One booking, six people, and a time nobody can move

The finishing time is the only fixed point, so work backwards from it

Ask when they need to be finished and where they need to be, not when they would like to start. Everything else is derived: the first chair time, how many stylists are needed, whether the last person can be done at all. A group enquiry answered forwards from a start time is a group enquiry that runs late, and running late on a wedding morning is not recoverable.

Ask for the list, and expect not to get it

The bride rarely knows what all six want yet, and waiting for the full list is how the date goes to another salon. Take the number of people, the finishing time and the services that are already known, say plainly that the quote firms up when the list does, and hold the slot on that basis if the salon's policy allows. Precision later, commitment now.

Deposits and the cancellation ladder belong in the first reply

A group booking blocks most of a morning and cannot be refilled at short notice, so the terms are stricter than for one chair and the enquirer has no way to guess that. Say the deposit, say what happens if the number shrinks, and say the date after which it cannot. Said at the start it is a professional term; said at cancellation it is a surprise with the salon's name on it.

Trials are where the real decision gets made

The bride is choosing a salon on the trial, not on the quote, and a salon that explains what a trial covers, what it costs, how long before the day it should happen and what gets photographed is already ahead of one that lists prices. It is also the appointment where the group's actual requirements finally become known, which makes it worth scheduling early for the salon's own sake.