Vendor Problems???

I’m not really sure where to start with this post...you see, I have some pretty mixed feelings about my hair and make-up trial that I had the other day. Maybe I should start at the beginning and see what you all think...

I don’t have a specific hair person. My hair is naturally curly, and I wear it long which translates to not a lot of fuss. I can typically walk in anywhere and get a trim that I like. So I don’t have a specific hair person. Not really a big deal on an everyday basis, but when you’re planning a wedding, you want special hair...and not having a hair person then becomes a problem.

A few months back I received an email from a beauty consultant offering her services for hair and make-up the day of our wedding, including travelling to the venue to do it all. Seemed like a gift from above, so I quickly emailed her back to check pricing and availability. (I’ll apologize now for the multitude of “her” references coming your way...since I haven’t made a decision one way or the other yet, I don’t want to use names.)

She and I emailed back and forth for a few days, and we worked out that she was available, and she sent me a link to a website where I could view her pricing and some of her work. I contacted each of my Maids to see which ones would also be interested in having their hair done, and I sent off my final counts and awaited a price. I got a quote back and immediately wrote back and asked if the price included a trial for my hair and make-up.

Then five weeks went by. I never got a response. To be fair, I got busy with other things and didn’t notice that I hadn’t gotten an answer, but she never wrote me back and answered my question. So I finally contacted her back and asked point-blank (not rudely, but firmly) again if the price included the trials and was also clear to say that I had not agreed to anything with her yet until I had my questions answered.

And here’s where I made my mistake. When she wrote back apologetic and very sorry and yes, let’s get that scheduled for you, I overlooked the fact that she STILL did not answer my question. Actually, I thought the answer was yes, the trial was included. So I scheduled the trial and went on with my life.

Fast forward to the day of my trial. I bring along my inspiration pictures and we talk. She immediately starts working on my hair, and it takes about ½ an hour for her to finish. It’s not exactly what I asked for...but I don’t dislike it. It looks fine. Once we’re done with the hair, I assume that we’re moving on to make-up. She takes out her appointment book and starts talking about payment the day of, and scheduling and timing and all, and sits down on another chair. After a few minutes of this, I bring up the make-up trial. She goes on to “reassure” me that she does not believe in a heavy hand with make-up, that she wants to emphasize my looks the day of without overdoing and that I can “trust her.”

I have to admit that I didn’t really know what to say. So I said the obvious, that I thought we were doing a trial on both hair AND make-up. She says no, she just does the trial on hair and has another appointment coming in 15 minutes. She then asks me for $70 for her services for that day.

Now, I’m the first to admit that I’m non-confrontational. I seriously like to avoid conflict. So instead of making a scene and throwing a fit, I took out my checkbook and wrote her a check. But in the back of my mind, I’m thinking “What the Hell” is wrong with this lady. I seethe about it, leave and go about my day. But the whole drive home, I’m just SO frustrated. After talking to a few people about the situation, including B, we all agree that I need to make sure of what I remember before I go off on this woman. When I get home, B checks out my hair and says it looks nice, but he didn’t think that I wanted such a “done” look. I admit that I’m not thrilled, but keep quiet about it for the most part.

The trial was at 1 o’clock in the afternoon. I had to take the updo down at 7 o’clock. I had a raging headache from the do, and was all itchy from the amount of hairspray used. J helped me remove all 51 bobby pins...and she even helped me brush it out. The fact that I couldn’t wear the updo for more than 6 hours concerns me. I don’t have a sensitive head...I wear a ponytail most days, and I know that I have thick hair that is heavy when piled up on top. But I’ve worn updos for much longer time periods and not had the problems that I had with this one.

The day of the wedding, she’s supposed to come out and do my hair and make-up at 1 o’clock. It has to last until we plan on leaving around 10:30 that night. That’s quite a bit longer that I wore the do the other day, and I don’t know that I’ll be able to do it. Not to mention that I’m just supposed to “trust her” that I won’t look like a clown?

In her defense, when I went back and checked the emails she and I had sent, I see that she never actually answered my question about the trial being included in the price or not. It was MY mistake. She was so apologetic and wanted to book the trial right then, that I just made the assumption that yes, it was included. I should have asked for clarification...but now I’m torn. I’ve already had what I would consider to be two problems with this woman, and I wasn’t really thrilled with my hair. And don’t get me started about the fact that I never got the make-up trial.

So here’s my question...what would you do? Would you continue on? Or would you look for someone else? I’m really curious to know if I’m over-reacting...and I promise that I’ll post some pictures in the next day or two...I still need to calm down about it all.