Unresponsive Vendors

Do you have a copy of your contract? How much was the deposit if you don’t mind me asking? Is it too much money to just find someone else?

View Quoted Comment Unfortunately, he required a deposit of 832. I have debated cutting my losses, but that is a large pill to swallow and we don’t have that kind of money to throw away, especially with everything else adding up. Below is my contract.

View Quoted Comment ♥️ That is a lot of money. Did you ever think about printing out hair and make up images that you want and just going to his place and drop them off and saying “I was in the neighborhood and figured I would drop these off just to give you an idea.” If he acts pissed off at that point then me personally I would have no other option but to confront him on his behavior. You may run the risk of losing your deposit but you can threaten to blast him over review sites and social media and you can also speak to an attorney. He is not fulfilling his end of the obligation so you should be entitled to at least some of the deposit back. You’re a beautiful girl so even if you have to go with a cheaper makeup/hair stylist I’m sure you’d look just as good.

View Quoted Comment I can’t figure out how to make the contract legible on here, but below is the cancellation portion of the contract.

Cancellation
If bridal event is canceled, no portion of the fees paid to ______________ will be returned. If event is canceled less than 2 months before, 2nd payment will be required to compensate for hours of service already rendered and loss of event date. If the event is postponed, services contracted can be applied to a new date if available (refer to Postponement

View Quoted Comment Thank you! Yes, I think you’re right. Just frustrating that it has to be like this. This is supposed to be a joyous time. Stressful, but happy. Makes me wonder why people get into this industry..... $$$$

View Quoted Comment Also just a side note I was advised that I should start looking for hair and make up three months before, however that’s just random advice I was given but maybe he has a lot of other weddings and he is waiting until it’s closer to your wedding time to discuss the look you want. At this point with the money that’s invested I think you should just give it a little bit more time and I would say once it’s closer to your wedding that might be when you might want to pop in or say something. The last thing you would want is for him to just not show up.

View Quoted Comment So true! I am so new to all of this wedding stuffAnd I have to say I was in total sticker shock at first. I have thrown parties and other events before but the price is sooooo jacked up just because there is the title of “wedding “in front of it.♥️ Good luck and congrats girl!!!! You’re getting married!

The only vendor daughter had trouble with regarding communication was her HMUA. It's not an excuse, but what she found was that it helped a lot to try and understand the HMUA's schedule and preferred method of interaction. So, she asked about both (which I understand can only happen if they'll respond at all!). The HMUA is an extremely successful wedding vendor, so she typically works at least 2 weddings every weekend (often more), sometimes starting as early as 4 am and/or traveling. In addition, she owns her own salon and sees salon clients MWF (if she doesn't have a Friday wedding). AND she's a mom to a preschooler.... She does not work TT under any circumstances (that's her family time) including returning messages. That meant if daughter reached out to her on a Wednesday evening or Thursday morning, it would likely be some time Monday before the HMUA responded. She was also much more responsive to text messages than she was to email or contact through her website. Did all of that result in great business communication? Absolutely not, but it helped daughter understand that she was much more likely to get a timely response if she texted the HMUA on a Monday or Wednesday morning.

I totally understand expecting professional business people to be able to handle basic customer communication, and in most cases, daughter walked away from vendors who did not respond to her requests in a timely manner. But, in the long-run, she was glad she stuck with the HMUA even though she wasn't great with basic communication -- she was a magical-unicorn-genius when it came to wedding HMU, and as daughter got to know and understand her better, found she's really sweet and gives her weddings 1000% of her time and attention (that's why she doesn't answer messages when she's working a wedding...). I hope things work out for you, especially since you've already committed so much $$$. Good luck!

Also, as pp mentioned, while you probably just have some quick/basic questions you'd like an answer to, they may be thinking, "your wedding is ten months from now...we don't need to interact right now!" Overall, daughter found once her vendors were booked (anywhere from 9-16 months before the wedding), she didn't have much interaction with them again until about 90 days or less. Again, good luck!

Did you schedule a hair and makeup trial yet? That would be a good way to try to get his attention. I booked my hair and makeup about 10 months out and I'm planning to make an appt for a trial about 3 months before the wedding.