River View Salon & Day Spa

I went here with my bridesmaids for my wedding last month and had an awful experience. I'm kind of embarrassed about the amount of money my bridesmaids spent for what they received. I am not from the area and had decided to forgo a trail- first mistake. I came with a very clear picture of how I wanted my hair, and the stylist really struggled to understand what I wanted, despite asking for exactly what was in the picture and explaining it the best I could in my non-hairdresser lingo. She seemed friendly though and was making conversation. However, after a couple minutes of giving the benefit of the doubt, I wasn't at all happy with where she was going with it, so I asked for a couple changes. She then responded by arguing the difference between a twist and a curl (despite the picture) and said that I had better have made my mind up because she wasn't going to re-do it again. I ended up with what I wanted after some significant arguing, but I felt like I had to be far more assertive than what felt comfortable in order for that to happen. I also had to put many more pins in throughout the night to keep it that way. One of my bridesmaids also had her ear seriously burned by another stylist's curling iron. I had my makeup done by a very polite and friendly woman. She did seem to struggle though with the idea of what "natural" might look like. She started with very heavy eyeliner which I was pretty horrified about when I opened my eyes. I asked her if she could make it a little lighter, which she did, but the process of removing the heavy-duty makeup made my eyelids pretty red for the following couple of hours. Aside from the heavy eye makeup, she only used a light mineral powder and blush (which was great) but didn't even ask about lips. When she was finishing up, I wasn't exactly pleased but was a little scared and frustrated. It didn't seem like there was a chance of making it right, so I opted to just pay the $130 + tip and head back to get a better look. The eyeliner ended up sitting well above my lash line, leaving an area of skin between the line and my lashes that I didn't notice until I got much closer to the mirror. I ended up re-doing my makeup and was much happier with my own work. Basically, I should have had trials. That being said, I'm really not that picky and the staff seemed to be unwelcome to working with me when I tried to make requests or clarify what I wanted. I'm not a confrontational person and would typically just accept whatever I got, but felt that this quality of work just wasn't acceptable for such an important (and well-documented) day. The website also promises a river view, which I saw none of while actually in the salon. I've never had a cut, color, mani or any of the spa services, so I don't know about them, but I would steer very clear for wedding styling.

My bridesmaids took me to Riverview for my bachelorette party. We were able to use their back porch as a private area to relax and have a small bite to eat. I was very pleased with the salt glow body scrub and pedicure I received. My manicure did not last very long, unfortunately; even 7 or 8 hours afterward it was not dry. Not sure if they forgot a step, like using the UV lamp, on my manicure. I would go back for massage or facial.