Tuesday, June 10, 2008

What if I'm unsure about the flowers I selected?


Here at Sisters, we don't work like a "normal" flower shop. When a bride meets with us, she is not meeting with someone who just takes an order, she is meeting with the team (Shelly & Emily) that will ultimately execute the design of all the flowers for her wedding. By the day of the wedding, we will have worked out details with multiple meetings and dozens of phone calls and e-mails. That's why what occurred on April 26th was such a shock to us.

Several weeks ago, Angie S., a bride that we had been working with, was unhappy with the multi-colored bouquet that she selected and we delivered. Upon its delivery and the bride's reaction, our delivery person called Emily, who happened to be in the shop. Emily immediately made a replacement bouquet in light pink and white and sent it back out with the delivery driver. We care about our brides, and even though things didn't go as planned, we did everything we could to make Angie happy on her wedding day. Making a replacement bouquet was above and beyond our obligation, but we felt it was within our ability to help in any way we could. Emily made a follow-up phone call that day to ensure that the replacement was acceptable and was told by Angie's wedding coordinator "Yes, Angie loves it. It's perfect."

Even though the colors and flowers types were specifically listed in our contract and chosen by Angie, we quickly learned she didn't realize what she had ordered or what the different flowers would look like together.


Here are pictures of the bouquet, as listed on Angie's contract. These shots were taken after the bouquet was brought back to Sisters: (for the record, we did not like the combination - especially the yellow ranunculus that Angie added at the final consultation.)








Unfortunately, because she was upset, Angie added that the spray roses were dead, which, clearly, they are not. Sometimes, people exaggerate for dramatic effect, not only about flowers, but about situations in general. Thank goodness we have pictures in case we end up on Judge Judy!! :)



This is a professional shot of the replacement bouquet.
(Picture by Christopher Cook)

So, what now, and why bring up a bad experience? The goal here is to ease the minds of our remaining '08 brides. We've always welcomed brides who have wanted to come and see their flowers the week of their wedding. Some have made small changes, but most have been extremely happy. (One time, Emily even called a wedding coordinator the day before the wedding to say that the bridesmaids' bouquets were designed as the bride wanted, but Emily had a concern that they may be a little more funky than what the bride intended. Both the coordinator and Emily agreed that it would be a good idea to have the bride come in and check it out. As it turned out, that's exactly what the bride wanted.) If you are unsure of what a certain type of flower/color/design looks like in person, stopping in to check out your order is always an option. It is also VERY important that brides read the bouquet/flower descriptions on their contract. If anything needs to be clarified, it's certainly ok to ask us.


Thank you for reading our blog, hearing us out, and listening to our suggestions. Now, we have to get back to work!!


Best wedding wishes,


Emily and Shelly



4 comments:

Colleen Oakes said...

WOW!! That's a scary blog for me!!! I have an item on my contract about the bride's vision and the designers being drastically different....just for protection. I actually LIKE the first bouquet. I think it's so fun and bright! What was her problem??

Sisters Blog said...

Well, that's kinda the point: it wasn't really HER problem. We were trying to prevent this from happening again, not access blame. (Believe me, this has been really hurtful and that was difficult post to make. As you know from working for us in 2005 and 2006, we do over 100 weddings a year, but when you have 1 unhappy, then you try to correct it. Kinda like the good shepherd that has 100 sheep and leave the 99 to go after the lost one :-)
I'm interested to hear about that "vision" clause in your contract - I'll call you in July when we are both able to breathe a little :-)

Unknown said...

How very unprofessional to leave a blog with a bride's name and even use a photo from her wedding without her consent! I would never recommend you, and the first bouquet was HIDEOUS!

Sisters Blog said...

"Nicole" (no proifle) and everyone: we do have permission to use these photos from the only one who can truely give permission, which is the photographer. He owns the copyright, not the customer.
I am not really upset about this comment because many brides and their mothers have told us that they read this blog post and admired our openness and advice.
Thanks all! :-)