Lucie Mendelova, the creative force behind MENUU in the Czech Republic, discovered a gap in the wedding market while planning her own special day. “I was researching intensively all services available and there was this hole in the market,” Lucie explains.
As she navigated the time-consuming process of wedding planning, a question kept recurring: why wasn’t there a service offering comprehensive decoration rentals that couples could arrange themselves? The options seemed limited—either hire an expensive wedding coordinator or purchase and rent items individually, which proved inconvenient and costly. This frustration sparked an entrepreneurial vision. After her wedding, Lucie and her husband—both designers by profession—drafted a business plan and decided to launch MENUU, revolutionizing how couples access wedding décor. Their need for reliable event rental software became apparent as they built their unique business model.
The challenges that led to Booqable
When Lucie and her husband began developing their business, they faced significant challenges finding the right technology platform. “We experimented with several services like Wix, Shopify, and Squarespace when starting out,” Lucie explains. As design professionals, they had exacting standards for their online presence. “For some this may sound crazy, but my husband and I are both design-fanatics, so design for us is always in first place.”
After exploring various options, they gravitated toward Squarespace for its aesthetic capabilities. However, they quickly encountered a fundamental obstacle: “We could not use Squarespace itself because it is set up only to sell stuff, not to rent.” This revelation highlighted a critical difference between e-commerce and rental business models. “Renting versus selling requires a completely different backend, and there are not so many providers offering nice and convenient rental front-end and back-end solutions.”
Their search for an equipment rental software solution that could work with their preferred design platform led them to Booqable. “Since Booqable could be integrated into Squarespace, that was the first sign for us to look deeper into it.”
Seamless website integration
Their search for an equipment rental software solution that could work with their preferred design platform led them to Booqable. “Since Booqable could be integrated into Squarespace, that was the first sign for us to look deeper into it.” The integration process proved remarkably straightforward, requiring only a simple code snippet pasted into their Squarespace page to connect it with their Booqable account.
“What we loved about the Booqable integration is how seamless it is,” Lucie explains. “We simply added the code to our Squarespace site, and suddenly we had access to all the rental functionality we needed.” This enabled them to enhance their website with essential rental elements like the Booqable date picker, which allows customers to select their wedding date and see availability in real-time. They also incorporated product displays that showcase their wedding décor packages with descriptions, pricing, and high-quality images, all managed from their Booqable inventory system.
The filter bar proved especially valuable, allowing couples to narrow down options by wedding style, package size, and availability dates. “Having these rental-specific features on our beautifully designed Squarespace site gives us the best of both worlds,” says Lucie. “Our customers get an elegant browsing experience while we benefit from powerful rental management tools working behind the scenes.”
“What ultimately convinced us was the number of <a href=“https://youtube.com/@booqable?si=YukRmwJB2xw8b0hN“ target=“_blank”>Youtube tutorials</a>. We gained confidence that we might be able to solve issues with either Booqable’s first-party tutorials or thanks to their community.” The combination gave them the design control they wanted as creative professionals while providing the specialized rental functionality their business required.
Breaking language barriers with Booqable translations
Operating in the Czech Republic meant language localization was crucial for building customer trust. “The Czech language was a must for us to build trust with future customers,” Lucie explains. This requirement eliminated many potential software solutions that didn’t offer translation capabilities. “We were surprised to find out that so many services do not offer the option to customize text fields manually.”
Booqable’s translation tools proved to be a game-changer for MENUU. “Booqable has the possibility to manually translate or change texts displayed on the front-end, so avoiding confusion or building trust with customers is easy.” This flexibility allowed them to create a fully localized experience for their Czech clients while maintaining the powerful functionality of the equipment rental software.
Managing the day-to-day with Booqable
Booqable has become integral to MENUU’s daily operations, helping the small two-person team manage their growing business efficiently. “Booqable is equipped well enough to start a rental business, and most necessary features are built in and nicely set up,” Lucie notes.
Their daily routine with Booqable has become second nature. Each morning begins with checking the dashboard for a clear overview of the day’s scheduled pickups and returns. “The scheduling feature in Booqable gives us perfect visibility into what’s happening today, tomorrow, and next week,” Lucie explains. This prevents any surprises and allows them to prepare inventory in advance.
When interacting with customers, Lucie and her husband maintain a personal touch. They prefer to update order statuses in person during pickup or return interactions, which helps ensure everything is properly documented in real-time. This face-to-face confirmation has become easier with the Booqable mobile app, which Lucie uses to track orders and communicate with her team while on the go.
Communication with clients flows smoothly through the platform as well. The team takes advantage of Booqable’s integrated communication features to email documents and additional information directly from the orders page. This integrated approach keeps all customer interactions and documents in one place.
The system helps them track inventory across their design packages, which come in three sizes to accommodate different wedding scales. The comprehensive support resources have also proven invaluable: “Booqable has great tutorials neatly placed around the back-office, so I rarely have to search for tutorials myself. Videos are always exactly where needed, so setting up the business was not difficult at all.”
Growing a successful rental business with the right tools
Since implementing Booqable as their event rental software solution, MENUU has successfully launched their unique wedding décor rental concept and is already seeing positive engagement from customers. Looking ahead, Lucie envisions expanding beyond weddings to company events, birthdays, and baby showers, while maintaining their commitment to quality and personal approach.
Throughout this journey, Booqable has proven to be more than just rental management software—it’s been a foundation upon which Lucie and her husband could build their creative vision. With Booqable supporting their operations, MENUU is well-positioned to deliver on their promise of helping people achieve the perfect venue without compromises for years to come.
