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Anyone using Avenue Flowers?

Hey Everyone,


I've been on several florist appointments ( AW, Petals, Santos, and Avenue). Out of the all of them I liked AW the best but a bride was already booked for my day when I called to book. Anyway my second favorite was Avenue Flowers in Elizabeth for the price and the creative vision I was able to imagine in my meeting. But I was a little turned off at my appointment. First I showed him(Nathan) a picture of mason jars lining the aisles of the ceremony space, but I said that since my ceremony space has cobblestone floors glass isn't a good idea so I told him I wanted tin buckets since my venue used to be a dairy farm (Perona Farms). I thought that would be cute and it was actually a suggestion from another florist (Petals) that works there often, but the guy laughed at me, like I was coming up with crazy whimsical ideas. And then he answered the phone during our meeting (I understand that he might have had to do that if no one was around) but he answered it on speaker phone and told the person that was checking on an order (it wasn't a customer, it was a company that uses them for local flowers like Teleflorist) and he was super rude to them saying that he isn't a 5 year old child and they don't need to check up on him and then hung up on them. Also his mother was working in the vicinity and she was asking him questions and he was really rude to her too. I want to go with him but this encounter irks me. I saw reviews on the North Jersey weebly and it describes the owner as a nice patient man, so maybe he was having a bad day? I want to give him benefit of the doubt and book him based on the price and creativity, but I'm worried that this decision might bite me down the road and cause me extra stress if I'm dealing with a vendor that's rude to me. What do you guys think? Is anyone using this florist and had a great experience so I can ease my nerves?

 

Thanks!

Re: Anyone using Avenue Flowers?

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    I used Nathan for my wedding (Oct 2010) and I can totally see your scenario playing out. With that said- he did a wonderful job on our wedding and my close friend's wedding as well as both of our bridal showers. He also recreated my bouquet for our 1st anniversary and did a wonderful wonderful job. He's a great florist and very talented, he's just a terrible businessman in the sense of running a business. I'm not going to be the one to tell you not to hire him or that you should hire him, but I wanted to add that yes- he isn't always the most professional but he's amazing at what he does and he'll aboslutely give you the best bang for your buck. It just all depends on how much faith/trust you have in your vendors. PM me if you want any more info!
    Anniversary Photobucket
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    We also used Avenue and thought they were great to work with. My first encounter with him was a bit similar to yours, but he did apologize because it was around Valentine's Day and he was doing 2 funerals, so he admitted he was under stress. There was another guy we worked with there, I think his name was Oscar, he was really great. Nathan's mom is often there, sleeping at the back table...lol...We actually got a kick out of her. We were really happy with the end result and a friend of ours used them after our wedding and loved them as well.
    BFP #1 1/1/11 EDD 9/10/11 dx:no hb DNC on 2/2/11 BFP #2 12/28/11 natural m/c on 2/6/12 BFP#3 2/16/13 dx:ectopic on 2/27 (given methotrexate)
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    Yea, his Mom was taking a lil nap in the back too ,hehe
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    I'm using Avenue Flowers for my wedding in March.

    I think you caught Nathan on a bad day. He has always been patient and helpful every time I've met with him.  It's getting close to V-Day, so he must be super stressed out.  I agree with the other ladies in that he's not such a great businessman, but the dude knows what he's doing. 

    You probably saw my sample centerpiece on the counter (peacock feathers & curly branches).  It's been sitting in the same spot since early September. =)
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