Managing Date Holds

A hold reserves a date for an interested couple without committing it. Each date takes up to three, ranked, so when two couples want the same Saturday you know who asked first.

The three tiers

Elsewhere — on the calendar and in lists — the same holds are labeled 1st Hold, 2nd Hold and 3rd Hold.

Only one first hold can exist on a date at a time. The form says so when you pick it.

Those are the defaults. Owners and managers can change them under Calendar Settings at the top of the calendar, in Hold durations. A change applies to holds created afterward; existing holds keep the expiry they were given. For a single hold, use Custom Expiry instead.

Creating a hold

New Activity → Create Hold, or select dates and click Create Hold in the toolbar.

Under Hold Details you set the Event Date and the Hold Type.

Hold Type starts on the next open tier for the date you opened the form on: Second Hold if that date already has an active first hold, First Hold (Priority) if it does not. It does not move on to Third Hold by itself — if the date already has a first and a second, choose Third Hold yourself. The starting tier is worked out when the form opens, so if you change the Event Date afterward, check the tier again.

Under Contact Information, Quick Fill from Lead searches your existing leads and fills in the rest for you. Otherwise enter a Contact Name, and optionally Email and Phone. The email matters more than it looks — without one, the option to tell someone their hold was bumped never appears.

Under Expiration:

• Auto-Release — "Release automatically when expired". On by default.
• Custom Expiry — "Override default duration". Off by default.
• Expiry Date — greyed out until Custom Expiry is on. While it is off, a badge shows the duration the tier will use.

Additional Notes is internal. Then Create Hold.

What expiry actually does

A job runs every hour and expires holds that have passed their expiry date, but only those with Auto-Release switched on. It sets them to expired and records the reason as an automatic release.

Turn Auto-Release off and the hold sits there until somebody deals with it. That is a deliberate choice for the date a couple is treating as theirs — but it is also how a date silently stays tied up, so use it knowingly.

On the calendar, a hold counts down: Expired, or hours left under a day, or days left after that.

The five statuses

Bumping a hold

When a date someone is holding is needed for a couple who is ready, you bump it. Create a hold on that date (or open an existing second or third hold) and choose First Hold (Priority) — on a date that already has one, it says who it will bump. The button becomes Continue to Bump, and that opens Bump Existing Hold?, which shows the Original Hold — who it belongs to and the Event Date — and, when you are displacing a higher-priority hold, a Priority Conflict: warning saying the contact will lose their reserved position.

Reason for Bumping is required; the confirm button stays disabled until you write one. Then Confirm Bump: the old hold is marked bumped with your reason, and your new hold becomes the first hold on the date.

If the original contact has an email on file, a checkbox offers to notify them, ticked by default. Leave it on and they get an email saying the date is no longer held for them, with the reason you typed and an invitation to reply. No email on file, no checkbox — and nothing is sent.

If the message cannot be sent for any reason, the hold is still bumped and you are told so plainly, so you know to make the call yourself. Worth doing anyway when the date mattered to them: the email is the record, not the kindness.

Where holds show up

• Holds in the View menu's overlays, marking held dates on the calendar
• The Holds tab in the sidebar, listing every active hold with its tier and countdown
• Clicking a held date, which opens the holds on that date with edit and delete on each

Turning a hold into a booking

Create the wedding from the Weddings page as usual — see creating a wedding — and release the holds on the date that are no longer needed. Creating a wedding does not clear them for you.

One thing holds do not do

Placing a hold does not run conflict detection: you can hold a date that already has an event on it, and nothing will mention it. The other direction is checked — book an event onto a held date and the warning names the hold.

Practical use

• Put the email in even when the couple gave you a phone number. It is the difference between managing a bump and avoiding one.
• A third hold at three days is a formality, not a reservation. Treat it as a waiting list.
• Check the Holds tab on a Monday. Expiries are quiet and a released date nobody noticed is a lost weekend.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does a second hold move up when the first is released? Not by itself — but it is one click. When you release a hold and there are holds behind it on the same date, the confirmation offers Move Up and says exactly what it will do, for example "Ben → First Hold · Cal → Second Hold". Click it and each hold behind moves up to close the gap. Ignore it and nothing changes. The offer stays on screen for about fifteen seconds.

Moving up changes the tier only. Each hold keeps the expiry it already had, so a second hold with four days left is a first hold with four days left — open it and set Custom Expiry if it deserves longer.

You can also do it by hand at any time: open the hold and change Hold Type. A date can only have one first hold, so release or bump the old one first.

Holds that expire on their own are not offered a move up; check the Holds tab for dates that have lost their first hold.

Can I move a hold to a different date? No. A hold stays on its date, because the order of holds is kept per date. Release it and create a new hold on the other date.

Can I change the default hold durations? Yes — Calendar Settings at the top of the calendar has a Hold durations section with First hold, Second hold and Third hold in days. Owners and managers only. A change applies to holds created afterward; existing holds keep the expiry they were given, and Custom Expiry still overrides it for a single hold.

Does the couple get told their hold is expiring? No. There is no client-facing notification on holds at all.

Can two holds have the same tier on one date? Only one first hold per date. The form warns you and offers the bump.