--- title: Events and bookings description: Publish booking pages where clients can choose sessions, add options, sign, pay, and confirm. section: Core workflows order: 3 --- # Events and bookings Events give clients a public page where they can choose an available time and complete the steps needed to book. Use them for mini-session days, seasonal offers, consultations, or any service you want clients to schedule themselves. Go to **Events** to create and manage them. ## Choose an event type The event type determines what a completed checkout creates. - **Service Booking** lets a client choose from packages connected to your services. Each selected package becomes its own project, with the chosen time, contact, amount, and booking details attached. - **Mini Session** sells one or more fixed-length time slots at the event price. It creates booking records instead of projects and can offer a waitlist when a time is unavailable. Choose the type that matches how you plan to manage the work afterward. You cannot treat the two types as interchangeable once bookings are underway. ## Create an event Select **New Event**, give the event a name, and complete the settings that apply. ### Details and type Add the client-facing name, description, location, and timezone. Then choose **Service Booking** or **Mini Session**. For a service-booking event, select the packages clients may book. You can allow one package per checkout or let a client book several packages at once. Package contract, questionnaire, and add-on choices provide starting defaults that you can change for this event. For a mini session, set the session price, slot length, and capacity. You can also enable a waitlist. ### Availability and scheduling Choose one of these availability patterns: - **Select Dates** for specific event dates and time ranges. - **Ongoing** for repeating weekly availability with a rolling booking window. Use the scheduling settings to add time between appointments and require minimum notice before a client can book. Times are based on the event timezone. The public page also shows clients their local time when it differs, which helps prevent timezone mistakes. ### Booking steps Decide whether clients must sign a contract before confirmation. You can also choose a questionnaire to send after the booking is confirmed and make selected add-ons available during checkout. A questionnaire is not part of checkout: the client receives it as a separate follow-up after confirmation. ### Payment Choose whether checkout requires: - No payment. - Payment in full. - A deposit, with the remaining balance due later. You can apply your account tax rate and choose when a deposit balance becomes due. Service-booking totals come from the selected packages, add-ons, and eligible discounts. Mini-session totals start with the event price. Connect Stripe in **Settings -> Payments** before requiring online payment. ### Reminders and follow-ups Add reminder rules for messages sent before the client's earliest upcoming session. Add follow-up rules for messages sent after their final selected session. Each group can include an optional plain-text message, and you can add more than one timing rule. If a client books after a reminder window has already passed, that reminder is skipped. Cancelling or moving a booking can also change which scheduled messages still apply. ## Publish and share Draft changes save as you work. The readiness message identifies settings that must be completed before publishing. Select **Publish** to make the booking page available. After the first publish, later edits remain a draft until you select **Publish Changes**; clients continue to see the last published version in the meantime. Use **Booking Link** to: - Open the public page. - Copy its link. - Copy an embed snippet for your website. - Choose whether event details appear above the embedded booking flow. Unpublishing closes the public booking and client rescheduling pages but keeps the event, bookings, and published settings. Archiving removes the event from normal use until you restore it. ## What clients complete A public checkout can ask a client to: 1. Choose a package or mini-session time. 2. Choose additional times when the event allows multiple selections. 3. Enter their contact information. 4. Select add-ons or enter a promo code. 5. Pay the required amount. 6. Sign a contract, when required. 7. Confirm the booking. An available time is held only temporarily during checkout. If the hold expires, the client needs to choose an available time again. ## Manage bookings Open an event and use **Bookings** to filter upcoming, past, cancelled, waitlisted, and awaiting-client activity. Open a booking to review its details, payments, documents, and messages. For a service-booking event, open the linked project to continue the sales and fulfillment workflow. For a mini session, manage the booking directly from the event. You can also select **Book Client** to start a booking for a new or existing contact. If the client still needs to pay or sign, LYGHTBOX sends them a link to finish those steps. If no client action is required, the booking can be confirmed immediately. ## Waitlists and rescheduling When waitlisting is enabled for a mini session, clients can request an unavailable time. If a spot opens and you offer it to someone on the waitlist, they receive a limited-time link to complete the remaining booking steps. Confirmed mini-session clients can use their secure rescheduling link while the event is published and rescheduling is available. Staff can also move or cancel a mini-session booking from its details. The new time is checked again before the change is saved, so two people cannot take the same remaining space. ## Related guides - Build reusable [services and pricing](/docs/services). - Set up online collection in [invoices and payments](/docs/invoices). - Send follow-up questions with [forms and questionnaires](/docs/forms).