COVID-19 UPDATES & POLICIES Updated As Of 7/7/20
As we continue to monitor the ongoing spread and subsequent impacts of COVID-19 in the United States, we would like to address current concerns on how this potential pandemic may affect your upcoming wedding. Please understand that this is something we have never dealt with before and never imagined we would see in our lifetime. We are meeting with other wedding vendors to discuss the best plan of action for our clients. We hope we will help clarify and alleviate some of your concerns and outline the steps that Shimmer and Spice is taking to ensure our client and staff safety during this time. The situation is quickly evolving and our policy is subject to change at any time so we can follow government guidelines. Please bear with us as we adapt to this rapidly-changing situation. We hope that the outline of policies below will alleviate as many concerns and questions as possible.
Upcoming Trials
We have resumed scheduling upcoming trials. Please reach out if you would like to book your trial, but know that as regulations shift, we may need to adjust accordingly.
Date Postponement
We will continue to monitor and follow guidelines provided by the CDC.gov and will be taking postponements on a case-by-case basis.
If we are available for your new date:
Note on pricing: Our lead artists received a raise for 2020/2021 weddings and that pricing has been reflected on our website since January 2020 - this pricing is also already written into most of your contracts. For the few of you who booked prior to the new pricing taking effect, if your new date falls in 2021, please understand the updated contract will also reflect these updated prices. Also note that we have implemented a small fee to hold your date for another year which is outlined below.
Staffing: We will try our very best to keep you with the artist that you originally booked, but it’s possible they will already be booked for your new date. If that happens, we will provide you with all of the other options (spoiler: they’re all really good!)
Should you choose to work with an associate artist in place of a lead artist, there will not be an additional fee.
More on retainer fees*:
2021 - For clients choosing to reschedule their wedding to a 2021 date, a retainer fee will be applied as follows:
*Note - this retainer fee is additional and will not be applied to your total costs.
Adjusted Contracts
Once a client has chosen to officially postpone their wedding date:
Postponement Impact Explanation and Statement
Every year we anticipate booking a certain number of weddings based on past years data. That estimate allows us to cover our annual expenses which include artist salaries and associated costs of staffing, products, taxes and the rent at our Norristown studio space. These items are vital parts of our ability to be a part of your wedding day. Because our business finances are based on an annual planning cycle, the impact of moving a wedding from 2020 into 2021 on our business is two fold:
SANITARY ACTIONS
Health is not something we take lightly. In accordance with CDC and PA State Cosmetology Board guidelines, we are taking additional safety and sanitation measures above what we have always had in place.
Shimmer and Spice Artists will be required to:
Timing impacts of additional sanitation measures:
Impact on products used:
Expectations of our clients
Our artists reserve the right to deny any individual service if they deem these policies have not been followed or that they are otherwise unsafe.
As we continue to monitor the ongoing spread and subsequent impacts of COVID-19 in the United States, we would like to address current concerns on how this potential pandemic may affect your upcoming wedding. Please understand that this is something we have never dealt with before and never imagined we would see in our lifetime. We are meeting with other wedding vendors to discuss the best plan of action for our clients. We hope we will help clarify and alleviate some of your concerns and outline the steps that Shimmer and Spice is taking to ensure our client and staff safety during this time. The situation is quickly evolving and our policy is subject to change at any time so we can follow government guidelines. Please bear with us as we adapt to this rapidly-changing situation. We hope that the outline of policies below will alleviate as many concerns and questions as possible.
Upcoming Trials
We have resumed scheduling upcoming trials. Please reach out if you would like to book your trial, but know that as regulations shift, we may need to adjust accordingly.
Date Postponement
We will continue to monitor and follow guidelines provided by the CDC.gov and will be taking postponements on a case-by-case basis.
If we are available for your new date:
Note on pricing: Our lead artists received a raise for 2020/2021 weddings and that pricing has been reflected on our website since January 2020 - this pricing is also already written into most of your contracts. For the few of you who booked prior to the new pricing taking effect, if your new date falls in 2021, please understand the updated contract will also reflect these updated prices. Also note that we have implemented a small fee to hold your date for another year which is outlined below.
Staffing: We will try our very best to keep you with the artist that you originally booked, but it’s possible they will already be booked for your new date. If that happens, we will provide you with all of the other options (spoiler: they’re all really good!)
Should you choose to work with an associate artist in place of a lead artist, there will not be an additional fee.
More on retainer fees*:
2021 - For clients choosing to reschedule their wedding to a 2021 date, a retainer fee will be applied as follows:
- Peak season (April- October) with a combined peak day (Friday or Saturday) - $250
- Peak season with a non-peak day (Sunday) $200
- Slow season (November through March) no fee
*Note - this retainer fee is additional and will not be applied to your total costs.
Adjusted Contracts
Once a client has chosen to officially postpone their wedding date:
- An updated contract will be sent through our planning interface, Honeybook.
- Any payments you had currently made will be transferred over to this contract
- If the new date is in 2021, the updated contract will have a new service fee named “Nonrefundable Postponement Fee” added to the balance
- We understand that you may have been impacted financially as a result of COVID-19. If you are unable to make a payment by the originally scheduled installment payment date, please reach out to us directly and we will work with you
- In order to move forward and confirm your new wedding date with us, know that the update to this contract has to be “accepted” in Honeybook
Postponement Impact Explanation and Statement
Every year we anticipate booking a certain number of weddings based on past years data. That estimate allows us to cover our annual expenses which include artist salaries and associated costs of staffing, products, taxes and the rent at our Norristown studio space. These items are vital parts of our ability to be a part of your wedding day. Because our business finances are based on an annual planning cycle, the impact of moving a wedding from 2020 into 2021 on our business is two fold:
- Our business sees no 2020 revenue, which results in an inability to cover our standard business expenses (i.e. insurance, taxes, and payroll)
- Furthermore, weddings that are moved to a date in the 2021 calendar year take away the opportunity for us to earn new 2021 revenue, effectively blocking us from taking on a newly contracted client for that date. While we are thrilled to work with you no matter the year, we felt it important to be candid with you all about how and why postponements (though deeply preferable to cancellations) are impacting our business
SANITARY ACTIONS
Health is not something we take lightly. In accordance with CDC and PA State Cosmetology Board guidelines, we are taking additional safety and sanitation measures above what we have always had in place.
Shimmer and Spice Artists will be required to:
- Wear face masks at all times while working with clients
- Wash their hands before services and in between each client
- Completely sterilize their kits before each booking & between each client (a few extra steps are involved in this above our usual sanitizing of brushes and other tools)
- Take out disposable products (mascara wands, sponges) for each client and dispose of those which were unused
- If you see that your artist is throwing away clean disposables, you may feel free to request that they give them to you instead if you will get use out of them. Otherwise, to maintain sanitation, they will need to discard them
- Scrape all products onto paper towels or palettes so that brushes do not come into contact with makeup directly at any time
Timing impacts of additional sanitation measures:
- 60 minutes will be needed for each application
- We will schedule 15 minutes in-between each client for sanitation
- We will need 30 minutes to set up and sanitize in the morning before starting
Impact on products used:
- We cannot and will not use eyeliner pencils on any client’s eyelid directly even if we sharpen and sterilize it. Instead, we will scrape the product onto a palette and use a brush to apply it - this will result in a softened appearance of the eyeliner. If the pencil “look” is an important element for you, please plan to bring your own eyeliner pencil. If you would like to do this but don’t have one, we will be happy to recommend one for you to purchase and bring with you
- We are able to use liquid liner with a brush as usual
- We cannot use strip lashes and will be using individual lashes instead. The vast majority of our brides already prefer individual lashes
- We are not able to apply any lip products - if you bring your own products, we will happily help you choose what goes best with the look (or, as mentioned previously, make recommendations for your purchase prior to the day of). Just please understand that you will apply lip products on your own
Expectations of our clients
- For safety purposes, we will now require a separate room in your hotel, home, or venue for beauty services. Whenever appropriate and feasible (weather permitting) we do prefer to work outdoors to minimize risk and maximize lighting. Though we’ve spent years crammed into small rooms and done so joyfully, it’s simply not safe at the moment
- We ask that only the person receiving services be in the room with the stylist at their assigned time
- Please be prepared to let our artists know where to go when they arrive so that they may set up and sanitize 30 minutes ahead of the first application
- Please share this link and information with your wedding party and other guests before services so they are aware and can adjust accordingly. We request that you please have any members of your party let you know if they or anyone they have come in contact with is sick (with anything at all) or if they have traveled by plane to the wedding. If so, they must plan to do their own makeup for the event as we simply cannot take any chances. Many of our artists live with elderly or otherwise immunocompromised individuals and we are moving forward from a position of trusting our clients to keep us safe the same way that we are taking measures to protect you all.
- In the event that a bridesmaid is not moving forward with makeup services on the event date, we are willing to credit their service 50%
- If any of our artists are presenting any kind of illness or have been around anyone that is ill, they will not be working your wedding. We will do our best to fill their role with another artist of our choice, but will communicate with you as best we can ahead of time
- Lastly, We ask that each client thoroughly wash their hands with soap and water before sitting down in our chairs
- We will conduct temperature checks and any client with a thermometer reading greater than 100.4 will be unable to receive makeup services. We will cancel services and credit the service by 50%
- If there is anyone who is more particular with the wedding look they want, please touch base ahead of time so I can put them in contact with your artist via email and they can chat electronically before their service.
- All clients are required to wear a mask while in the room with us and during most of the service until we reach that portion of the face where we will need it removed for a few minutes. We ask that there is minimal talking during the service overall, but especially once your mask has been removed for makeup application.
- Please feel free to let us know if you are uncomfortable at any point of your service
Our artists reserve the right to deny any individual service if they deem these policies have not been followed or that they are otherwise unsafe.