Using 17hats Questionnaires To Gather Wedding Day Details

By Deb Mitzel, Small Business Systems Strategist and one of 17hats’ original Marketplace Partners. Adapted from her feature in the September 2026 issue of The Journey.

If you’re a wedding vendor working in 17hats, you’re probably already sending a questionnaire to collect wedding day details. Getting-ready time, ceremony start, venue address, key contacts. Nothing new there.

The interesting question is what happens to that information afterward.

For most of us, it sits. We glance at it, maybe copy a couple of details into a note, and move on. Then the wedding gets closer and something shifts. A time changes. A location swaps. And if you’ve been doing this a while you know the particular feeling of a text message three days out telling you something is different from what you had written down.

Deb Mitzel’s fix is a check-in that confirms what you already know rather than asking for it again, and it hangs on one question at the end.

Everything depends on custom fields

If you’re already mapping your initial questionnaire answers to Custom Fields, you’re most of the way there. If not, that’s where to start, because nothing else in this works without it.

A Custom Field is a slot on the client’s project holding one piece of information, like the ceremony start time. A token is the shortcode that drops that field’s current value into any document, email or questionnaire. Change the field and every token showing it updates.

Once those answers live in custom fields, each one becomes something you can pull into a future questionnaire or email. Which is what makes this different from simply sending another form.

You’re not re-asking from scratch. You’re showing the couple what you have and asking whether it’s still right. If something has changed, their correction flows back into the project and refreshes the token behind it, with no manual updating on your end.

Thirty days is a starting point, not a rule

A confirmation questionnaire around 30 days out is a common choice for wedding vendors, since it leaves enough runway to sort out whatever surfaces.

But treat that as a default rather than a rule. The right timing is whatever fits how you work and what your clients need. A vendor who has to place a final order has a genuinely different deadline from one who just needs to know what time to arrive.

Build a separate questionnaire template for each check-in rather than reusing one, and give each version a clear name. Something like WD – Wedding Day Details and WD – Confirmation of Wedding Day Details – 30 Day keeps things findable a year later when you’re trying to remember what you sent.

The question that does the work

The whole check-in exists to confirm what’s on file. The last question is what turns that into action, because its answer tells you what needs to happen next, if anything, beyond turning up on the day.

Ask: do we need to chat?

Three ways to answer:

• I’ve made changes to the wedding details you have on file.
• I haven’t made changes, but I’d like a quick call before my wedding day.
• Everything you have on file is accurate and we’re good to go.

How you word that first option is up to you. If any change at all warrants a call, keep it broad like that. If it’s really only a detail or two that matters, like guest count or start time, ask about those directly instead.

The answer tells you who needs a follow-up call and who doesn’t, which is the entire point. You stop guessing about which couples are quietly sitting on a change.

For the ones who do need a call, if you use Online Scheduling you can put a booking link right in the questionnaire and use a Tag to start a follow-up reminder that stops automatically the moment they book. No manual tracking, no wondering who’s still outstanding.

If you’re not using Online Scheduling yet, you can still direct them to call you and follow up by hand if they don’t.

The final week wants an email, not a form

Somewhere in that last week, send a short warm email rather than another questionnaire.

Pull in a few of the same tokens, the arrival time and whatever details are worth reiterating, and wrap them in a note saying you’re looking forward to the day. Something along the lines of “we are so excited for your wedding, here’s a quick recap of a few key details on our end,” followed by the two or three things worth having fresh in their minds.

It isn’t a confirmation request. It’s a friendly check-in that happens to display current details, so if anything looks wrong they’ll notice and say so.

That distinction matters more than it might seem. One more form in the final week reads as homework for a couple who are drowning in homework. A warm note that quietly doubles as a last safety net reads as care.

What you’re left with

The process collects the details early and gives the client an easy way to tell you when something changes.

Every detail and every update lives in one place instead of scattered across notes, emails and old texts. You gathered the information once, the system keeps it accurate, and it tells you when it’s time to pick up the phone.

Questions

When should you send the confirmation questionnaire?
Around 30 days out works for many vendors. Adjust to your own deadlines, especially if you’re ordering anything.

What are custom fields and tokens?
A custom field stores one piece of information on a project. A token inserts that field’s current value into documents, emails and questionnaires, so updating the field updates everywhere it appears.

Email or questionnaire in the final week?
Email. A form that late feels like more work for the couple, and you’re not really collecting anything new at that point.

Start by listing every detail you’d hate to get wrong on a wedding day. Those are your custom fields, and once they exist the rest of this is a short step.

Deb sells a Confirm & Update Wedding Details companion guide through the 17hats Marketplace if you want the setup walked through, and she runs a regular 17hats Power Hour series on features like tags and custom fields.

Questionnaires, custom fields, tokens, scheduling and workflows all come with 17hats, so a detail you collect once never has to be chased again. Start a free 7-day trial.

About the author

Deb Mitzel is a Small Business Systems Strategist and one of 17hats’ original Marketplace Partners. With 30 years of operational and leadership experience, she helps solopreneurs and small business owners build simple, strategic systems so their clients get the best experience possible and they still have time for the things that matter most.

Learn more at debmitzelcreative.com. Her Confirm & Update Wedding Details companion guide is available in the 17hats Marketplace, and she runs the 17hats Power Hour series at debmitzelcreative.com/workshops.

This article is adapted from Deb’s feature in the September 2026 issue of The Journey, 17hats’ magazine for solo business owners. Read the full issue here.