Hi everyone!

I'm building a website for my first paying client, a home-based beauty technician who offers nail, eyelash and eyebrow services.

I'm looking for a free WordPress booking plugin that can handle a specific booking workflow.

Here's how I'd like it to work:

1. My client sets her available days and time slots from her WordPress dashboard.
2. When someone visits the website, they can see the available time slots and choose one.
3. The customer selects the services they want (nails, eyelashes, eyebrows, etc.) and submits a booking request.
4. My client receives a notification and can manually accept or reject the request before it becomes a confirmed appointment.

There's one important detail: appointment durations are not always the same.

For example, a simple nail appointment might take 30 minutes, while a more elaborate design or a combination of services could take 3–4 hours.

Ideally, I'd like a plugin that can handle different appointment durations depending on the selected services, while still allowing my client to manually approve each booking.

My main requirements are:

• Display available time slots to customers.
• Allow customers to select one or multiple services.
• Support variable appointment durations.
• Keep booking requests pending until manually approved.
• Allow my client to manage availability and appointments easily from her phone or WordPress dashboard.

I've looked into Simply Schedule Appointments and a few other plugins, but I'm not sure which one supports all these features in its free version.

I'm currently developing the website locally using WordPress and XAMPP, and I'd prefer to avoid paid plugins if possible.

Does anyone have experience with a plugin that can handle this workflow? I'd really appreciate any recommendations or advice!

Thanks!