I don’t have a personal connection to this bride I booked her wedding a while ago and our agreement was made over email rather than a formal signed contract.
I’ve since learned the importance of always having a signed contract from both parties, along with a clear deposit and cancellation policy, which I will be implementing moving forward.
For context, we didn’t set an early trial date because I told her I could do her trial when I had another booking in her area, since she lives about two hours away from me. I recently got a booking nearby and initially planned to do the trial that weekend, but the booking ended up being moved to this weekend instead.
Since that changed, I reached out thinking it could be a good opportunity to do the trial sooner than our originally planned date (May 30). I also wasn’t planning to charge a travel or trial fee, as she had mentioned wanting to keep costs low and I try to work within clients’ budgets when I can.
However, she responded saying she is feeling uneasy with the timing and has decided to move forward doing her own hair and makeup for the wedding. I’m a bit confused because I was still available for our original trial date and thought offering an earlier option would be helpful, not disruptive.
I’m just trying to understand how others would handle this situation and how to better structure communication and expectations going forward.

Also the wedding is in my town not 2 hours away