Maggie Rants [and Raves]

Here Comes the Bride

by Maggie Franklin | February 12, 2010 | Bookmark +

Yesterday I got a call from a bride-to-be who wanted some pricing info for her bridal party.

 

Yikes.

 

In all my years of doing nails, in all the salons I've worked in, the ONLY brides who have ever shown up for group appointments have been the ones who were existing clients.

 

There was that one bride, I guess. The %^*! who showed up half an hour late, cancelled her mother's appointment once she arrived (no notice), ran into her developmentally disabled sister's appointment time — which meant the poor girl almost didn't get her nails done, which is a really crappy thing to do to a gal who's whole world is revolving around that set of nails (yeah, I made SURE the sister got her nails!) — then changed her pedicure appointment to just a toenail polish change because she had been such a pain in my butt with her nails that she was running late by the time she got into the pedi chair. THEN she decided she liked the artwork I did on her sister so much better than what she told me to do on her nails. So after her toes were polished, she plopped herself back in my chair and demanded the same nail art I'd done on her sister.

 

Her Bride-zilla attitude ran me half an hour into my next client's appointment, then the b**** tipped me a FREAKIN’ DOLLAR on an $80 set of nails.

 

I swear! That's a 1.25% tip. Between the bride's nails and pedicure, her mother's nails and pedicure, and her sister's nails, it was supposed to be three full sets for me and two pedis for my mom (who worked with me back then) which turned into two sets for me and a toenail polish change for Mom. And she gives me a buck.

 

Point is, I haven't had a lot of luck with bridal parties. So I quoted her prices and told her that I require a 50% deposit up front for group appointments.

 

Today I had a client cancel her appointment for tomorrow. I appreciate her notice and she certainly gave me all the notice I ask for... but the full set she had scheduled for tomorrow afternoon had four hours of my time blocked out and an estimated price tag of $200. She's a sweet woman and I really enjoy her personally, but I especially love that she shows up about once every six months and has me go hog-wild to do a really extravagant set of nails and never gripes about sitting for several hours and forking over the money. And I really enjoy having an opportunity to stretch the creative muscles with a client who is willing to give me carte blanche. I'm pretty bummed I don't get to see her tomorrow, but it also brings up a similar problem as group appointments that no-show: a four-hour appointment is the equivalent of three or four regular services. So even though I got my 24-hour notice, I'm not likely to fill all four hours in that time.

 

Maybe it's time to work out a comprehensive policy for extra-long bookings? I guess I can do that tomorrow afternoon when I would have been doing those awesome nails.

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