Mini-Session Booking: One Date, Many Slots
How mini-session events work: split one shoot day into bookable slots on a single page, with deposits and double-booking protection built in.
A mini-session day has a shape normal booking tools handle badly: one date, one location, and fifteen or twenty short slots that all need to fill, ideally without you posting a phone number on Facebook and managing the replies by hand. Tools like Session charge around £16 a month for exactly this. Here it is part of the booking system you already have.
How do I set up a mini-session day?
Create the event with a date, a start and end time, a slot length and a gap between slots, and the page generates every slot for you. Set a price and an optional deposit. Share one link, and the grid shows clients what is still free in real time.
What stops two families booking the same slot?
The claim is atomic at the database level.
When two people tap the same 2:40pm slot within the same second, one booking wins and the other gets an in-page message with the nearest open times, and if a deposit payment fails or expires the slot releases itself. An abandoned checkout never blocks a paying client.
Booked slots land on your Google Calendar, each becomes a real booking with reminders, and every family joins your CRM. Next year's Christmas minis email is one filter away.
Frequently asked questions
Can clients pay a deposit when they book a slot?
Yes. Slots reuse the normal booking flow, so a deposit through Stripe locks the slot and the balance is settled later like any other session.
What happens if I need to cancel one slot?
Cancel it like any booking. The client gets an email and the slot reopens.
Do mini-session bookings show in my CRM?
Every slot booking creates a contact and a booking record, so follow-up emails, galleries and invoices all attach to the same person.
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