This may be a long post, I will apologize now. First off, I am not opposed to having flowers at my wedding, I am just opposed to paying thousands of dollars for them. I sent my budget at $500 and went off to my first consultant hoping to get simple bouquets for myself and four bridesmaids, a few corsages, and boutonnieres for the groomsmen. I could tell I was way out of my league when I entered the place. So the first thing I said was that my budget is $500. Instead of telling me then that I was probably in the wrong flower shop, the lady proceeded to sit me down and talk non stop for two hours about all of the weddings and events the flower shop had provided flowers for, HBO, Cinemax, etc. She suggested pomander balls for the church pews and offered to work up an estimate for reception centerpieces as well. I again brought up my budget and stated that I am sure that this all would be way out of my budget. She smiled and said you never know and scheduled an appointment with me for the following week. Next week arrives and she provides me with an estimate of $1800 and said, I may be able to take off some things like the delivery charge, btw my church is literally two blocks away, so I felt this was the least she could do. I told her I would discuss with my fiance and get back to her, because again she talked for two hours and I didn't have time to stay and ponder over her estimate. I came back with my fiance to review the estimate, because she wouldn't let me take it with me, but she went over her whole sales pitch the same as she did when I first went. My fiance's eyes are glazed over with boredom, until she finally shows us the estimate. He states that this is not within our budget and she should remove the pomander balls and centerpieces. Now instead of recalculating her estimate right then, she says she will email it to me. I offer to pay the deposit stating that I know that I want her to provide the flowers and I am sure that we can get the estimate closer to our original budget maybe around $700. A week goes by and she calls, pissed off and demanding to know why I haven't called her with my decision. I reminded her that she was to send me just the cost. She says she will send it by the end of the weekend. The estimate comes on Monday, and it is for $913 dollars! At this point, I am second guessing using her, she never gets downto the cost unless pushed, and I am not even sure that she is providing me with just the simple bouquets that I envisioned. I am recalling her estimate with flowers that include crystal pins, tons of greenery, and berries. I wanted simple hand wrapped roses, no crystal, no berries. I called her and she was rude, basically just asked me if I am going with them or not? I told her my concerns about the bouquets and that we were still not within my budget. She tells me I can make payments. I tell her, it isn't that we don't have the money, we just don't want to spend that much on flowers, and I just want something simple. She starts ranting about how her time is valuable and she provided me with all these consultations which aren't free and how she didn't charge me. Then she asks me rudely if I just want her to use carnations. I told her that she was the expert and if she felt that I was asking for the impossible she should have told me. I also apologized for wasting her time. She says that I didn't waste her time, but she would have to get back to me by the close of business. One hour later she sends me an email informing me that she could rework the estimate taking off the corsages, and it would be $790, but she is sure that would still be TOO much for me, and that me and my fiance should look for another vendor. How rude! And to think her flyer says that she works with all budgets and BM bouquets start at $40. What a liar!