A Sa•lon Santa Fe

The A Salon Team was absolutely amazing for my wedding hair and makeup, and my mom and bridesmaids! From the moment I first met Alana for my trial, she and the team made me feel incredibly comfortable and confident in how my hair and makeup would turn out for my day. They took the time to understand my vision, were open to feedback, and helped guide me to a look I would love. I really appreciate how collaborative they were in helping me decide my look, and Alana was always willing to offer expert suggestions to fit the vibe of my dress/look and our wedding, which was SO appreciated among all the other big decisions you have to make during wedding planning! On the day of, the team was super efficient, not intrusive at all/the perfect amount of “there” and made sure me, my mom, and all my bridesmaids looked stunning and were happy with how everything turned out. We never felt rushed, stressed, etc. because the team was on time, efficient, and enjoyable to have there helping us prep for the events of the day. My hair and makeup turned out exactly how I wanted it to - it was elevated/sophisticated natural, which is exactly what I was looking for. Not only did Alana and the team at A Salon make us look amazing, but they also made the getting ready experience enjoyable and memorable. I would highly recommend this team!

Alana, Ambra, and the entire team made me and my bridal party feel so special on my wedding day and throughout the planning process. Alana was responsive and professional throughout working with her. It made me feel much more confident knowing that she worked with several brides who got married at our venue. The team was timely and efficient while not making us feel rushed. They listened to what I wanted during the trial and my wedding day and even accommodated hair and makeup for my rehearsal dinner with enough notice! If you want to look like yourself but just elevated and beautiful, I can’t recommend A Salon enough!

Alana does not honor her own prices and will drop you as a client no matter how close it is to your wedding. I hired her in Sept 2023 for my Oct 2024 wedding. I reached out in April to inquire about a trial, and Alana said she was available Mon-Thurs. We set a trial for July, but when she found out I live in ABQ, she said she can only come down on “specific days,” and she’d look for a date that she could come down. Weeks went by, I followed up, she hadn’t found a date. I followed up again several more weeks later, and suddenly her schedule was so busy that the earliest we could do a trial was in Oct, less than 3 weeks before my wedding. I offered to find us a space in Santa Fe to work out of, at which point she stopped replying to me completely and would only communicate through my wedding planner. I agreed to the late trial date even though I was uncomfortable with it. The week before my trial, Alana added the trial to my contract at a price of $200 instead of the $150 that she has listed on her website and that she told me. When my planner asked why she charged me more for the trial, Alana said it’s because she doesn’t "normally" travel to Albuquerque so it’s for her “time and effort.” …Is that not what the travel fee is for? So she double-charged me (really triple, if you consider that she also added a 20% gratuity to the trial fee AND the $100 travel fee). Instead of $150, my trial would be $360. I don't understand how a traveling HMUA with no studio space could be so opposed to traveling 45 minutes. My planner suggested to Alana that she should have communicated the price increase earlier than 3 days before my trial. Instead of honoring her own pricing, she doubled down and got extremely defensive. At that point, she suggested maybe we want to “go in another direction” and find a new hair/makeup team. Because Alana pushed my trial so late, there was so little time to find a new team that we opted to keep the contract with her. 2 HOURS before my trial (which I took off work and got a blowout for), she unapologetically texted my planner and canceled the trial - with no proposal to reschedule. She made sure to note it had nothing to do with “the situation.” Right. My planner didn’t respond as we were busy looking for a new hair and makeup team. 2 days later, Alana emailed to say she felt “disrespected during the process" and asked again if we wanted to "go in a different direction" (AKA find a new HMUA team two weeks before the wedding) followed by, "I will look for your response by the end of today- if I don’t receive a response I will send your deposit back first thing tomorrow am.” She can go weeks between replying to emails but expected my response in less than one business day. She demands a lot of respect for someone who doesn't respect her clients, as evidenced by the fact that she did not attempt to reschedule the trial or offer any kind of apology for wasting my time and money. Throughout our exchanges, Alana called me entitled for asking for my refundable deposit back). She said she felt “reprimanded” by us because we asked for clarification on the random price increase. We were nothing but polite in the face of extremely unprofessional practices. I feel Alana is unprofessional, uncommunicative, condescending, and exploitative and I do not recommend her.

My hair and makeup was absolutely beautiful the day of the wedding! The team did an amazing job executing my hair inspo and very elegant makeup where I actually looked like myself! My mom looked absolutely gorgeous! Appreciate you guys so much and truly can’t recommend A Sa.lon enough✨