Automate your mini session bookings, payments, and scheduling in 60 seconds. Stop wasting hours on spreadsheets and chasing payments. MiniShoots is the complete photography booking platform that handles everything automatically.
Join photographers who switched to automated bookings
Managing mini sessions without booking software is a full-time job nobody signed up for
You spend 6+ hours creating Google Sheets with time slots, copying formulas, and color-coding cells. Then someone books the wrong slot and your entire system collapses. There has to be a better way to manage your photography business.
Your inbox explodes with "What times are still available?" You answer the same question 47 times while trying to manually update your booking spreadsheet. Every DM is a potential double-booking disaster waiting to happen.
You're stuck sending "Hey, did you send that Venmo?" messages to 15 different clients. Some pay deposits via PayPal, others via Cash App, and you're losing track of who actually paid. Manual payment tracking wastes hours every single event.
Two clients accidentally book the same 2:30pm slot because your spreadsheet wasn't updated fast enough. Now you're stuck in an awkward conversation trying to move someone. This would never happen with automated booking technology.
Rain forecast means spending 6 hours texting 40 clients individually, coordinating new times, updating your spreadsheet, and praying nobody misses the message. There's zero automation in the traditional mini session workflow.
Someone doesn't show up and you just lost $200 because you didn't require payment upfront. That time slot could have gone to someone on your waitlist if you had a system to manage it automatically.
You're not running a photography business—you're running a booking coordination company.
Booking automation exists to solve exactly these problems.
The complete photography booking solution that runs on autopilot
Set your date, times, price, and location. Our automated scheduler generates a beautiful booking page automatically. No spreadsheet formulas. No design skills needed.
Post your booking link to Instagram Stories, bio, or send via DM. Clients see real-time availability and book themselves. Zero back-and-forth messaging required with this platform.
Clients pay when they book via Square integration. Money hits your bank account automatically. Full payment or deposits—you choose. The system handles 100% of payment collection automatically.
That's it. Your mini sessions run themselves while you focus on photography.
Every feature designed specifically for photography booking automation
The core of any automated booking system. Our intelligent scheduler prevents double-bookings automatically with 10-minute payment holds. Clients see only available slots in real-time. When someone books, that slot instantly disappears for everyone else. Zero manual coordination required.
Critical for professional photography businesses. Integrated Square payment processing means clients pay when they book—not later. Require full payment upfront or collect deposits. Funds deposited directly to your bank account. No more Venmo chasing, PayPal tracking, or payment spreadsheets. Completely hands-off revenue collection.
Advanced booking automation includes smart waitlist management. Someone cancels? The system automatically notifies your top 3 waitlist contacts via SMS. First person to pay gets the slot. Zero manual coordination. No lost revenue from empty slots. This feature alone saves hours per event.
Professional booking platforms give clients control. Each booking includes a secure reschedule link. Clients can move their appointment up to 24 hours before. Old slot automatically returns to availability and waitlist gets notified. You do absolutely nothing. No coordination emails, no calendar juggling.
Game-changing feature for outdoor photography scheduling. Bad weather forecast? One tap reschedules all bookings to your backup date and sends SMS notifications to every client automatically. What used to take 6 hours of manual texting now takes 60 seconds. This alone justifies booking automation.
The platform creates gorgeous, professional booking pages automatically. Mobile-optimized design ensures clients can book easily from Instagram. Clean, modern interface makes you look premium. No technical skills needed. The system handles all design and hosting.
Smart booking automation includes upsell functionality. Clients see optional add-ons at checkout—extra prints, rush delivery, videography, Instagram reels. They click to add. You earn 30-50% more per booking automatically. This turns your scheduling app into a revenue growth tool.
Enterprise-level photography management software builds client profiles automatically. Track lifetime value, booking history, tags (VIP, Repeat), and notes. Send early access campaigns to past clients. Your database becomes more valuable each year. Perfect for building a repeat customer business.
Professional photography platforms provide business intelligence. Track total revenue, monthly trends, repeat customer rates, event fill rates, and top clients by lifetime value. Make data-driven decisions about pricing, frequency, and marketing. Know your numbers like a real business.
See how automated booking stacks up against spreadsheets and forms
| Feature |
MiniShoots Booking Software |
Manual Spreadsheets | Google Forms |
|---|---|---|---|
| Setup Time | 60 seconds | 6+ hours | 2-3 hours |
| Real-Time Availability | ✓ Automatic | ✗ Manual updates | ✗ None |
| Double-Booking Prevention | ✓ Impossible | ✗ Frequent | ✗ Very common |
| Payment Collection | ✓ Automatic | ✗ Manual chase | ✗ Separate system |
| Waitlist Management | ✓ Auto-notify | ✗ Manual emails | ✗ None |
| Client Reschedule | ✓ Self-service | ✗ You coordinate | ✗ Manual |
| Rain Plan Activation | ✓ One tap, SMS all | ✗ 6 hours texting | ✗ Manual contact |
| Add-Ons / Upsells | ✓ Built-in | ✗ Not possible | ✗ Not possible |
| Mobile-Optimized | ✓ Perfect | ✗ Terrible on mobile | ~ Basic |
| Client Database | ✓ Automatic CRM | ✗ None | ✗ Messy responses |
| Revenue Analytics | ✓ Full dashboard | ✗ Manual calculation | ✗ None |
| Monthly Cost | $0-49/month | $0 | $0 |
| Time Saved Per Event | 6+ hours | 0 hours | ~2 hours |
Booking automation saves 6+ hours per event and prevents costly double-booking mistakes.
Purpose-built for the way different photographers run mini sessions
Run engagement mini sessions during slow months. Automated scheduling lets you offer 15-minute engagement shoots to fill your calendar between weddings. Clients book and pay automatically while you focus on your main wedding business. Perfect for generating supplemental income.
Seasonal family portrait mini sessions are your bread and butter. This platform handles your fall, spring, and holiday sessions automatically. Smart scheduling prevents the chaos of coordinating 30+ families. Add-ons like prints and digital packages boost revenue 40% per booking automatically.
Holiday mini sessions, back-to-school photos, spring flowers, fall foliage—automated booking handles high-volume seasonal events. Book 40 families in one day without spreadsheet hell. Rain plan feature reschedules everyone with one tap when weather doesn't cooperate.
Cake smash sessions, newborn mini sessions, first birthday photos—repetitive bookings need automation. This platform creates perfect workflows for milestone photography. Client database tracks siblings for future session marketing. Repeat customers book again automatically.
Pet mini sessions require tight scheduling and weather flexibility. Automated scheduling handles the unique challenges of outdoor pet photography. One-tap rain plan reschedule saves you when weather turns. Waitlist management fills no-show slots automatically.
Companies book multiple employees for headshot mini sessions. The platform manages high-volume corporate events seamlessly. Employees self-schedule their 15-minute slots. Mass text messaging keeps everyone on schedule. Professional booking experience impresses corporate clients.
Choose the plan that fits your mini session business
+ 5.9% platform fee
0% platform fee ✨
💡 This platform pays for itself: Save 6 hours per event (worth $600 of your time) for just $39/month. Plus, add-ons boost revenue 30-50% automatically.
Common questions about using booking automation for mini sessions
It's a specialized tool that automates the entire mini session workflow for photographers. Instead of manually managing spreadsheets, DMs, and payments, the platform creates booking pages, handles payment collection via Square, prevents double-bookings, manages waitlists, and sends automated notifications. It's purpose-built for photographers who run high-volume mini session events.
Generic booking systems aren't designed for the unique needs of mini session photography. MiniShoots includes photographer-specific features like rain plan activation (reschedule all clients with one tap), photography-focused add-ons (prints, rush delivery, reels), waitlist automation for cancellations, and Square payment integration. Regular booking tools don't understand the mini session business model.
Yes! The Starter plan is $0/month with a 5.9% platform fee per booking. This lets you test the full platform with zero upfront cost. Many photographers start with Starter and upgrade to Pro ($39/month, 0% fees) once they see the time savings. No contracts or commitments required.
MiniShoots integrates directly with Square for payment processing. When clients book a mini session, they pay immediately via credit/debit card. Square processes the payment (standard 2.9% + 30¢ fee) and deposits funds in your bank account within 1-2 business days. You can require full payment upfront or collect deposits—the system handles it automatically.
Yes, double-bookings are impossible with our automated scheduling system. When a client starts booking a time slot, the system holds it for 10 minutes. Other clients see that slot as unavailable during the hold period. Once payment is complete, the slot is permanently booked and removed from availability in real-time. This is a core feature that spreadsheets and Google Forms cannot provide.
The rain plan feature is one of the most valuable parts of booking automation. One tap in the app reschedules all bookings to your backup date and automatically sends SMS notifications to every client. What used to take 6 hours of manual texting now takes 60 seconds. This feature alone saves photographers hundreds of hours per year.
Absolutely. Each booking confirmation includes a secure self-reschedule link. Clients can move their appointment to any available slot up to 24 hours before their session. The platform automatically releases the old slot to your waitlist and updates your schedule. Zero coordination required from you. This self-service feature drastically reduces administrative work.
When a client joins your waitlist, their contact information is saved automatically. If someone cancels or reschedules, the system immediately sends SMS notifications to your top 3 waitlist contacts. First person to complete payment gets the slot. This automation ensures you never have empty slots and maximizes revenue without any manual coordination.
Join photographers who switched from spreadsheets to professional booking automation. Save 6+ hours per event. Get paid automatically. Run mini sessions on autopilot.
$0 to start. No credit card required. Cancel anytime.