CloudBridal
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Getting Started

Getting Started Checklist

This streamlined checklist outlines the essential steps to set up CloudBridal for your bridal or formal wear business. Focus on these key configuration tasks to get your system up and running quickly.

Contents

Initial Setup

1. Set Up Your Business Profile

  • Navigate to General Settings
  • Enter your business name, address, and contact details
  • Upload your logo (used in receipts, client portal, and more)
  • If desired, set up an email signature. This is included automatically with all outgoing emails to your customers.

2. Key Configurations

These configurations feed into the overall system so it's important to do them first.

  • Set up your served customer types in Customer Settings in the Customer Types section. CloudBridal includes some default types, but you can deactivate them as needed.
  • Set up your sales taxes in the Tax Settings. You can apply these taxes to your item types in the next step.
  • Set up your inventory item types in Inventory Settings in the Inventory Item Types section. In CloudBridal, this can include both physical goods (e.g. Dress, Accessory) as well as categories like services, fees, etc. You don't need to worry about every single toggle in the form, just focus on getting the main categories defined.

💡 Tip: For item types that don't have physical inventory like services, make sure to leave the Quantity toggle turned off, which disables quantity tracking for that item type.

3. Configure Appointments

4. Add Vendors

  • Navigate to Vendors
  • Add your vendors. For the time being, you can just add their names, but later on you can fill out additional information.
  • View the Vendors Documentation for additional information

5. Begin Building Inventory

Option 1 - Manually:

Option 2 - Import:

6. Decide on Payment Processor

CloudBridal offers two options for processing payments:

  1. Stripe: This is our system-integrated payment processor. It's easy to set up and directly integrates with CloudBridal. See the Stripe Integration Documentation for more information.
  2. Other: You can bring your own payment processor. CloudBridal allows you to record payments from your existing processor at the time of sale. See the Payments Documentation for more information.

If you decide to use Stripe, you should sign up for a Stripe account by following the Stripe Integration Documentation.

7. Additional Order/Payment Settings

  • Visit the Agreements/Contracts settings to set up your document templates. These templates can be generated at the time of sale (e.g. Sales Agreement), and at other key stages such as item pickup (e.g. Pickup Agreement). See Agreements & Contracts for more information.
  • Set up any additional payment methods in the Payment Settings.

Additional Setup

These are recommended steps to take after you've completed the initial setup and are ready to start using the system.

Add Your Staff Members

If desired, you can provide login access to your staff members.

Create profiles for your team:

  • Go to Staff Member Settings
  • Create roles (e.g. Sales Associate, Manager, etc.) with appropriate permissions
  • Add each staff member as needed, assigning their appropriate role
  • Send account invitations to staff who need system access

Email/SMS Templates

Set up essential customer communications:

  • Navigate to Email & SMS
  • Create templates to cover your essential communications with clients.

💡 Tip: Consider automating your communications based on rules you define. See Email Automation for more information.

Twilio

  • If you want to use SMS/text communications with your customers, we strongly encourage you to set up a Twilio account to do so. See Twilio Settings for more details. This unlocks features like text reminders, text automation, and more.

Print Labels/Tags

Staff Training

Once you are comfortable with the overall workflow, you should train your staff on the system based on your needs and their role.

Perform Test Workflows

Practice using the system:

  • Create one or more test appointment through the Preview Scheduler button at the top of the appointment settings page.
  • Practice approving appointments, rescheduling, and other common workflows.
  • Practice blocking time off, which prevents clients from booking those slots. See Blocking Time Off.
  • Process a sample order. We recommend trying different types of orders:
    • Create a special order
    • Create a "from inventory" order
    • Create an order with multiple items in it
    • Create an order with a discount
    • If you handle prom, try using the prom registry
  • Generate a receipt and sales agreement, and go through the signing process.
  • Test creating a payment.
  • Consider roleplaying an appointment, or walk yourself through a sample appointment if you are operating solo.
  • Create a purchase order.
  • Try running reports based on common data you need to extract from the system (e.g. monthly sales, daily payments, etc.).

Getting Help

If you need assistance at any point:

Remember that your CloudBridal implementation should reflect your unique business needs. Focus on the essential setup steps first, then gradually explore additional features as you become more comfortable with the system.

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Initial Data Import