Saving on Flowers via Internet Wholesalers - Reviews?

[CrownJewel]

I was thinking about ordering through Fifty Flowers but they seem a little sketchy to me. I think they troll wedding forums, posting wonderful reviews of the company. I''ve also seen some "blogs" where the "bride" writes a post recommending Fifty Flowers but it''s SO obvious that it''s a paid post (some of them actually say, "This is a paid post.")

I''m looking for some serious reviews by regular members of PS or maybe some other options.

I''m planning on doing three or four large roses and a little bit of viburnum in a goblet on each table (8-10 tables). I already have the pillar candle holders in the photo below. Centerpiece will be like this, except larger flower container and colors will be white/cream/blush/green. I need to find a florist to do our bouquets and boutennieres for a reasonable price. ACK! Falling behind!

 

[brgirl]

Hi! I ordered my flowers from http://www.theflowerexchange.com
I used the flowers to make my own centerpieces, to decorate the arch, and to have a single, stripped (no thorns) rose at each place setting - so I ordered 400 roses. I hired a florist for the bouts, corsages, and bouquets.
I have a mixed review. The positives:
1. Price. Very good deal @ less than $1/rose, shipped
2. Variety. I needed Voodoo (orange), Circus (orange) and Black Magic roses to match what my florist was using. They didn''t have them listed on their site, so I emailed them to find out if they had them. They did! Very good communication before the order.
3. The flowers arrived on-time, and the 28in ones were GORGEOUS.
The negatives:
1. There were 50 roses missing in my order. I called them about the missing roses as soon I as I figured it out. It was about 4 hours after I had received the roses because I opened each package up one at a time to strip them, cut them, and put them in water. I didn''t figure out they were missing until about 3pm.
When I called, the guy had to figure out what to do and call me back. He didn''t call me back within 30 minutes, and I had to leave for a pedicure. While I was out, he called back and told my husband he would call again. I got home around 5:30, called again, and got no one, so I left a message.
Honestly, at that point I was just planning to get a refund for the missing roses. I figured I could put less roses in the arch. But I wanted to get it on record that they were missing so I could request the refund.
I never heard back about my roses from them until I contacted them a week or two later, after we got back from the honeymoon.
I tried emailing them, got no response. I called them, was told someone would call me back, and nothing. I did finally get a refund after I told them this was ridiculous customer service, and that I would be disputing the charges on my credit card.

2. I ordered a mix of premium (28in) and medium (24in) roses. The boxes were each labeled with what size they were, and I did not get all of the premium roses I paid for - some were the 20in roses, which were tiny and unuseable in that specific variety. So, I asked for a refund for the discrepency, and did receive it.

3. You couldn''t order a sample bunch beforehand, so I had one shot to hope it was right...At that point, I had figured I''d just run to the store and get candles if the roses were disastrous. I had practiced making centerpieces a month prior, so I knew what I wanted..

So, you can decide from that review what you''d do! I would probably order from them again, but only if there was room for error in receiving the order! If I had to have exactly X number by X date/time, I would have a backup plan if something didn''t turn out right. (or just be prepared to be on the phone with them ASAP to get it fixed)

Hope that helps! I went with this place based on GingerBcookie''s reviews.. I attached a picture of the centerpieces..

 

[rubybeth]

I plan on using Fifty Flowers for my hypericum berries, but I think I''m either going to get my roses from Grower''s Box or Mr. Roses (I like the selection of greenery that comes included with those better than just baby''s breath, which I hate). I read about Grower''s Box in the Real Simple Weddings magazine this year, and it seems they have gotten great reviews. Also, I''m pretty sure all internet vendors recommend ordering so that you have enough time in advance of the event for the flowers to ''recover'' from their travels, which usually means 3-5 days in advance, which would also probably be enough time if their order was mucked or failed entirely to contact a local florist (unless you''re in the boondocks, I suppose).

Also, a place that has great flowers (from what I''ve seen and heard) is Whole Foods grocery. I got some mini calla lillies there a couple months ago, and they literally lasted a month and a half. Seriously. I just kept cutting the stems and they kept looking lovely. It was weird, but I was impressed. I may buy some there to augment my online orders.

 

[CrownJewel]

Thanks for your help brgirl. Your tables turned out very nicely. I love the use of orange and red roses. Did you have any experience with prepping and arranging flowers before your wedding? I''ve only prepped/arranged a dozen roses at a time, not hundreds.

However, if I stick to 3 or 4 large roses per container, and a max of 2 containers per table. That would be 8 roses times 8-10 tables. So I would have a maximum of 80 roses to condition/prep/cut. That''s not bad right? If I have one person (and gloves) helping me, we can probably prep them one or two days before the wedding right? And we''ll just transport them in buckets to the wedding, fill the vases on site and plop the roses in.

I''ll check theflowerexchange for large roses. Thanks!

 

[CrownJewel]

Date: 6/2/2008 3:12:35 PM
Author: rubybeth
I plan on using Fifty Flowers for my hypericum berries, but I think I''m either going to get my roses from Grower''s Box or Mr. Roses (I like the selection of greenery that comes included with those better than just baby''s breath, which I hate). I read about Grower''s Box in the Real Simple Weddings magazine this year, and it seems they have gotten great reviews. Also, I''m pretty sure all internet vendors recommend ordering so that you have enough time in advance of the event for the flowers to ''recover'' from their travels, which usually means 3-5 days in advance, which would also probably be enough time if their order was mucked or failed entirely to contact a local florist (unless you''re in the boondocks, I suppose).

Also, a place that has great flowers (from what I''ve seen and heard) is Whole Foods grocery. I got some mini calla lillies there a couple months ago, and they literally lasted a month and a half. Seriously. I just kept cutting the stems and they kept looking lovely. It was weird, but I was impressed. I may buy some there to augment my online orders.

I love Real Simple magazine. I will look into that site. When are you ordering from Fifty Flowers? I have looked at the flowers in Whole Foods, and they''re so expensive! I don''t think I could buy bulk amounts from them. But it''s good to know that their quality is good. Thanks rubybeth!

 

[brgirl]

Date: 6/2/2008 3:25:24 PM
Author: CrownJewel
Thanks for your help brgirl. Your tables turned out very nicely. I love the use of orange and red roses. Did you have any experience with prepping and arranging flowers before your wedding? I''ve only prepped/arranged a dozen roses at a time, not hundreds.

However, if I stick to 3 or 4 large roses per container, and a max of 2 containers per table. That would be 8 roses times 8-10 tables. So I would have a maximum of 80 roses to condition/prep/cut. That''s not bad right? If I have one person (and gloves) helping me, we can probably prep them one or two days before the wedding right? And we''ll just transport them in buckets to the wedding, fill the vases on site and plop the roses in.

I''ll check theflowerexchange for large roses. Thanks!

I had zero experience with prepping and arranging before the wedding! I did a practice run about a month before my wedding with a dozen roses from the store, just to see how many roses I''d think I''d need per centerpiece..and to pick the container (i had several sizes/styles of buckets)..I also read about prepping on the internet. My florist told me the #1 thing to remember is to wear thick gloves when stripping the roses. She got a thorn under her skin one time and had to go to the hospital..that totally paranoid me into wearing good gloves!

As for time-line, my wedding was on Saturday. The roses arrived Thursday ~11am. I prepped all 400 roses by 3pm. They sat in buckets and coolers over night. Then, I made the centerpieces on Friday. I''d say it took me about 3 hours to do 15...but i had a lot of people distracting me because family had arrived. (I had been alone on Thursday, stripping and cutting) The centerpieces were made with floral foam, so those roses stayed in that overnight, and the single roses were in the buckets overnight Friday. So they were fine in buckets for two nights. I did add some home-made mix of flower food - lemon juice, bleach, & sugar, I think. (there are tons of recipes on the internet). I had used some simple blue buckets from wal-mart and some styrofoam coolers. Surprisingly, the flowers in the coolers turned out the best, but one sprung a small leak somewhere!

I loved the colors....the scale wasn''t quite right between the size of the centerpieces and the tables, but the one thing I didn''t do in all my prepping was check on scale..I should have had a larger centerpiece or more stuff on the table or something. But I didn''t know that until I saw pictures afterwards! Oh well..
I attached another centerpiece pic I found with the Circus roses. Those things were beautiful!!

I think your plan sounds good - and since you can only order 100 roses, but only need 80, you''ll have some room for error!

 

[mimzy]

i haven''t ordered from them, but the bridal bargains book recommends 2G roses (freshroses.com) really highly. i think if you did a review search on them you''d find pretty good things. they also seem to be pretty cheap. good luck!

 

[karasue91]

I''m seriously considering using theflowerexchange, they are one of the few internet growers that will ship to Canada. I''m a little worried about customs holding them up though, but the florists here are quoting me like $5 per stem for my spider mums which is absolutely ridiculous when theflowerexchange has them for less than $1 per stem....

I''ve heard great things about theflowerexchange too. FMIL wants to order from Costco but a friend of mine did that and her flowers showed up all brown and wilted....Meeting with another florist tomorrow so we''ll see what she says! Wish I could order a trial run, but we don''t really have any events coming up where we would need LOADS of flowers...I''ve posted on a canadian board about ordering flowers online and everyone just says don''t risk it, no one has actually offered any experience they have had.

 

[brgirl]

Oh my gosh - the last post reminded me that I didn''t do my practice run from a bunch from the store...I ordered from 2g/freshroses! Weird how you remember things! Anyway - their roses were good, but they didn''t last as long as theflowerexchange ones (wilted quicker), and they weren''t as big as the largest ones from theflowerexchange. But, shipping was on-time, communication was good, and I got exactly what I ordered. I didn''t end up ordering from them because they didn''t have the colors of orange that I needed, and I think with shipping theflowerexchange was cheaper.

 

[sap483]

I used fifty flowers for my engagement party centerpieces. I ordered about 200 Gerberas from them. It turned out to be kind of a nightmare. We ordered them in white and a deep red color. Well they sent us a box of mixed colors and many of them looked a little wilted. My mom called them up and had a few words with them. Luckily they overnighted us more in the correct colors so we were fine for the party. The quality was not the best though, and the day after the engagement party there was already some white fuzzy stuff growing on them so we had to throw them all out. I wouldn''t recommend going with them, but that''s just my experience.

 

[CrownJewel]

Wow, thanks sap, for your review. I knew there was something shady about their paid reviews.

 

[CrownJewel]

Thanks Mimzy! I have the bridal bargains book too, but I can''t find it right now. It''s somewhere in my apartment. I wonder if 2G has garden roses.

Karasue, I hope you can get your spider mums. Let me know how it goes.

 

[Laurie2]

www.proflowers.com has some pretty selections.