Sonji is great at make up application and I have never doubted that, however the way she runs her business is very unprofessional and I would never recommend her to another. I originally booked Sonji for make up application for my wedding in Sept 2019. After have already paying deposits asked of me for 9 ladies including myself I later found out she had booked another wedding that day for 6 ladies at a venue 2 hours from my venue. This became a red flag because upon hiring she didn't say she was only available for a certain time slot which I feel should have been communicated upfront. After expressing I was nervous with the timeline she was giving me (She said she could arrive at noon possibly earlier and complete all 10 make up applications by or before my 1:30 first look OR she would do my make up and follow up with bridesmaids after.) I expressed this was an issue for me as I purchased Robes, champagne flutes, jewelry etc for my bridesmaids so we could take photos before I got into my dress and preferred my girls felt beautiful with their make up and hair complete by this time... Basically, I felt Sonji was running the show to our big day/ was not understanding of the timeline and how things were preferred to be done. I informed her I would be looking around for a second make up artist to help out on the day of so i was more comfortable with the timeline (as she expressed I cannot receive my deposits back/ find someone else to go with all together) I have many texts from her and when things go wrong she becomes very defensive, sends multiple texts at a time (She and I both have an iPhone so Ideally each text would fit into one text but she becomes very trigger happy and sends text after text. She informed me that she would easily be able to complete everyone's make up in 2-2.5 hours which I continued to explain that due to finding out she had a second bride/ her new arrival time of noon that timeline doesn't add up correctly to continue with our timeline of a 1:30PM first look. She started to explain to me that photos are done in groups Mom and dad, grandparents, family, bridal party etc. Again i had to circle back that my intentions were to have photos with my bridal party dolled up, in our robes etc. Everything I said seemed to just blow over her head and she continued to try to school me that she was good at what she does and there are more than enough hours in the day, and shes never had a photographers timeline get backed up because of her etc. but again circling back to her arrival time, her timeline estimate of no longer than 2-2.5 hours again this did not add up to how our timeline has already been set/ our already scheduled plans for the day. She even went as far as referring me to reach out to her photographer friends to verify the validity of her work. Again, that didn't matter to me the numbers were not adding up. I took a break from messaging her as I was pretty heated/ also made a post in a local Facebook group meant for brides to vent, get opinions and rate their vendors used . I asked if the timeline given/ the amount of girls (10) getting their make up done seemed to be alarming to anyone else or if I should just continue on. Many brides expressed that I should be worried. My wedding planner/DOC reached out to sonji early July to verify timeline/ we ended up moving things around with all other vendors etc. and Sonji responded that she was no longer doing my makeup the day of the wedding which was news to me/ I never heard from her that this was the outcome. I messaged her to let her know i never cancelled and to move forward with communication with my wedding planner. She then brought up the Facebook group expressing I bashed her and she doesn't appreciate that etc. We were able to work things out however after agreeing to how the day was going to play out now Sonji said "I look forward to your wedding day and I will talk to you personally from here on out if you have any questions" In which i responded "If Sarah, my wedding planner contacts you I would appreciate it that you respond to her as I am paying her to plan our wedding day. Thank you." Her response was "I will have a full $$$ refund given to you in 90 days. I no longer wish to do your wedding. I do think to make women feel beautiful because it makes me happy and its a pleasure to make women smile and you are not a pleasure" She also said "...Maybe you would like to meet for coffee sometime or talk on the phone like adults... not bride to makeup artist, but human to human. Help me help you. I dont get what kind of human you think I am and its very emotionally saddening." Due to these encounters, her unprofessional-ism, and lack of organization and proper communication I give Sonji's business 1 star. read more

Alright. This girl has some serious talent and I was all about her in the beginning. In the beginning of wedding planning and not really knowing what to look for and what to stay away from, I hired Sonji, but there was never a contract. First red flag, but I didn't know! (Not having a contract then letter saved my ass). Second red flag- I had saw on Facebook about a bride who was asking for advice on Sonji (bride did not name Sonji, but I found out later from a private message from that bride). The bride stated she found out that Sonji had doubled book on this bride's wedding day and bride was kind freaking out about her not having enough time since she is a one person team. Totally understandable. I then joined the conversation and was asking the bride questions about the whole situation. I get a message from Sonji a couple of hours later stating she was hurt because I was involved in that conversation and that I did not "trust her" and that bride from the group was "toxic". I'm like whoaaaa this is a bit unprofessional. So how was Sonji seeing this conversation you may ask since shes technically a vendor? A bride who had been married used Sonji for her wedding makeup and was still on the MN Bride's page...and screenshot the whole conversation to send to Sonji. I sucked it up and was like whatever. My bachelorette party was in Hudson/Stillwater beginning of August. Sonji is from Hudson. I reached out to her and asked if I could meet her that weekend for a trial and she was like of course! Sweet. I follow up a week before the party and she confirmed that we were still good to go. Come Saturday of that weekend, my friend and I show up to her apartment on time and Sonji did not answer the door nor her phone. We waited for about 30 mins before we left. I messaged Sonji and told her I'm trying really hard to not be mad as I know last minute things come up, but I would like to hear why she NO SHOWED at her apartment for my trial! No response. I'm scrolling through Snapchat stories and see Sonji has a story that was timed stamped 1 hour ago of her on a yacht with her boyfriend on St. Croix River. WHAT?! She finally messaged me back about another 30 mins later and was like, "Omg! I am so sorry! I cancelled all of my appointments this weekend due to a family reunion!" Like girl no, I have not heard a word from you and you confirmed with me a week ago we were still on for the trial! She tells me she canceled because she was at a family reunion. Nobody decides to have a family reunion within a week and have it planned out. I confront her on the Snap story with her boyfriend and gave me some lame ass excuse that she was having breakfast with her boyfriend and then leaving for the reunion. I totally caught her in a lie and she wouldn't fess up. Long story short, after getting advice from this group and my boudoir makeup artist, I ended up firing her. She refused to pay me back (around $300) and I had paid her in full by that point. I then explained to her there was no contract and since I did not receive my services, I would like my money back. She came back to me very unprofessionally trying to make me feel bad that she was a single mother and I was taking her "only income", (which was a lie since she is an avid social media poster and I've seen her pictures of her waitressing). I told Sonji I was not about to get into an argument about who has a more crappy situation and I want the money back before the wedding or were going to court. I got my money back. read more