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Photography booking and client portal

One place for your clients to book, sign, pay and get their photos.

Mankai gives your photography clients one place on your own website to book a session, sign the contract, pay, answer your questionnaire and open their gallery. They pick a time you are actually open, and everything after that waits in their portal.

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  • Free to install
  • No credit card
  • No fee on your payments
A client booking a Family session from $450 on the studio's own site: Saturday, October 24 is picked, the open times are 1:30 PM and 4:30 PM, and the steps ahead are the questions, the contract and the payment. The client's pay screen: $300.00 still due on invoice #1021 by October 21, 2026, with a Pay via Stripe button.

Works with the WordPress setup you already have

What your client goes through, start to finish

Five steps, and the first four can happen in one visit to your booking page.

  1. 1 Picks a time Only the open times from your studio hours show up.
  2. 2 Answers your questions The questionnaire for that session type comes up while she books.
  3. 3 Signs the contract It is already filled in. She types her name and ticks the box.
  4. 4 Pays by card The retainer now and the balance later, into your own Stripe or PayPal.
  5. 5 Gets her photos She picks favorites in her portal, then downloads the finished gallery.

The booking page

Clients only see times you can actually shoot

Your booking page lists each session type with its price, and only the times that fit your studio hours. Days you blocked off, sessions already booked, your buffers and your notice period are taken out before a client ever sees the calendar. When she books, the session lands on your calendar with what she signed and paid.

  • Times come from your studio hours, minus blocked days and booked sessions
  • Buffers, a notice period and a daily limit for each session type
  • No account to make first: a name and an email are enough to book

Your hoursPlus buffers, notice and a daily limit, so every time she sees is one you can take.

The Day view of Saturday, October 24 on the Mankai calendar: a family session with Jessica Miller from 4:30 to 5:30 PM and a mini session with Chris Anderson at 6:00 PM, with a Month, Day and List switch above the hours.
The pane that opens on a click: Jessica Miller’s family session on October 24 is in golden hour, her questionnaire is completed, her contract is signed, her $150.00 retainer is paid and $300.00 is still due.
Click a session and see where it stands. The contract, the retainer and the balance are right there, and so is the golden hour for that day.

Contract and retainer

She signs and pays before she closes the tab

If the session type has a contract, it comes up while she books, already filled in with her name, the session, the date and the price. She types her name to sign, then pays the retainer by card through your own Stripe or PayPal. Whatever is left waits in her portal with its due date.

  • The contract fills in her name, session, date and price
  • She sees what is due today and what is due before the session
  • Card payments go straight to your own Stripe or PayPal

$0Mankai fee on the retainer or anything else she pays you.

Megan Carter’s Wedding Photography Agreement from Northlight Photography, filled in with her name, the wedding date of September 19, 2026 and the place, Riverside Park, marked Signed, with a receipt under it: signed by Megan Carter on September 1, 2026 at 7:20 pm.
9:41NorthlightPhotographyThe signing box on Megan Carter’s phone, for her wedding agreement: her name typed as the signature, the agreement ticked, and a Sign document button.
Her name, the date and the place fill in from the session. The client signs by typing her name, and the signed copy keeps who signed and when.

The client portal

Everything after the booking, in one list on your site

Each client gets a portal on your own website. The first screen is her next session, with a row for the payment, the contract, the questionnaire and the photos. A green tick means done, and a button means it still needs her. Her messages to you live there too, so nothing gets lost in an inbox.

  • She signs in with a password or a code sent to her email
  • Questionnaire links open straight from the email, no sign-in needed
  • Reminders go out on their own for anything unsigned, unanswered or unpaid

6 digitsA sign-in code by email, for clients who never set a password.

Jessica Miller’s Overview in the client portal of Northlight Photography, for her family session on October 24 at Riverside Park: Pay $300.00 (invoice #1021, due October 21), Contract signed, and Questionnaire complete, each with a link beside it.
The studio’s sign-in page on a phone: Northlight Photography, an email and password with a Log In button, and below it an Email me a sign-in code button.
What is done and what is left, in one list. Clients sign in with a password or an emailed code, on your own site.

Galleries

Her photos show up in the same place she booked

When the photos are ready, she gets an email and finds the gallery in her portal. She hearts her favorites, leaves a note on any photo and sends you her picks. When you deliver the edited photos, she gets another email and downloads them from the same place.

  • Hearts for favorites, and a note on any photo she wants to explain
  • Watermarks and download protection until you deliver
  • Prints ordered from the same gallery, at your prices

Download allOne button for the whole finished gallery once you deliver it.

The Carter wedding gallery on the photographer’s own site: Megan has hearted five of her twenty photos, and a Submit selections button sends her picks.
The photographer’s Copy file names panel for the same gallery: Capture One is chosen, the five picks are listed as plain camera file names DSC_0412 to DSC_0498, and a Copy button puts them on the clipboard.
She hearts, you copy. Her picks arrive as the file names from your camera, ready to paste into your editor.

Three ways a client can book you

Trading emails, a scheduling link, or one booking page that also handles the contract, the money and the photos.

What you get Over email Booking link Mankai
Shows only the times you are free No Yes Yes
Retainer paid while booking No Yes Yes
Contract signed while booking No No Yes
Questionnaire answered before the shoot Partly Partly Yes
Contract, invoices and gallery behind one sign-in No No Yes
Free to start Yes Partly Yes

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Feels built for how we already run the studio.

Dandelion Soul StudioMy mom's photography studio in Wisconsin, and the reason Mankai exists. Not an independent review.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a photography booking system for WordPress?

Yes. Mankai is a WordPress plugin that puts a booking page, contracts, payments, a client portal and galleries on your own site, so clients book, sign and pay without leaving it.

What is a photography client portal?

It is a private page where each client sees their session and what is left to do: pay, sign the contract, answer the questionnaire and open the gallery. In Mankai it sits on your own website, and clients sign in with a password or a code sent to their email.

Do clients need an account to book?

No. A name and an email are enough to book. Mankai makes their portal login when the booking goes through and emails them a link to set a password.

Can clients sign the contract and pay a retainer when they book?

Yes. If the session type has a contract, it comes up during booking already filled in, and the client signs by typing their name. Then they pay the retainer by card through your own Stripe or PayPal, and see what is still due before the session.

Does it work on a phone?

Yes. The booking page and the client portal work in any phone browser, and clients can add the portal to their home screen so it opens like an app.

What is free and what needs Pro?

Booking on your studio hours, contracts, card payments, questionnaires, galleries and the client portal are all free. Pro is $249.99 a year and adds session add-ons, weekly hours and limited dates for a single session type, and advanced forms.

Give your clients one place for all of it.

Install the free plugin and set up your booking page today. Add Pro when you want add-ons, hours for a single session type and advanced forms.

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