Weddingbee Blog

Since we first got engaged, I’d been struggling with the flower decision. Do I attempt a DIY the day before/morning of the wedding, or do I pay a professional?

For a couple of months, I was in touch with a really sweet and affordable woman who had helped me by putting together some proposals. She was the first and only florist I’d spoken to, since I really liked her upon first contact and didn’t have it in me to spend the time and energy on a huge search. I liked what she had to offer and while I still hadn’t made my decision, I knew in my heart that if I did choose a florist, it would be her.

I told her via email that I’d be making my decision shortly, and a few days later, I decided for sure that I wanted to leave the flowers to the pros. I asked her to send me a contract. Her response: “Sorry, I just booked another wedding for your date.”

Um, what?

I certainly don’t expect anyone to put their livelihood on hold while they wait for me to make a decision, but since we’d spoken so many times, I thought that she’d at least give me a heads up that she had another prospect. That way, I’d have sped up my decision. But no, I was left hanging, flowerless. Sigh.

Boo.

And now I had to start the search for another florist, which is what I’d tried to avoid in the first place.

I contacted about fifteen florists with a long, detailed email and followed up with phone calls, and ended up making appointments with several. I’ve had four appointments so far, and for the most part, I’ve been pretty disappointed.

The first florist had no flowers in her shop. None. She just had greens, succulents and moss. I don’t know much about what florists usually keep in stock, so maybe it was a seasonality thing, but, she also didn’t have a portfolio. She had a ton of flower books and magazines but no photos of work that she’d done! She was very nice, but I left our appointment feeling like I’d wasted my time.

The second florist was right in my neighborhood; I’d passed her shop hundreds of times while walking my dog. During our email conversation to set up our appointment, she said “I’ll email you our address the day before our meeting.” But I didn’t follow up with her since her shop was right around the corner. Welllllll, when I showed up at the shop the morning of our appointment, there was a girl in the shop who said, “Oh, all appointments are held in the studio, not in the shop.” Said studio was five blocks away in a warehouse, wasn’t marked from the outside, and was pretty much impossible to find. I ended up being fifteen minutes late to my actual appointment. And I hate being late. This wouldn’t have happened if she’d sent me the email she promised. It made me worry about how reliable this florist would be. If she can’t even remember to give me the correct address to her studio, how can I depend on her to get anything right?

And finally, for my third appointment, the florist called me right before I left the house to tell me that she didn’t feel well and asked if we could just talk on the phone later this week. Sigh. Now, of course I don’t blame her for being sick, but I’m not crazy about the fact that she wanted to make our rescheduled meeting a phone call only. It felt like she was making a half-assed effort.

Frustrating, right? I don’t think I’m a super high-maintenance person, but I’ve learned something from working at and creating client pitches for a large digital advertising agency: when someone is coming to you with a sum of money, looking to pay you for your services, you’ve got to sell yourself! Show me your portfolio so that I know what you’re capable of. Be detail-oriented and cover all bases. Make an effort to be present, and if something comes up, make even more of an effort to reschedule!

My fourth meeting was okay. The florist had a strong portfolio, she was prompt and detail-oriented, and she was affordable. I didn’t love her, but she was just fine. And I might decide that just fine is good enough.

When choosing your wedding vendors, did you let issues like these affect your decisions?