Your experience with florist for your wedding? -continue?

I am getting married in Nov. I would like to ask your real experience with florist you used before? What do you think about your florist? Any advices about wedding flowers? Should I pay full amount before the wedding day?

Your experience with florist for your wedding? -continue?
Ordering from Beecroft Flower Place has been the worst experience!! We used the Beecroft Flower Place at Beecroft (Sydney) this year. We don’t recommend it for any friend’s wedding. We didn’t get good flowers and good customer service.





The shop owner wasn’t helpful after we paid deposit. On her website, she wrote that “Shop has achieved unsurpassed customer satisfaction” We believed it, however it’s not true. We paid lots of money$$$$ but we were not satisfied with their flower and the service they promised. Because we paid full amount before the wedding, we were not able to change anything.





If you would like to choose a florist for your wedding, don’t try it!! Just a word of advice don't be fooled by the word and pictures that are shown.



About the deposit, never pay full amount for deposit!!



About the price, you can print some quotations from internet and bring them to your florist. It will help.



My friends recommend some florist -Lucy’s Florist (Summer Hill), Intercontinental Hotel Flower shop (City), Crows Nest Florist.
Reply:We went with a local florist, who had been in business for many, many years. She was very helpful with choosing things - for example, the style of bouquet I used - I had never heard of before, but when I kind of explained what I wanted, she knew exactly what it was (I didn't want the bouquet to just be the kind with the handle you hold, but didn't want a true arm bouquet - but had a European hand-tied bouquet of assorted flowers - so I could carry it in front of me, or in the crook of my arm).

We didn't pay til after the wedding -- but that depends on the type of shop you are dealing with.
Reply:Our florist was the best. We paid half before wedding and I told her she would not receive the other half until wedding. Everything was beautiful. She went above and beyond for us. We used a small town florist instead of one from the city where the girls were married. Much better and much cheaper.
Reply:November brides have a great excuse to use hypericum berries in their bouquet to really "lush it up" and make it look entirely "fall"--they are inexpensive but give the look of being very stylish...also consider small bouquets for the bridesmaids to keep costs down (they can really add up) and very simplistic bouts %26amp; corsages.
Reply:Most vendors are going to require that you pay the full amount before wedding day. The reason is that it is not like having an item on layaway. They can't get their flowers back or tell people to puke up the food if you can't pay. You need to keep track of everything! Always try to pay with a credit or debit card if you can so there is a paper trail of the payment in case of a dispute.



Take pictures of any mockups that you two do when you agree on what to use. Make sure that the contract clearly states what kinds of flowers she should be using, a general idea of what they should look like, and include a disssatisfaction clause that outlines what kinds of refunds you get in diff. cases. "If the flowers show up late $50 off, if they are the wrong arrangements refund of at least 30%, if I do not notify July that I can't do it within three weeks I am responsible for paying the bill of the new florist with the same arrangements and July will pay me our agreement" Everything should be in writing even if it is something as simple as "we'll show up at 1pm". You don't have to constantly redo the contract, if you are talking with the florist and have a verbal agreement that changes the original info then follow it up with an email "Hey June, It's July I just wanted to confirm that we agreed you'd show up at 9 and we are doing hydrangeas instead of peonies" when she emails back "you have it right" save the emails, print them, and add to a file with the contract.



I have seen so many brides where they didn't do this and even though the florist was supposed to bring all red roses in a 4ft. eiffel tower vase they got red roses with baby's breath and greenery in a 2ft square vase. Since they didn't make sure their contracts were in order they had to go to alot of hassel to get their money back, if they even got it at all. It sounds like alot but if something goes wrong you will be greatful. If the florist balks at having the refund clauses then it is probably a red flag that they are not reliable. Most reliable vendors I know take the attitude that "I won't screw up so it doesn't matter anyway."



That being said there are advantages to using a florist. A good florist can do package deals on wholesale flowers, knows what holds up best, and can properly feed and store your flowers so they are in fool bloom and looking as good as possible on the big day. They transport the flowers without damaging them (make sure transportation in included in the contract) and they make sure the flowers are set up properly.
Reply:My experience with our florist has been great. She owns 13 flower shops in town and she is the one who meets with you. The first thing she asked was what the flower budget was. I was pretty vague about it because I wanted to see what she had to offer. So, I threw a number out there, $500. Since our wedding is in the fall I brought my color swatches with me, brown, red, gold and ivory. She showed me examples of flowers we could use for bouquets and ideas for boutonnieres. We ended up with a mixture of roses, kangaroo paws, a few Calla Lilly's and some small accent flowers.



The payment is due the day before the wedding. All of my vendors have that policy. What you can do to protect yourself is make sure you pay with credit card. Also, I've found most every vendor on theknot.com. They pay a lot to advertise on that site so I think the majority of them are very reputable.



Good Luck! and Congrats on your upcoming wedding!
Reply:I appreciated my florist...good people, I met with the person organizing my flowers first to just say, "this is what i have in mind and this is my budget" and he gave me ideas back, what else i could do with my budget, etc. Then we met again to see more pictures and examples, then we started making a budget and organizing what we wanted for who. He was really sweet and willing to work in my budget. I used tulips which were beautiful, but they started to open while we were taking pictures between the wedding and reception, so they weren't totally gorgeous by the reception. Hydrangeas and Gardenias are hearty and beautiful, as well as not so expensive. And DO NOT pay in full before the wedding...if they don't come through for you, you have no leverage to bargain with. If you haven't paid in full, you can withold payment if you are unsatisfied and then meet with them to discuss what they can do to right the situation. If they insist you pay beforehand, pay with a credit card. If you do that and they don't pull through for you, you can call your credit card company and tell them to hold payment...explain you weren't happy with the flowers and they didn't hold up their end of the deal. Its a law that if you pay by cc and are not satisfied with the service, you can withold payment until it is made right.
Reply:I'm also getting married very soon and have not much experience with florists. I'm using the same as my friend used last year. You will want to make sure you set a time for her to deliver the flowers and that that is before you take your pictures. I remember at hers no one knew when the florist was coming and it was a big worry. Also, if you are on a tight budget, make sure they know that, I know my florist is coming up with great ideas to help me out. I want a huge wreath behidn my head table and she is using hydrangeas to fill it from her own garden and it will only end up costing me $40. The best thing to do is find someone who GETS what you want and has a feel for it. Be prepared with pictures!!

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