The Client Intake Experience

When you send an intake form, your client gets an email with a link to a branded page where they can fill in their event details. Here is what the experience looks like from their side — useful to know so you can set expectations when you send the link.

What the Email Looks Like

Your client receives an email with your business name and a brief message letting them know you have sent them a form to fill out. The email includes a single button that takes them directly to the intake page. No account creation, no password, no app to download.

The Intake Page

When your client clicks through, they land on a clean, branded page that matches your business identity. The page is organized into collapsible sections that they can work through at their own pace:

• About You — the client's name, email and phone number, and their partner's details. The basics you need on file.
• Event Details — wedding date, start and end time, estimated guest count, wedding party size, and whether children are attending.
• Venue & Ceremony — venue name and address, and whether the ceremony is indoors, outdoors or both.
• Day-of Details — where each of them is getting ready, how many need hair and makeup, whether they are doing a first look, and cocktail hour.
• Rehearsal — date, time and location. Not every client fills this in right away, and that is fine.
• Additional Notes — an open text field for anything else. Dietary restrictions, family dynamics, must-have vendors, things that do not fit neatly elsewhere.

Each section expands and collapses, so the page does not feel overwhelming. Clients can jump between sections in any order.

Saving Progress

Your client does not have to finish everything in one sitting. There is a Save Progress button at the bottom of the form — once they use it, they can close the browser, come back a day later using the same link, and everything they entered will still be there.

This matters because clients often need to look up a venue address or check a date with their partner. It is worth mentioning the button when you send the form, since progress is not saved automatically and closing the tab without it loses what they have typed.

Submitting the Form

When your client has filled in everything they want to share, they click Submit. This does not lock them out — they can still come back and make changes after submitting, unless you lock the form on your end.

Submitting mainly signals to you that the client considers the form complete. You will see the submitted information on the event detail page in your dashboard.

When the Form Closes

You do not close the form yourself. Gilded locks it automatically the moment you send any document for that event. From then on:

• The link still works, but shows a short thank-you message
• Their answers are no longer visible to them, and no further edits are possible
• It cannot be reopened

So if a couple realises something is wrong after you have sent a proposal or agreement, they will need to tell you directly and you edit the event yourself. Worth saying so when you send the form — "let me know if anything changes" is a better instruction than sending them back to a link that has closed.

Setting Expectations with Clients

A quick note in your discovery call or welcome email goes a long way. Let your clients know they will receive a form, that they do not need to finish it all at once, and that there is a Save Progress button to press before they close the tab. Clients who know what to expect fill out the form faster and with better information.