An Interview With the Owner: Matt on Quality, Saying No, and Why He Started Flashbulb Memories

A 2017 interview with Flashbulb Memories founder Matt — the holiday party photo booth that started the company, the hardest part of running it, the review that meant the most, and his advice for anyone booking a photo booth.

We dug this one out of the archive. It's May 2017, Flashbulb Memories Photo Booth is about two and a half years old, serving Southern Arizona out of Tucson, and the guy next to that white powder-coated booth is the whole reason any of this exists.

A lot has changed since. The answers haven't been touched (well, apart from a few commas). Here's Matt, in his own words.

Meet Matt: The Guy Behind the Booth

So, Matt, tell us about yourself.

Where to start… I am a 24-year-old entrepreneur and recent college graduate who got tired of following the same boring routine for my life that many (unfortunately) suffer through. I love Jesus, love having fun, being goofy, and living life to its fullest. Some of my hobbies and interests include running a business, working out, photo editing and design, extreme sports (snowboarding, flyboarding, rock climbing), cooking, and inventing new creative photo booth solutions (seriously… I love my job/life/hobby). I'm also an avid YouTube learner and am under the philosophy that if it exists on YouTube, I can learn how to do it.

Awesome, what about your business, Flashbulb Memories Photo Booth?

Well, I got the idea after attending a holiday party where there was a photo booth present. After using it all night and watching everyone else (including myself) have so much fun, I knew I had to start this business. I also saw an opportunity to focus on quality above everything else, which no other company was really doing. One of my hobbies has always been photography, and I've been passionate about business since I was around 12 years old. The culmination of this love and photography/design experience is wrapped up in Flashbulb Memories Photo Booth, which has been serving Southern Arizona and creating smiles for just about 2.5 years now.

The Hard Part: Turning Down Events We'd Love to Do

What has been the hardest part about running your business?

Honestly, having to turn down all the requests we get for events that are simply out of budget. There have been many people who have reached out to us since we started, and we would have loved to help every single one of them create an unforgettable experience, but unfortunately when you're running a business, cost must be considered. While I would love to give away our photo booth services for free just to see people happy and having an amazing time, we simply wouldn't be able to keep our business open. A lot of what goes on behind the scenes to create an exceptional photo booth experience ends up costing a lot of money, but we do everything we can to make our rates as reasonable as possible.

The Best Part: Winning Over the Mother of the Bride

What about the most rewarding thing?

Hearing the mother of the bride (who booked us) say that we were by far the easiest and best vendor to work with! That's right, our photo booth company won the heart of this mother over the DJ, photographer, catering company and all! She proceeded to write a review before we even showed up, talking about how amazing her experience was with us. Of course, she wrote another one after the wedding to rave about what a great job we did.

What Makes This Photo Booth Company Different: Quality Above All Else

That does sound pretty rewarding! As you are probably aware, there are a lot of photo booth companies nowadays and it seems to be pretty competitive. So, what is it that makes your photo booth company unique?

You are absolutely right, there seems to be another "photo booth" company that pops up every month (along with another that disappears). Like I mentioned earlier, I wanted to set this company apart by focusing on quality and service above all else. To start, the equipment we use is professional studio-quality equipment. We didn't build our photo booth in our garage with scrap material. Instead, we assembled it using a beautiful powder-coated frame design and jam-packed it with the best equipment money could buy.

Aside from the quality of our setup and equipment, we ensure our clients have the most seamless, exceptional experience they've ever had. Notice I didn't say "photo booth" experience. We believe we can be more than just a "photo booth company" by standing out in our client's eyes and giving them an experience that sticks with them for life, just as we did for the mother of the bride mentioned above.

Oh, and did I mention we're super convenient and reliable? We make the contact and booking experience incredibly easy, giving clients one less thing to stress about.

Advice Before You Book: Ask Who You're Getting, Not Just What

Thanks for that, Matt. It does seem like you've got a pretty great company. I do have one more question for you though. What advice would you give to brides, event planners, clients, etc. who are considering booking a photo booth?

I would say that not all photo booths (or photo booth companies) are created equal. There was a huge investment of time and money that I put into my company (and continue to do so) in order to make it the best. Everyone should also consider not just what they are getting with the company, but who they are getting. Does the person or company have a high reputation? Can you see samples of their work online so there are no surprises? Will they even show up to your event (surprisingly, this is a common problem here)?

When people book with us, we don't want them to just have an awesome photo booth, but we want them to have an exceptional experience that leaves them speechless. We are also in the relationship game. A client to us is not just a number — we genuinely care about our clients and want the best for them, even if that means recommending how to build a photo booth on a budget when they can't afford our services (which we've happily done).

Nine Years Later: What Actually Held Up

That was 2017. The booths have gotten smarter, the map has stretched north through Phoenix and Scottsdale, and the white booth in that photo has a big family now — everything from the classic photo booth it grew out of to the AI photo booth we build custom experiences on today.

But read that last answer again, because it aged better than any of the equipment did. A reputation you can check. Samples you can actually look at. A company that shows up. That was the whole checklist then and it's still the whole checklist now — and that mother of the bride wasn't the last one to write us up, either (the reviews have kept right on coming).