I was disappointed with my experience with Jeanne for several reasons.
1) Inefficient communication: Through the wedding planning process, she called numerous times to ask for the same information. I found myself telling her the same plan ov...er and over again. To make matters worse, all of the phone calls while I was at work. When planning a wedding, there are so many moving parts and people, so it can get really frustrating when a vendor constantly asks for repeated information. imagine if all your vendors called every week to ask you for details you told them last week; you'd have no time! I understand wanting to confirm the plan, but it doesn't need to be done weekly. She would also waste a lot of time gossiping about non-wedding topics. I needed efficient, swift communication, but what I received was slow, meandering, and repetitive
2) Inconsistent pricing: I was quoted a price initially. I paid a deposit with the agreement the rest would be paid shortly before the wedding. I was then sent a contact, which was very ambiguous. I called to confirm the price, and she quoted me a different price. I assumed it was for additional services and signed the contact. When I went to pay, she charged me a different amount again. At no point in the process did I feel confident I knew what i was going to have to pay. More transparency and consistency in pricing would have smoothed the process significantly.
3) Lack of flexibility: No one can control the weather, I understand this completely. It was forecasted to snow on my wedding day (which we had known for weeks). Jeanne called me at 4:00 in the morning on my wedding day PANICKING because it was snowing and said I probably wouldn't be able to drive to her studio (we were getting our hair and makeup done at her studio, she didn't need to travel). I explained that I am from a northern state and am fully confident that I could drive there. She argued with me for more than an hour that snow in that mountains was different and there was no way I was making it to my wedding. She also said that her assistant (who I had paid extra for) would not be able to drive into town because of the snow. There are several issues with this:
a) as a wedding vendor, you are expected to have some degree of flexibility and problem solving. Yet, she offered little to no help in finding solutions and only was inflammatory and acted as though the whole wedding would have to be canceled,
b) The snow was in the forecast, it is not unreasonable for vendors to watch the weather and make plans AHEAD of time (not at 4 in the morning) to help mitigate stress on the big day
c) she refused to refund me for the money I had paid for the assistant despite the fact that I was not going to receive the service I paid for. i understand if the assistant truly couldn't make it, but I should not be charged for something i did not receive.
In the end, I ended up driving there just fine (the snow wasn't even sticking). The assistant arrived a little late, but made it, which was wonderful. Once we got there, it went pretty smoothly, but Jeanne talked the whole time about how bad the snow was (again, im from a northern state where we get several feet of snow for 8 months a year, it was NOT bad). Her hair and makeup services were fine, but her attitude, flexibility, and professionalism on a very important day did not reflect what they should have for someone with her experience.