Weddings By Crystal — Local services in Orlando

Buyer Beware: Please read in full. It is with profound disappointment that I compose this review. Our greatest frustration stemmed from what we perceived as repeated dishonesty regarding pricing and services provided:

One major concern is that almost all of the reviews we found, both on this site and others, were about the previous owner, Crystal, not Dawn. When we hired this vendor for our wedding, we expected the same level of service as praised in those five-star reviews. However, Dawn’s services didn’t match up to the high reputation the company had built.

We were given a wrong price and ended up paying nearly $300 more than we should have in overcharges. Despite providing evidence, Dawn did not give us the correct refund, leaving us short by almost $100. Unfortunately, we are still waiting for the proper refund.

Dawn gave us a service promise of two additional makeup artists, including herself, for our wedding day to accommodate the size of our bridal party. However, the day of the wedding, she arrived with only one additional artist, citing a sudden medical emergency without prior notice. Initially, she mentioned that her pricing accounted for her team, but later claimed we were paying for services, not individuals, retracting her earlier statement.

Dawn's frequent scheduling conflicts led to our makeup trial being postponed until just 20 days before the wedding. Unfortunately, the trial didn't go well because Dawn couldn't match the makeup colors we wanted due to a lack of supplies. We felt her skills weren't what we expected, so we arranged a second trial. Despite this, she insisted we were outside her 90-day change policy and charged us $300 for both trials, which didn't contribute to the wedding cost. Even after simplifying the look for the second trial, Dawn still couldn't meet our requests. Consequently, we had to rely on a friend for makeup on the wedding day, despite having already paid Dawn in full. As of now, she hasn't refunded us for either trial.

During the makeup trial, Dawn requested that my wife come to her house alone, which seemed unusual to us since we anticipated the trials would take place in a professional studio, considering the positive reviews of the business. My wife felt uncomfortable with this request, especially since it was her first time meeting Dawn. Consequently, she brought members of the bridal party to both sessions. Despite there being no stipulation against this in our contract with Dawn, she expressed significant displeasure. She greeted our friends and family with rudeness and used profanity, which was both unexpected and unprofessional.

On the wedding day, Dawn was responsible for hairstyling only. We requested a simple task: to maintain my wife's straightened hair and add extensions for volume. However, Dawn took several hours, exceeding our agreed-upon timeline for hair and makeup. Our wedding coordinator confirmed this delay with two check-ins. Unfortunately, Dawn didn't attach the extensions properly and attempted to conceal them under my wife's veil. Shortly after Dawn left, the extensions fell out, necessitating a redo. Despite a second attempt by Dawn, the extensions fell out again. Our photographer captured this process so that we could have evidence of the experience. Ultimately, one of the bridesmaids had to redo my wife's hair. Although she looked beautiful, the delay caused us to postpone the wedding start time and lose money on scheduled photo sessions. As a result, we missed out on capturing cherished memories with our bridal party due to the time lost during Dawn's sessions.

We've requested a full refund from Dawn for our unsatisfactory experience, but she has declined. Despite paying Dawn $1,500 for services that were not provided, her only offer was a $200 refund. This amount didn't even compensate for the time and money we lost during the makeup trials.

In conclusion, we wrote this review with the aim of preventing others from encountering a similar...

BUYER BEWARE - I want to preface this review by saying as a bride, I only had my make up done by Melissa and the rest of my family and bridesmaids had their hair done by Dawn and her assistant. Melissa did an EXCELLENT job on my make up and truly listened to my vision so if I could give her specifically a 5 star review I would. My issues with Dawn seem to be reciprocated in previous low star reviews so I would just warn other brides before booking this vendor as the previous 5 star reviews are with the previous owner - Crystal, not Dawn who is currently running the business.

The biggest issue I had was that Dawn (or anyone on her team) did not meet expectations that were set out in our contract. I had been guaranteed through a legally binding contract that I would have touch-up services halfway through my wedding day. I was transitioning from a traditional Indian wedding to an American wedding including a complete outfit change which would require some touch ups on my hair and make up. Dawn or anyone from her team never showed up and failed to appropriately contact my wedding planner to inform us that she was "stuck in traffic." I was then left scrambling and stressed on a day that was supposed to be the complete opposite. A week after the wedding I decided to reach out to her because she didn't even text or email an apology. I requested a refund which she then told me "it was a free add on" to my services since I was spending so much already on the initial hair and make up services and that she wouldn't refund me. So this told me that because I didn't specifically get charged for the touch up, it didn't matter for her to show up. We ended up coming to an agreement for a $100 refund for the nonrefundable initial deposit but I was still furious with her and the company she runs.

On top of ALL of this, I found out she didn't look at any of the inspiration pictures I sent her for my bridesmaids and most of them were unhappy with the results of their hair. AND she managed to somehow burn my aunt's gray hair causing the gray hairs to turn a red/brown color in areas that she used the curling iron. She didn't even apologize for that when I brought it up, stating it was just a reaction with the product or hair spray she put in her hair. You would think if you're a "professional" you would know how to avoid something like that from happening??

It's taken me over 6 months to write this review because just thinking about Dawn and everything that happened brings back all the anger and frustration from the day and the weeks afterwards. I honestly regret ever booking this company as a vendor and wish I went with someone else.

UPDATE - The Knot and Wedding Wire have now hidden my review because Dawn has now “disputed” my claim. I’ve submitted everything I need to in order to prove these claims true but looks like the reviews on these...

I'll start by saying that the hair & makeup service was good, we all looked beautiful. But to get there we struggled... unfortunately I (Bride) felt uncomfortable since the hair stylist (Crystal) came to us. She was late & came without the makeup artist (she was more late than her) & the way she spoke to us was with attitude & not very professional. I understand things happen but the email said 10:30am & she texted me the day before when I send her the room number that she will get there by 10:45am & then (wedding day) told me she was running behind & arrived at the hotel parking lot at 11:05 a.m. We were all waiting for her & the makeup artist before the agreed time, to be ready for them. Not one of them apologized for being late!!!Everyone knows that we are all very nervous that day, especially the Bride (me), we also didn’t have a trial because she was unavailable, which means we don't need more stress!

When Crystal was doing the first hairstyle (mother of the groom) it wasn't exactly what she wanted in the front so her daughter was trying to help her mom & they don’t know why Crystal in that moment proceeded to give her the brush to do it with attitude & that is very disrespectful!!! I work in the Entertainment business, I know how this works, & when someone is not satisfied, we try to do the best we can & make sure we do as much as possible because they are paying for the service.

We had other attitude situations but I'm going to end this with dissatisfaction with Crystal's attitude, the way she spoke to my family (she said a few nice things, not all the time was bad attitude) but today (the day after my wedding) I think about that morning & it makes me a little sad. My family was very disappointed & again we all looked beautiful in the end, but I would NOT recommend using...