In July 2004, I had a large wedding party (four bridesmaid and myself) scheduled for make-up and hair on my wedding day at Edward Carriere. Further complicating matters was the fact that I was an out-of-town bride and my wedding party would only be flying in several days prior to my wedding day.

This salon was highly recommended by two hairstylist friends in my hometown and I felt reassured that the level of service would not be compromised - in fact, that perhaps it would be greater since I was from out of town and somewhat ill at ease from being away from my usual hairstylist.

I can honestly say that the feeling of unease never really truly went away with my EC experience.

From the very onset, while I was trying to book hair and makeup from my hometown, I was receiving minimal service from the customer service person who books weddings. I repeatedly told her that I was calling from out of town and was put on hold numerous times, compounding my long-distance bills. If you had email at the time, I would have defaulted to that instead. I also felt that she could not (or would not) give me any assurances, despite the fact that I had sought this salon over other Winnipeg salons.

Still, I believed that everything would fall into place on my wedding day.

I arrived and my four bridesmaids were whisked immediately into hair and makeup. I was whisked into make-up where they did an amazing job.

After my make-up, I went to get my hair done - except my appointed hairstylist was with another client. I could not understand this as I believed I had the first appointment of the morning with her and my hairstyle would (presumably) take longer than everyone else's.

Further aggravating this, the hairstylist then turned to me and mentioned that this was a STAFF person who's hair she was working on and she'd be about 10 minutes.

That turned into 20 minutes.

I cannot tell you the amount of fury that I had watching my bridesmaids get ready faster than me, and knowing that every minute I spent waiting was costing me time in getting back to my hotel to change, in getting to the church on time.

While waiting, I was watching the other hairstylists get my bridesmaids ready - and they did an amazing job - a better job, I would say, than what my hairstylist wound up doing with my hair. However, one hairstylist working on my bridesmaid had asked for my opinion on how it looked and if I was happy with the result of this particular bridesmaid. I said yes, except that one side of her hair didn't seem as flipped out as the other side and mentioned if she didn't mind setting it with some more hairspray since we were in for a long day. That hairstylist graciously smiled and said "no problem".

Later, I found out that through my bridesmaid that the hairstylist was grumbling about me being a demanding bride.

This was one day that I will never get back or repeat and it started out shoddily thanks to "highly recommended" staff. Thankfully, the rest of my wedding day turned out to be spectacular, although I still can't bear to look at my wedding pictures because they remind me of a hairstyle that wasn't up to par and really soured my whole morning and experience with Edward Carriere.

As someone who stepped through these salon doors with an open mind and a fat wallet, I wrote a complaint letter to the salon, stating the following:

"- The customer comes first, always. If you don't have a staff-working-on-staff-hair policy in place, perhaps this letter would prompt you to immediately take action on this.
- If your staff does not like a client, ask them to keep it to themselves or go to the staff room to vent. Don't think we can't hear just because we're not in the room.
- While your salon is probably one of the best in Winnipeg, it won't always be. If you want to continue to get big wedding day clients, act like it and coach more service-oriented staff.
- Share this letter with your staff - all of them, including the hairstylists and make-up artists. It should serve as a warning letter."

The only thing that saved my opinion of your salon was the make-up artists who did a flawless job and the other two hairstylists who did a good job on my bridesmaids. I wish I could say the same for the rest of my visit.

I will not be visiting Edward Carriere anytime soon, nor would I recommend its services to anyone else, particularly brides.