When a client asks to reschedule, don’t agree on the spot. Check what your contract says about date changes, make sure you and your crew are free on the new date, decide how the deposit and any fee carry over, update the payment dates, and send the change back for a signature. Your contract governs the details, and this is general guidance, not legal advice.
What should you do when a client asks to reschedule?
Slow down before you say yes, because a new date can change your availability, your costs and your terms.
Reply quickly, and tell the client you’ll confirm the options in writing.
Read your contract’s date change and cancellation terms.
Check the new date against your calendar, your crew and your gear.
Decide what moves with the booking: the deposit, payments made, the package price and any fee.
Update the invoice and payment dates to match the new event date.
Send the change in writing for the client to sign, then release the old date.
The first reply can be short. Something like “Thanks for letting us know. Let me check the new date and I’ll send the options in writing by tomorrow.” buys you time and promises nothing you haven’t checked yet.
Step 4 can’t jump the queue. If you tell a client their deposit carries over before you know the new date is open, you’ve made a promise you may not be able to keep.
And hold the old date until the new one is signed. Clients who are moving a date are often still talking to their venue.
Is rescheduling the same as canceling?
No. A reschedule keeps the booking and moves it to a new date, while a cancellation ends the booking and your cancellation terms apply.
Reschedule | Cancel | |
|---|---|---|
The booking | Continues on a new date | Ends |
Deposit and payments | Carry over if your contract allows it | Handled by your cancellation terms |
The original date | Released, sometimes too late to rebook | Released |
What you send | A change of date for the client to sign | A written confirmation of the cancellation |
Some contracts treat a new date the vendor can’t take as a cancellation, so check yours.
A client who says “we need to move it” but can’t name a new date hasn’t really rescheduled yet. Ask for a date, or at least a window, before you treat it as a move.
What should your contract already say about date changes?
A date change clause answers the questions you’d otherwise be making up on the phone. It usually settles how much notice the client has to give, how many times the date can move, how far out the new date can be, whether payments already made carry over, and whether the new date is priced at today’s rates or the rates the client booked at.
For the wording, booth owners can see what to put in a photo booth contract. Planners can check what an event planner contract should include. Either way, talk to a lawyer where you work before you change your terms.
How do you check whether the new date works for you?
Start with your calendar, then your people, then your gear. A free date doesn’t mean much if the attendant who knows that venue is booked elsewhere.
Photo booth businesses: the booth unit and the attendant for the new date, the backdrop booking, and the custom print template. If the template has the event date printed on it, it needs a new version.
DJs: the new venue’s load-in, power and end time, which may not match the old one.
Photographers: your second shooter, and the light. A date that moves to another season can move sunset by a lot.
Planners: you’re moving every other vendor on the job too, so your own contract is one of several that has to line up.
If you schedule crew in TalleFlow, check the crew scheduling board for who can cover the new date. It’s also a good time to re-confirm details with our questions to ask wedding photography clients and questions to ask wedding DJ clients lists.
What happens to the deposit when an event is rescheduled?
It depends on your contract. There isn’t one rule that covers every vendor.
Some vendors carry the deposit over once, to a new date within a set window. Some treat the move as a new booking with a new deposit. Others decide case by case, which gets harder to explain the second time a client asks. Whichever you use, put it in writing before the request comes in. For how big the deposit should be in the first place, see how much deposit to require.
Should you charge a rescheduling fee?
Some vendors do and some don’t. A fee pays for the work of moving everything and for the risk that the old date won’t rebook.
A fee belongs in the contract before the client asks to move, not in a surprise invoice afterward. What you charge, if anything, is your call, and a lawyer can help you word it.
How do you update the invoice and payment dates?
Move every remaining due date relative to the new event date, so the gap before the event stays the same as the client agreed. If the final payment was due a set time before the old date, it should be due the same time before the new one.
Payments the client already made stay paid. If you split invoices into payment plans, check each remaining milestone, not just the final one. For timing the last payment, see when the final balance should be due.
How do you confirm the new date in writing?
Send a short change of date for the client to sign. People call it an addendum or an amendment, and it restates the new date, what carried over, any fee, and the new payment dates.
Have your lawyer look at the wording. And don’t rely on a text message that says “Sounds good, see you in June.” Send it the same way you sent the original, with contracts and e-signatures, so the signed copy sits next to the first one.
How do you keep the new date, contract and payments in one place?
TalleFlow is a CRM for creatives, built for photo booth businesses and event pros. Here’s the path.
Move the project on the calendar and confirm the new date. Then, on that project, create the change of date as a new contract and send it for e-signature through contracts and e-signatures. Update the remaining payment dates on the invoice and re-send it. Installments the client already paid keep their dates. The client signs and pays anything due by card or bank transfer in your client portal, where they can see the current project dates. TalleFlow’s payment reminders then email your client with a Pay now button before each due date and stop once the invoice is paid. On Essentials, workflow automation can send a thank-you when the first payment lands or the invoice is paid in full.
TalleFlow won’t write the change of date for you, and moving the project doesn’t edit the contract. The same steps work for photo booth businesses, DJs, photographers and event planners.
FAQ
Do you have to accept a client’s new date?
Check your contract first, because that’s where the answer is. Many vendors agree to a new date when they’re free on it and the client asks in writing. If you’re already booked that day, say so plainly and point the client to the cancellation terms they signed. If the wording is unclear, ask a local lawyer.
Does the deposit move to the new date when a client reschedules?
It depends on your contract. Many event vendors let the deposit carry over once, to a new date within a set window, as long as they’re available. Others treat a date change as a new booking with a new deposit. Whatever you decide, write it into the change of date the client signs.
Is rescheduling the same as canceling?
No. When a client reschedules, the booking carries on with a new date, and your contract decides what moves with it. When a client cancels, the booking ends and the cancellation terms apply. Some contracts treat a date change you can’t take as a cancellation, so read that clause before you reply.
What should you do if a client keeps rescheduling?
Look at what your contract allows. Many vendors permit one date change and treat a second request as a cancellation and a new booking. If your contract doesn’t say, decide your limit now, tell the client in writing, and ask your lawyer to help you add it to future contracts.
Should you charge a rescheduling fee?
Some vendors do and some don’t. A fee can cover the work of moving everything and the chance that the old date won’t rebook. Either way, it should already be in the contract the client signed, not sprung on them in an email. If you’re adding one, have a lawyer look at the wording.
Can the client sign the date change and pay in the same place?
In TalleFlow, yes. You send the change of date as a document for e-signature, and the client signs it and pays anything due by card or bank transfer in your branded client portal. The updated payment dates sit on the same invoice, so nobody has to dig through old emails.