Weddingbee boards

I'm writing to hopefully be able to let other brides in the Asheville, NC area of the experience I had with my florist, Angela Freeman of Asheville's South Forest Flowers.  I would appreciate it if you hear of anyone looking for a florist in this area, to please let them know what happened to me so they can be more informed than I was when I hired her. 

Angela Freeman seemed very enthusiastic, excited and professional, up until the actual day of my wedding. Over the months of planning, we both (myself and the florist) kept a very detailed list of our florals and decorations that she was providing us. Every once in awhile I would want to make a change, and she always seemed to honor that change. Even when my guest count dropped and I needed fewer table centerpieces, I still kept the centerpieces to use somewhere else. I never decreased the amount on the contract that I first signed with her, I only added to it, with the amount being far beyond than when I first started with her.

My wedding day arrived and first, our florals were delivered late so my husband and his groomsmen did not have their boutonnieres for pictures that were being taken before the ceremony. Luckily, when it was my time with my bridesmaids for photographs, they arrived just as we were literally stepping into the limo. However, instead of a white bouquet (which is what I had ordered for my bouquet), I was given a purple bouquet (our colors were purple and green). My wedding coordinator pulled out my contract and confirmed that it should be white. My wedding coordinator was unable to get in touch with the florist before we had to leave for pictures (the florist had an assistant deliver our flowers), and we had to leave for pictures, so I had to use the purple bouquet.

We returned from our photographs, and my mom went to find my wedding coordinator to see about my white bouquet. Instead of my coordinator, she ran across our florist. My mom asked her about my white bouquet, and she was very rudely told by my florist that I already had my bouquet and she would not be fixing it for me. I had to use this purple bouquet, which looked pretty, but it was not what I had ordered. My family has a tradition of carrying white bouquets, and now mine was purple, and the tradition broken. So, I had no choice then, with 10mins to the ceremony, to use this purple bouquet.

Later in the evening, we went upstairs in the ballroom for dinner, and then back downstairs on the veranda for dancing. I had told my florist more than once that I wanted the "extra" centerpieces that I did not need for dinner in the ballroom (because our guest count had dropped) to be put on the veranda downstairs for dancing. We came downstairs for dancing, and the tables were completely bare, no flowers at all, only the linens I had rented through our reception site. So I told my mom about this. My mom went to find my wedding coordinator to ask about this, and again, she came across my florist. My mom asked why there were no centerpieces on the tables on the veranda, and the florist told her that was not in the contract (which was not true). My mom told her this was not true, and the florist told my mom that she was being a "mean _itch" (insert "b" where appropiate here) and that the entire catering staff felt the same way (which is a complete lie!). My mom asked how could she say that? She was in breach of her contract and my mom said that this was not over, then our florist said that it WAS over. Of course my mom was very upset about this interaction and she had a very difficult time enjoying herself at her daughter's wedding after this. I would also like to point out that during this same coversation, our florist was picking up all the items we had rented from her, in the middle of my wedding. We were still celebrating and she was already going around to pick stuff up.

I did not find out about what had happened with my mom until after we returned from our honeymoon. I am in the process now of asking for a lot of our money back from our florist, but have not yet received a response from her when my wedding was in early June '08. Besides her extreme unprofessional behavior on my wedding day, the florals she did provide were, in my opinion, very cheap looking, and we spent almost $6500 with her to decorate our space.

I just can't believe that this happened. It's very upsetting to my entire family, but especially my mom. Angela Freeman had always acted very excited about my wedding and seemed to be professional during the planning process, but she gravely let us down that day.

Because of my experience with Angela Freeman of South Forest Flowers, I would absolutely NOT recommend her to anyone.  Please spread the word, thank you.

The quickest way to get your money back would be to file a lawsuit in small claims court, bring the contract and any other evidence you have of the dealing between you two that helps explain your dealings and expectations (bills, documents, etc.).  This is a horrible situation and you should have not been through that on your wedding day.  I hope you get this resolved and hopefully only have to pay for what you received (which doesn't sound like much).  Best of luck getting this resolved.