10 questions to ask your wedding fireworks company before you book

Booking wedding fireworks is a leap of faith. Unlike your cake or your flowers, you can't taste-test a display, and by the time you find out whether the company is any good, they're firing explosives 50 metres from everyone you love. Most fireworks companies are skilled, safety-obsessed professionals. A few are not, and from the outside their websites look identical.

The difference shows up quickly once you start asking the right questions. A professional will answer every one of these happily, in detail, without flannel. A cowboy will get vague, defensive or evasive. Here are the ten questions we believe every couple should ask any fireworks supplier, including us.

The ten questions

1. What insurance do you carry, and to what level?

Any professional display company carries public liability insurance specifically covering firework displays, and will send you the certificate without being chased. Ask for the level of cover, too; many venues require sight of the policy before they'll allow a display on site. If a supplier hesitates here, walk away and don't bother with the other nine.

2. How do you handle risk assessments?

A proper company produces a written, site-specific risk assessment for every display rather than reusing a generic one. Ask whether they'll visit your venue or study it in detail beforehand. At Amazing Wedding Fireworks, a full risk assessment and site survey is part of every booking. For us that's simply part of the job.

3. Who liaises with our venue?

The answer you want is: 'We do.' An experienced company will contact your venue directly, confirm the firing site, agree curfews and safety distances, and supply whatever paperwork the venue needs. If a supplier expects you to handle all of that yourself, they're leaving the technical coordination to the least qualified person involved, which is you, in the busiest week of your life.

4. Is the display computer-fired or hand-lit?

Computer firing means the display is choreographed in advance and triggered electronically, with the crew safely away from the fireworks. It delivers split-second timing, which is essential for music synchronisation, and a big safety margin. Hand-lighting still has its place in some corners of the industry, but for a wedding display we'd always want to hear 'computer-fired'. Every display we produce is 100% computer-fired.

5. How many firing positions will you use?

A display fired from a single point can look flat, like a fountain in one spot. Multiple firing positions let a designer sweep effects across the whole sky, left to right and near to far, and it's one of the clearest signs of a company that designs displays rather than just letting fireworks off. Ask how many positions your budget buys.

6. What happens if the weather turns?

Rain rarely stops a professional display, because modern equipment is well protected, but high winds can. Ask what their wind limits are, who makes the call on the night, and what the postponement or refund terms are. A professional has a clear written answer. A cowboy says 'it'll be fine'.

7. Who clears up afterwards?

Fireworks leave debris: spent tubes, casings and wires. The company should sweep the firing site after the display and return in daylight if needed, leaving the venue exactly as they found it. Venues remember the companies that don't, which leads neatly to question ten.

8. Can you synchronise the display to music?

Even if you don't want a full pyromusical, the answer tells you a lot about their capability. Proper music synchronisation requires computer firing and real design skill, with every burst placed against the soundtrack, beat by beat. If they offer it, ask to see a video of one they've actually fired.

9. How much space do you need?

For a full aerial display, guests typically need to be at least 50 metres from the firing site, with additional room beyond for falling debris. If a supplier claims they can fire a big display in a tight courtyard with no problem, treat it as a warning sign. The honest answer to a small site is a redesigned, lower-level display, or a frank admission that the venue isn't suitable.

10. Can we have references, ideally from venues?

Couples see one display; venues see dozens, from many companies, and they know exactly who turns up on time, fires safely and clears up properly. A company that's welcomed back to the same venues year after year has passed the most demanding review process in the industry. Online ratings help too, since sustained 5-star reviews across Google and Facebook are hard to fake over several years.

A professional fireworks company loves these questions, because they're the questions that make the cowboys sweat.

Look for the pattern

No single answer proves a company is brilliant. What matters is the pattern: prompt paperwork, direct venue liaison, honest talk about weather and space, and a track record you can check. That's what separates a display team with decades behind it from someone with a van and a website. The questions to ask your wedding fireworks company are, in the end, the same ones we've spent over 25 years answering as the dedicated wedding arm of Sonning Fireworks, and we'd be worried about any company that couldn't.

You're welcome to put us through the same interrogation. Send us your date and venue, ask us anything on this list, and we'll come back with straight answers and a no-obligation quote.