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long rant about flower vendor [cross posted!]

So at the bridal fair I was at, I entered drawings. I happened to enter one for a free bridal bouquet, and I ended up winning! Awesome!

The lady emails me to send her a pinterest board of flowers I like, so I make one. That's fine. Then she asks if we can meet in person. This is when things start to get weird. On the website they list two locations of their studio, one is about 15 mins from my house, the other is over an hour drive away. On the website it makes a huge deal about how they have both so they can easily accommodate people.
I emailed asking if we could meet at the closer one since I live here. She says no, we have to meet at the further away one. Okay, whatever, that's fine.
So I drive all the way there, get there....and there is no one at the front. No one to greet me, no sign of anybody at the florist shop at all. There's a counter that is empty and I can hear people talking, but it's clearly someone meeting up about flowers..
I waited outside for 20 minutes after knocking, saying Helloooo is anyone here? and going in and out the front several times.
Then she pops up and acts like nothing is wrong at all.
I realize she was meeting with another couple for the whole entire time! I understand that things go over, but I literally drove over an hour just to meet with her and she isn't even ready?
Then she forgot what color flowers I liked and kept mentioning the wrong ones. Okay, no biggie. I show her what I want and it's fine. She's nice in person. She promises repeatedly that she will get me my contract within "2-3 days! I don't have anything going on!". So I wait a few days. Then it's a week and a half later. I email her and she apologizes and sends the contract.
Reading it, she put my fiances flowers as orange, and then back up flowers as red. We never, ever discussed having red flowers AT ALL. I don't want red flowers. I know things go out of stock and that's fine, but why would you pick a random color like red when I picked yellow and ivory for the flower colors?
I emailed her asking if she could change my fiances flower to yellow over a month ago, and nothing.
I emailed her a couple days ago about meeting up this month, because we're supposed to meet up to discuss it..and nothing. She never contacted me about anything. I know it's the holidays, but at the same time...she has a business and could have a vacation response set up if she out of office!

At this point I'm ready to email our planner at our venue and ask for flower req's, because I don't care if I am giving up a free bouquet, I would rather deal with someone who can communicate, and does not sneak things into the contract that I never agreed on. I'm guessing that was an accident, that she reused another contract, but still. If I'm going to sign it, I don't want some random color on there.
I'm just really glad I didn't sign anything or put a deposit in yet.
I just can't help but feel like because I won a free bouquet she thinks that I'm somehow not the same as a paying customer, and she is blowing me off completely.
Am I being silly? Part of me feels like I'm over reacting, but at the same time part of me feels like someone who has a business doing this should be so flaky! I'm also a fairly introverted person, so I didn't say anything in person despite being extremely annoyed about her being late. I was literally getting in my car to leave when she finally came out to meet with me.

Re: long rant about flower vendor [cross posted!]

  • She's acting really unprofessional.  I would be most worried about her unresponsiveness-- the contract issue would be easy to fix if she would just get back to you.  I'd probably go with another vendor at this point.
    Wedding Countdown Ticker
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    "I'm not a rude bitch.  I'm ten rude bitches in a large coat."

  • Yeah, I don't think a free bouquet is worth the fear that this woman isn't going to get her crap together.

    She also may not be the least expensive florist--who knows--maybe you could find one whose prices were cheap enough to balance out losing a free bouquet?  



    SaveSave
  • Sometimes, you get what you pay for. Find another florist. 


    What did you think would happen if you walked up to a group of internet strangers and told them to get shoehorned by their lady doc?~StageManager14
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  • I forgot to add that I would actually be buying flowers too! I need 2 bridesmaid bouquets, a MOH one, and 3 boutineers, plus 12 centerpieces and the flowers for the alter area, and petals for the aisle. So I am actually still a paying customer too, or would be!

    I think I'll email the planner today and see if she has any vendor req's. Thank you all for helping me and letting me know I'm not being crazy.


  • It's time to find a new florist. Good luck.
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    Anniversary
  • I wouldn't touch this woman with a 50-foot pole. Find someone new ASAP. It has already been way too much hassle, and it's only going to get worse from here. You don't need the stress.


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  • Definitely time for a new florist! Good luck!
  • Thank you! I emailed our coordinator today, so hopefully she has some req's for us. I explained what was going on [but not super detailed, just a sentence] just so she knows what is happening with that vendor/why we want a different one.

  • Well my venue coordinator got back to us with a list and I emailed one of the florists on it. She has gorgeous flowers that are exactly the look we are going for. She is so nice and already has way better communication about everything and she offered to make up a price list for us! So that's awesome. I'm crossing fingers that it's not SUPER expensive. We did end up needing a lot more flowers than I expected, but since I don't really want tons of roses I am hoping that it's not too terrible.
    But now I actually feel excited about flowers instead of filled with dread, so I'm really happy to have made the decision to move on from the other vendor! Free is not worth it if it's a total hassle!
  • CaliMel11 said:
    Well my venue coordinator got back to us with a list and I emailed one of the florists on it. She has gorgeous flowers that are exactly the look we are going for. She is so nice and already has way better communication about everything and she offered to make up a price list for us! So that's awesome. I'm crossing fingers that it's not SUPER expensive. We did end up needing a lot more flowers than I expected, but since I don't really want tons of roses I am hoping that it's not too terrible.
    But now I actually feel excited about flowers instead of filled with dread, so I'm really happy to have made the decision to move on from the other vendor! Free is not worth it if it's a total hassle!

    Unless you live in certain metropolitan areas where the labour fees are jacked up, flower prices can be easily adjusted and budgets greatly accommodated by your flower choices. Something as simple as the variety of flower or even the colour can affect the price. If what you really love is out of budget, ask about similar-looking flowers in lower price points, or consider scaling back the pricey blooms and filling out the arrangement with more greenery and/or stock.


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