply click the 'Manage Day' area in the 'Notes' row and check the Mark Store Closed checkbox.

One-Time Blocks

You can block a given schedule using a One-Time block. This allows you to prevent bookings for a given time range for a specific date.

Recurring Blocks

You can block a schedule on a Recurring basis. This will repeat based on your configured schedule unless removed. You can still control and override individual dates by modifying a recurring block just for a given date.

Updated on: 17/07/2026