18 May 2011, Wednesday
Being in the industry for over 15 years, ensuring customer satisfaction and exceeding expectations has always been my style. However, recently I experienced an unpleasant encounter which really disturbed me.
This happened when I received a makeup job from a wedding planner for her bride. I communicated with the bride's wedding planner through e-mail on the images that she is looking for. When the bride met up with me about 9 days before her wedding, I was wondering why she had a wedding planner, yet she was still looking for a makeup artist in just less than two weeks. Shouldn't everything be planned beforehand and not last minute for something so important?
Though in doubt, my first impression of the bride is that she is an attractive woman who is full of character. I did the trial makeup according to her request and went through the different hairstyles that she wanted on her wedding day. I even took photos of her with the different hairstyles (as seen from the pictures below) and gave her advice as to which hairstyle would compliment her face the most. Trial makeup usually do not include changing of different hairstyles but I did that specially for the bride, as I sensed that she needed confidence in herself.
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| Trial Makeup (Before) |
On the actual wedding day, I reached the designated hotel at 3.30pm. I did makeup and hairstyling for the bride's mother and took pictures to allow her to better see the difference and the hairstyle that I have designed for her. She was very happy and satisfied with it.
Furthermore, upon seeing that her sister's makeup was a little messy, I volunteered to help her to touch up, at no cost. I believe that in this career, we should not be too calculative towards money. Service matters and what goes around comes around. Not only do I want to ensure a beautiful bride, I also want her loved ones to look pretty, confident and enjoy the wedding day. Her sister was very happy after I had touched up for her. The bride even gave me a $100 tip after I have done everyone's makeup. I felt blessed for the generous tip for a job well done ^.^
When the solemnization started, I was standing on the third level, witnessing the moment. I was very touched as I watched her walked down the red carpet and even took a video as they started to exchange their wedding vows.
Everything was so beautiful, I didnt expect what was coming up. When it was time for the bride to change to her second image after the solemnization as agreed upon, the bride did not appear. As it is common for weddings to be delayed, I stayed on to wait for the bride. I was in a small room, surrounded by four walls. There was no television, toilet, food, or drinks in the room.
Despite repeated attempts to call the wedding planner and the bridal party, everyone was not reachable. After a long period of waiting, I headed down to the venue. Her wedding planner saw me but ignored me. As it was already way past the allocated time, I gently reminded the bride that it was time to get changed. In return, she replied that she needed more time, so I waited patiently.
Finally, the bride is back at 8.45 p.m and I continued to assist her happily. When she had changed and sat down, I mentioned jokingly what took her so long, supposed to change after solemnization at 7pm, and that my stomach was rumbling waiting in the cold room. The bride reacted in an unexpected manner. She started to scold the wedding planner harshly, why didnt the wedding planner take care of my needs. I was not expecting the bride to provide dinner for me. Its just that I had been there since 3plus, it was a casual remark. I wanted to clarify but seeing her strong reaction, I kept quiet and just fulfilled the second change of image as best as I could.
I believe a less than professional person would have left and I have chosen to stay on despite prior commitment elsewhere and fulfilled the required makeup service to her satisfaction. If it was not for gentle intervention, it would have dragged on even further. At the end of the day, I only left the place at 9.45pm.
If the wedding planner and bride has mentioned that the wedding is expected to be delayed till the time, I would not have taken this job as I already have prior commitment. They assured me that the second change of image would take place right after solemnization, which is also why I offered a special rate to them, for the allocated hours.
Despite all these, I left the place feeling that I did my job well, just very apologetic towards my prior commitment. However, on that very night after the incident, I received an sms from the bride at about 1.49am. After I read the message, I could not fall back to sleep at all. It was very disturbing as I did not expect such strong reaction from the bride.
She has also posted a very nasty comment in bridal column saying how I had totally ruined her wedding day and how unprofessional I am as a makeup artist. I really wonder ... just one joking remark can really cause such a big reaction and discount away my years of effort and good reputation? Even though I am being paid for my service, I am also human. I have to tolerate whatever is thrown to me. Is it fair to me? In my years of experience, this is the first time I am treated like that. Being insulted, being ignored, being treated with no dignity. I use my heart when I serve every single bride, I really feel I dont deserve to be slammed like that.
Its disheartening ..... is there anyone who can give me justice .......
