A Flower Disaster!

As I plan an event, whether it be a baby shower, birthday party or wedding, I always like to ask people for vendor suggestions. A few friends recommended Skyline Floral to do the flowers at our wedding and several pepole raved about their pricing. I saw a few pictures of the centerpieces and bouquets Skyline did for my friends and they were beautiful! There was no way I was going to pass up a great price AND gorgeous flowers. I met with Sandra at the flower shop and was shocked when I sat down with the 80-something year old woman who was rather blunt and cold but I felt like as the conversation went on, I won her over and we ended up having a pretty good conversation. I showed her several photos of example centerpieces and bouquets that I like and she quoted me some prices (which I wrote down, of course.) Sandra said she refused to put white hydrangeas in bouquets, but stated she would use them in centerpieces that had water in them. (She claimed they wilt too fast in July.) After a second meeting with her, something just didn't feel right. I decided I would order a sample centerpiece, to ease my mind. Boy, am I happy I did.

First, Sandra told me she now refuses to put white hydrangeas in the centerpieces. When I reminded her that isn't what she told me, she denied ever saying that she would. I let that slide but here is where I freaked out... I picked up the floral arrangement and the flowers were ALL WRONG! There was a TON of greenery, which I specifically said I did not want, and there were flowers in there I didn't order! The worst part of all of this was that when I gasped and informed them this wasn't at all what I orderd, they shrugged their shoulders and said, "That is what we had." Ummmmmmmm, excuse me? That is "what you had"? Who does business like that?

Needless to say, that order has been canceled. I am meeting with some florists this week and I am anxious to get this done. I cannot stress to all you brides-to-be out there how important it is to order a sample before paying anyone for a job that could potentially ruin your entire vision. I learned a valuable lesson this time and I am so thankful it was 3 months prior to the wedding day.

Here is the photo I showed Skyline...

Here is what I got...