How we built a booking system for an art school
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SA Art Fair sells original artwork and runs studio classes, workshops and full terms. Two things that do not naturally share a cart.
Why off-the-shelf did not work
Two problems ruled out the existing apps. Most run their own checkout, which would have split the business into two payment systems. And none could express a term properly — which is the most valuable thing the studio sells.
What we built
Three ways to book: a single session, several hand-picked dates, or a full term. Multi-session bookings share a booking group so they arrive as one order. When the dates someone picked cost more than the term, the widget says so and offers the switch — the upsell is arithmetic, not a popup.
Per-seat attendee details, so three seats means three names. Waitlists on sold-out sessions. A calendar file generated the moment a booking is held. One admin for the studio with bookings grouped by order.
What we would tell anyone considering it
The hard part was never the calendar. It was modelling what a booking is for this business, then keeping that honest as features piled on. The logic carries over a hundred automated tests, which sounds excessive until someone books six seats across four dates and expects one invoice.
Fun Life Media builds Shopify stores with booking built into the checkout. Installs from R4,500 once-off plus R850 a month. Book a free fifteen-minute audit.