My florist has been a nightmare to get a hold of! We are getting married in 3 months. We booked her at a wedding show 18 months ago and paid a deposit via cheque on the day. She said she would email me the invoice and a detailed list of what we discussed for my records. After a couple of months I messaged her on her FB page to ask if I could have the invoice. No reply, so I emailed her instead. I eventually got a reply several weeks later and she posted me the invoice. At the time I didn't worry too much as I know I'm not her only bride and she was probably busy dealing with brides who were getting married closer to the time than me. Fast forward another few months and she called me one day panicked saying "You're getting married in two weeks and I have no idea what you want!" so I reminded her that my wedding was in 2017 and she said she'd put the date down wrong and she'd be in touch in October time to arrange a meeting and finalise what I want. Come this January I happened to see her at another wedding fayre and I reminded her we were meant to have an appointment to finalise everything. She took down my details and told me she'd call me in the week. Again, no phone call. So eventually, I messaged her asking to arrange a meeting as I need to know exactly what she is and isn't providing and the cost of everything for my budget. Her reply was simply "When do you want to meet?" no apologies or any kind words. Just that. So I replied instantly giving her a date I could do and...nothing. This was a whole month ago and I'm very much aware my wedding is getting closer. It makes me feel anxious she'll be unreliable on the day, despite her good reviews. I want to go elsewhere, but feel it's too late to do that now and I can't afford to go with someone who will charge me £200+ more like I was quoted originally by other florists. Any one else had this problem?!
I think you need to stop being nice and tell her straight - you want a meeting in the next 7 days or you want your money back!
What's better, and extra £200 and actually getting your flowers, or paying this person, and getting nothing but stress? I know what I'd do!
Can you just drop in and see her in person unannounced, it's harder to be ignored when you're standing in front of them! If still no luck I'd be inclined to cut your losses and find another florist as you don't need that kind of stress x
I would ask for my money back and
Look elsewhere. I wouldn't beable to put up with the stress! X
Pay the extra £200 and go elsewhere. If she's been this consistently unreliable, then I wouldn't trust her to actually produce the goods on your wedding day. Also, reviews are not always the best means of judging someone's capability as they can easily be fabricated, or companies may choose to only publish good ones on their websites.
I agree with Jacqueline. You are well within your rights too as she is not providing the service you payed for, i would not trust someone that unreliable to do anything for my wedding. One or two late reply it's understandable but it seems like she doesn't seem to have a clue on what's going on or how to run a business, unbelievably poor customer service. Send her an email detailing all your issues with her, explain that it's causing a great deal of stress and tell her she needs to get her shit together or give you your money back.
I had the same problem but when it got nearer the time my lady was in contact. I was the same as you and wanted to cancel! Glad I didn't but it doesn't fill you with much help when they are unreliable! I would do like some have suggested and either go see her or say you need a meeting or you will cancel! See what happens from there! Hope you get sorted
Provide her with a polite email advising your going to the police for fraud. She'll probably reply then lol
As a florist, this attitude makes me so mad! Go and see her and demand that she shows you what she has on order for you and if she won't demand your money back. If I were in your area I would happily do your flowers for you. In this day and age of online and supermarket florists, every high Street florist should be doing all that they can to keep customers.
A lot of wedding vendors are like this, they really all need an admin person to keep on top of these sorts of things. It's a rotten shame as that totally stresses out brides and ruins the lead up aswell. Best answer is to phone her and say you haven't had a response or failing that turn up for the appt on the day ! X
I had a similar problem with my florist, with a couple of months to go I rang them to ask about buttonholes only to find the florist had been taken over by somebody else, re branded it but was happy to take over all wedding orders. I was then told she couldn't do my order for the amount quoted but i refused to pay more than quoted so instead they charged me £15 a piece for the extra button holes and corsages I wanted to add on. When my bouquet was delivered I found that the lillies I had wanted were all closed and had other white flowers instead because very few lily heads had opened. Didn't bother me so much until we got to the venue and found I had one opened lily in each vase, they'd smashed a vase and replaced it with a different one but just didn't say anything, we had spare at home so if only they had said! I had really wanted lilies because the smell reminded me of my dad who passed away when I was 6. I really didn't like that they just replaced flowers without discussing it with me first nor did I ever get an apology or refund for anything. I had my doubts when I had to deal with the new obnoxious owner but I really do wish we had gone elsewhere even with the short time left x
Where do you live? I am a florist.
I would not continue with this person, how could you be sure that your flowers will turn up on the day?
If you are in the Birmingham/Sutton Coldfield area and would like a new quote feel free to PM me.
My floristry Facebook page is called 'Hanami Floral Designs'.
i had a similar situation which didn't end well! turned out that my 'florist' was a con artist. took £400 of our money. we found out 7 days before our wedding day! i posted a status on fb asking for help and if anyone knew anyone. within an hour, i had a lovely lady come to mine and go through flower arrangements with me. she even gave us a huge discount as a good will gesture! my flowers were so beautiful!
if I were you, I was be blunt with her. she's not your friend, you are a paying customer. she isn't following through and isn't instilling any confidence. tell her you need to meet within the next two weeks and if that doesn't happen, you will pull out and you would like a full refund. go to a friend instead! or someone who you can rely on!
Where abouts are you? Id change person asap. Shes likely to ruah your flower or not even turn up!
I had a similar problem. I went elsewhere 3 weeks before my wedding I couldn't be on with the stress.
If I were you, I'd check on groovyruby.co.uk (I think) company name is definitely groovy ruby though. They do fake flowers but look absolutely amazing, I'm planning on using them for my wedding next year. You can order with them up to 2 weeks before :)
Where are you chick, maybe put your location so people can help x
I had the opposite where my florist was brilliant before the wedding, great at meetings and listening but then put the wrong date down and didn't turn up on the day!! So I would perhaps look for an alternative as mine had been reliable up till the wedding and I was still let down X
Michael Davidson Farley
I'm not being funny but she sounds like a con artist, best to get legal advice, your money back and go elsewhere!
Name and shame! Maybe she'll pull her bloody finger out
As a florist, this does seem very unorganised. I know exactly when my weddings are, have met with all my brides with a consultation booked into the diary. You should definately be getting better service, especially as you've already paid a deposit. I'm based in South East. Message me privately if you want to chat further. Xx
I would put this on your local page, then give her a chance to redeem herself or name & shame her? Or message her privately (or send her a post to her timeline in the middle of the night) so other people can see it! There are always new florist businesses prepared to take a cut in profits to get a bit of publicity xx
I used a local florist to me. She was really good and asked me my budget straight away. I didn't want much though just preference really nothing to do with budget. She helped me put together the seasonal flowers..... I had chosen flowers that needed to be imported as they weren't in season here so meant they were very expensive. She chose similar ones which were much cheaper and tbh actually looked better. I am just telling you this because this is the level of service I would expect. She was just my local florist and in my eyes did a fabulous job and much more professional than some of the companies we had seen at wedding fayres. Just try looking in your local phone book x x
Get rid of her and get a new supplier.
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