PortaPottyBossPro Blog — Event Rentals & Booking

Booking Porta Potties for Weddings: What the Office Needs Before the Big Day

Weddings are some of the most rewarding event jobs a porta potty company takes, and some of the most nerve-wracking. The date is fixed, the customer is emotional, and the photos last forever. A unit in the wrong spot is not a small mistake when it shows up behind the bride in every picture.

Start With the Full Event Picture

Before you book a single wedding, it helps to understand how event work moves from request to pickup. Event Porta Potty Rental Software: The Complete Guide to Booking, Delivering and Billing Event Units covers the whole flow. This article zooms in on what the office needs to collect for a wedding, because weddings reward the operators who ask the right questions up front.

Weddings often get booked months ahead, sometimes a year ahead. The couple or a planner calls, asks a few questions and promises to get back to you. Then they come back in March wanting a firm quote. If you wrote nothing down the first time, you start over. Keep every wedding inquiry in one place from the first contact, even if they have not decided yet.

The Questions to Ask Every Wedding Customer

A short checklist keeps the office consistent no matter who answers the phone:

• The date, and whether there is a rehearsal or setup day before
• The venue address, and whether it is a private farm, a park, a backyard or a rented venue
• The approximate guest count and how long the event runs
• Whether alcohol is being served, which usually means more restroom traffic
• Whether any guests use a wheelchair or walker
• Whether the couple wants standard units, deluxe flushing units or a restroom trailer
• Where the units should go, and where they absolutely should not go
• Who the contact is on the day, which is often a planner, a parent or the venue manager

Put the answers on the client and the site. The day-of contact goes in as a site contact, and access details like a gate code or "enter by the back field road" go in the gate and access notes.

Helping Them Choose the Right Mix

Couples rarely know what they need. Your job is to guide them using your own experience and the guidance you give every event customer. Many wedding customers who are paying for a beautiful venue want something nicer than a standard unit. A deluxe flushing unit with a hand wash station is a step up, and a restroom trailer is the premium choice for a formal event. We cover that option in more detail in Restroom Trailers for Weddings and Upscale Events: Booking the Premium Option.

Whatever they pick, add an ADA accessible unit when you know older relatives or guests with mobility needs will attend. Put a hand wash station next to standard units. Wedding guests in nice clothes appreciate it, and it is an easy line on the quote.

Placement Notes That Protect the Photos

This is where weddings differ from every other job. Ask the couple or planner where the ceremony faces, where the reception tent goes and where the photographer plans to shoot. Then write a placement note that a driver who has never seen the property can follow:

"Two deluxe units and one hand wash station behind the white barn, on the gravel. NOT on the lawn. Doors facing the barn, away from the ceremony field. ADA unit on the concrete pad by the barn door."

That note shows under the address on the office lists and on the driver's phone. The driver takes photos when the units are set, and those photos stay with the job. If the planner calls Friday afternoon to say the units are in the wrong spot, you can look at the photos and the note together and sort it out in a minute.

Timing the Delivery and Pickup

Most wedding units go out the day before and come home the day after. If the venue has a rehearsal dinner on site, they might want units two days ahead. Ask. Schedule the delivery and the pickup as separate jobs on the dispatch board, and set the rental's days included to cover the full window so any extra days the couple asks for are billed at your per-day rate automatically.

Sunday pickups after a Saturday wedding are common, but many operators prefer Monday. Whatever you offer, write it on the quote so the venue knows when the units will leave.

Day-Of Communication

Wedding customers worry. A text the night before that says the units are on their way tomorrow, and an automatic "on the way" text when the driver leaves, does more for your reputation than any ad. If the planner replies to a text with a question, it comes into the office's two-way texting so someone can answer it right away.

Customers who use the customer app can also see the route on delivery day and how many stops away the truck is. A planner juggling florists, caterers and a DJ will thank you for one less thing to chase.

After the Wedding

Charge the balance to the card on file when the pickup is completed, and send the invoice. A few days later, when the couple is back from their honeymoon or at least done with thank-you notes, ask for a review. Couples talk to engaged friends, and planners book dozens of weddings a year. One good wedding often leads to the next.

To see how wedding bookings fit with festivals, races and every other event you rent for, head back to the event porta potty rental software overview.