5 Important Tips to Ask Before Booking Your Photo Booth

By Jason Whaley, Smash Booth Photo Booth, and Mirror Booth Rentals

Want to make sure you don’t have any surprises on your wedding day? I mean, what’s worse than a melted cake, a DJ getting drunk and turning your reception into his personal karaoke concert, a photographer showing up in a Budweiser shirt and flip-flops, your photo booth resembling the Home Depot clearance rack or worse of all, one of your vendors not showing up at all!EVERYTHING listed above are things we’ve actually seen happen to unsuspecting couples. Truth. Sure we only provide photo booth rentals, but these tips should be applied to every professional you’re considering hiring.

If your vendor isn’t licensed and insured, there’s a good chance your venue won’t even allow them on site.  (If this happens, don’t expect them to willingly refund your money either!)

Unfortunately, it’s all too easy for anyone to print a few business cards, steal a couple of photos from Google Images and launch a website. Many scammers do just this, but more than scammers are folks with the best of intentions, but just aren’t cut out for business ownership and don’t understand why they can’t call in sick if they or their kids don’t feel well.

Can a company that opened two weeks do a good job? Absolutely! Should you take that risk with your wedding?  No . As #Amazeballs as Smash Booth is, we’ll admit there was about a year where we were still cutting our teeth and learning the ropes. Any company that’s been around less than 2 years is risky, especially for a wedding.

The wedding industry is fun and loud and colorful and your wedding vendor should have an active Instagram, especially your photo booth. Take a look and see what they’re posting. Hopefully you’ll see a history of them performing at weddings with samples of their set-up or work. Be weary of any company using stock photos on their Instagram.

Checking referrals used to be quite an ordeal.Luckily in today’s world you can quickly see what past couples have thought about each vendor. Check out their Yelp, Wedding Wire or Knot review pages to make sure they’re reputable. SO many catastrophies could have been avoided if clients just took a moment to read a couple reviews. FYI: Despite what many poorly reviewed companies may tell you, Yelp  WILL NOT  remove negative reviews if a company pays them to, agrees to advertise with them, or whatever else they may tell you. If a company has no poor reviews, it’s because they’re awesome, not because they pay Yelp. They  WILL  remove a companies entire page upon request however. Ask yourself, “Why would this company ask Yelp to remove their page?”. The only reason is because they had too many negative reviews. If a company has no Yelp page,  RUN .

Why is there such a large spread in pricing between Photo Booth Companies? The same reason there is in all industries.You can hire the college kid with a bottle of all purpose cleaner and a roll of paper towels, or the reputable, reviewed cleaning service who’s insured, fully trains their staff and performs background checks to insure your safety. You can hire an uber and never quite be sure who’s going to show up and what condition their car will be in, or, you can hire a limo, meticulously cleaned, fully stocked with screened drivers. Sure, there’s a time and a place to hire the college kid or to take an Uber, but your wedding isn’t it.Look, we all love to save a few bucks, but if it’s too good to be true… Well, you know what they say. If a company is charging less than half the price of their competition, chances are they won’t be in business when your celebration comes around. We see it EVERY year. A ton of new companies come in, charge half the price of the reputable businesses and inevitably, go out of business after about 8 months to a year. If your wedding is in the next few months, you MAY be safe. But seriously, this is your wedding, don’t take the risk to save a few bucks.  When quality and dependability matter, don’t take chances. Only hire professionals. Choose the limo. 

So, you’ve learned to only hire licensed and insured, companies who have been around for a couple years and have a reputable reputation. Great!Did you know there’s an organization dedicated to finding these companies? An organization who sifts through the hundreds of wedding focused companies within Las Vegas and vettes them for you?! More, using this organization’s resources will never cost you a penny. Better, you’ve already found them! The  Las Vegas Wedding Chamber of Commerce  was organized primarily to ensure anyone that gets married in Las Vegas has the very best and trusted professionals at their disposal. I wholeheartedly emplore you to only use chamber certified wedding proffessionals. If your vendor isn’t listed with the chamber, ask them why. If they’re reputable, the LVWCC can get them vetted and added in just a couple days. The LVWCC is a completely free resource that’s sole purpose is to make it easier for you to get married in Las Vegas, so if you have questions about the process, reach out to them. 

About Smash Booth

Smash Booth is a 5 star rated, Las Vegas Photo Booth rental company providing professional photo booth rentals, magic mirror photo booth rentals, roaming photo booths and much more.

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