Question for girls with a natural curl to their hair....(pics of Hair Trial inside)

I went for my hair trial (pics at bottom) and I love how it came out .......but by the time I drove home, all of the curls on the side had fallen stick straight.

I think it's because she blew my hair out straight first and then used a curling iron.

Usually my hair holds a curl very well! (I will post pix of my natural curl in the next post).

So my question is:
Should I just start with my natural curl and have her use the curling iron over it? (i.e. instead of having her straighten it first.....I then probably won't get as smooth of a ribbony effect...but I guess that's a tradeoff).

**Has anyone else with curly hair done it this way? If not, how? (if you wore your hair mostly down).

I also thought about setting it in pin curls the night before, although it would stink to have to do that after the rehearsal dinner.

*Also, she used hardly any product in my hair. Nothing in it before she curled it and just some hairspray after.

--Should I scrunch my natural curls with gel first? Or would that screw up the effect of the curling iron?*

Thanks in advance for any help you can give.

,
Carrie Ann

p.s. I did go back to speak to the stylist about what to do differently and she was really no help. Every other thing out of her mouth is like, 'well, there's really nothing we can do about this or that.' She ultimately said to just start with my natural curl when I asked her about it, but she acts like she could care less whether it stays or not. So I'm also trying to find a new stylist.