By Ellis Butcher

Last updated at 12:42, Friday, 10 August 2012

A west Cumbrian firm has come to the rescue of two teenagers organising a birthday party – in America.

Jon Sharp and Mags Steventon

Jon Sharp, 45, and Mags Steventon, 56, owners of BoothPix Photo Booth in Greysouthen, near Cockermouth, received an email from a teenager wanting to hire their portable booth so she and her friends could have fun pictures taken at her 16th birthday party.

But when he looked more closely, Mr Sharp, a professional photographer, discovered the customer, Nevina Saitta, lived in Boston, Massachusetts.

Jon said: “I’ve no idea why it came to us. We have a dot.co.uk address.

“It would have been so easy to write a ‘sorry we can’t help’ response and leave it at that, but that’s not the way we do business here.”

After exchanging a few more emails with Nevina, Jon helped her and friend Julianna’s get their double celebration right.

He got in touch with a Boston-based company which attended their party.

“I was really pleased,” said Mr Sharp. “It’s especially nice to know that the internet and email has shrunk the world so you can help achieve this, even in a completely different country a few thousand miles away.”

The company provides portable photo booths to parties, weddings and corporate events, among others. It is a phenomenon that’s starting to take off in this country after proving a hit in the US.

Jon built his own portable photo booth which packs into a car and can then be quickly reassembled at events.

Jon and Mags began the enterprise after their health food shop in Cockermouth was wiped out by the floods in 2009.

First published at 11:26, Friday, 10 August 2012
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk