FLOWER PROBLEM
Becky Martin
I am getting married May 8th and I am having a major problem finding a
florist that will do it for me.
Anyone else having problems?
Ivondale
a florist today at noon. At least she didn't laugh at me outright like so many
of them did.
But on the more positive side - I got a lead today on a woman who does flowers
out of her home. She's done 3 weddings for women in my office. Because she's
not a "shop" she's not so in demand. I'm going to try her. See if you can't
find someone like that.
Cyndi
Serena S. Chan Saw
Sil...@webtv.net (Becky Martin) wrote:
I was married on Mother's Day weekend in '97 and had no problems finding a
florist. I had checked two out and neither had a problem. The one I ended
up using said that Mother's Day didn't affect her wedding business because
she used different floral designers for each one.
Serena
SPECTRUM
wrote:
>
>But on the more positive side - I got a lead today on a woman who does flowers
>out of her home. She's done 3 weddings for women in my office. Because she's
>not a "shop" she's not so in demand. I'm going to try her. See if you can't
>find someone like that.
>
>Cyndi
Just be real careful when trying this approach. As a
photographer I see a lot of people do this and how poor the
results can be.
Also I know of one local florist who works out of
her house and believe me I don't refer her ! Operating on a
whim and a prayer !
Also I had another one lined up to produce flowers
for a model shoot and when it snowed 18" and the shoot was
canceled she was totally unreasonable ! Like I was supposed
to ask the models to drive 90 miles from Manhattan to Toms
River in the worst blizzard in nearly a century !
Personally I think the whole floral issue is a real
PITA but I strongly recommend one particular florist in our
area who provides an excellent product at a reasonable
price. We used them for our wedding and we spent just over
$600 for all of our floral needs including bridal party of
8, alter flowers for the church, flower girl and some
flowers to place around the cake at the reception. And the
flower girls basket lasted for over a week as we took it to
my aunts house on our honeymoon 5 days after our wedding AND
it still looked as good as the day of our wedding. That's
exceptional !
So if anyone on the group is having a wedding in or
near the Ocean County, N.J. let me plug Village Florist in
Toms River. They are undoubtedly the best.
Regards,
John S. Douglas
S p e c t r u m P h o t o g r a p h i c I n c .
Website: http://www.spectrumphoto.com
hay...@earthlink.net
>PLEASE!! Do not just asume because you have had a bad experience with one maybe
two "Basement Betties" that the whole bunch is rotten. I understand that you
probably have friends that own florists and people like myself, who work out
of our homes are considered pariahs in the floral community. I worked in
florists for 10 years before going out on my own, which means I have just as
much knowledge as your "friends" who own a storefront florist. I own 2 floral
coolers, I only offer the latest designs and I travel to Manhattan to
purchase flowers at least once a week because they have a better selection
and I find the flowers are much healthier. How can you tell me that I cannot
deliver a better product if all I do for one whole week is concentrate on the
following weekends weddings. Forgive me for getting defensive but I have
owned this business out of my home for 8 years now, I feel I give GREAT
customer service(alot better than when I worked in the florist)I make a
better product because my main concern is pleasing the Bride instead of the
bottom line(unlike when I worked in the florist and bottom line was the main
concern)SO please tell me, WHEN WILL THE FLORAL AND WEDDING INDUSTRY FINALLY
CONSIDER ME A LEGITIMATE FLORIST?!?! Thank you for listening, June Haynal
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mi...@my-dejanews.com
I do not know home based floral businesses, but I agree that it is
frustrating when customers don't take them seriously because it's a
"basement" operation. Been there. I love dealing with home-base or small
businesses because the service is usually much better. That's what we did for
the photographer (please, no flames) and the cake, and the food, and the DJ.
The only thing I did through a store front shop is the Dress and flowers
because I didn't know any small companies for these things.
Good luck with you Floral business. Hang in there!
Michelle
Kelli Riedy
someone who simply enjoys what they are doing...than some of the
"professionals" I read posts from on this site who are pretty much out
to make a buck. I have noticed as I plan my wedding that most people
that provide wedding services try to bad-mouth people who provide
services as a hobby or on the side...I say try the small time
florist...I bet she'll be more responsive to your needs and more
reasonable!
SPECTRUM
wrote:
To each there own ! No way I'd hire a "basement
betty" . Had two that I referred to and was burnt by both.
Same goes for photographers. Referred one who showed me a
real nice portfolio to a bride who called up on a short
notice wedding. I was booked, he wasn't, he got the job
after talking to the bride, he mucked it up, I heard about
it, he doesn't get any referrals. Period !
Same goes for the "Basement Betty's". Backyard
caterers. Backyard mechanics and so on. No way I'll put my
reputation on the line for the off chance that someone doing
a job on the cheap will produce good results. Been burnt to
many times as it is.
Small business is a different matter. My studio is a
small business but we have a storefront. We have a
reputation to protect. We have responsibilities. Weekend
warriors don't.
Regards,
John S. Douglas
S p e c t r u m P h o t o g r a p h i c I n c .
Jodi S. Graham
SPECTRUM <webm...@spectrumphoto.com> wrote:
> Same goes for the "Basement Betty's". Backyard
>caterers. Backyard mechanics and so on. No way I'll put my
>reputation on the line for the off chance that someone doing
>a job on the cheap will produce good results. Been burnt to
>many times as it is.
> Small business is a different matter. My studio is a
>small business but we have a storefront. We have a
>reputation to protect. We have responsibilities. Weekend
>warriors don't.
>
The woman who is making our cake works out of her home. She was recommended
to us by our caterer, our photographer, and our florist. We feel lucky to
have gotten her!
Jodi G.
Loni
can be there today and gone tomorrow.
> Same goes for the "Basement Betty's". Backyard
> caterers. Backyard mechanics and so on. No way I'll put my
> reputation on the line for the off chance that someone doing
> a job on the cheap will produce good results. Been burnt to
> many times as it is.
> Small business is a different matter. My studio is a
> small business but we have a storefront. We have a
> reputation to protect. We have responsibilities. Weekend
> warriors don't.
>
SPECTRUM
wrote:
>At least I would know where Basement Betty lives. A storefront business
>can be there today and gone tomorrow.
This is exactly what happened with the "BB" that was
supposed to supply me with flowers for our shoot. I had
already asked the models if they would kindly reschedule for
the same day 1 month later. Nobody had a problem with it.
Tried and tried to get in touch with this florist but to no
avail. Later I spoke with our local bridal show promotor and
found out that she had simply packed up and moved to
California. In fact she left her children with her ex and
simply took off with no words to anyone.
A storefront, OTOH has a lease. Mine's renewed every
two years. Also small business owners usually live close to
work. We actually conduct most of our business out of our
home currently but the studio should have at least a 50%
share of the volume soon. (Soon as I fix all of the holes
the last tenant left! )
Loni
cheaper to rent an office/storefront than housing and I've seen so many
small businesses up and move over nightthat I always felt better dealing
with someone from their home. Since your BB took off for CA I'm not so
sure now. Every Yahoo here has a Seller's Permit (resale #) so that
is not helpful as a means of IDing. I guess if that homebased business
has a city buiness license, bank acct./bus. name, IRS tax ID number,
and membership in an appropriate professional or trade group it would be
OK.
Shari
I'm really disappointed in your attitude. Yes, some "basement betties"
(what a demeaning title) don't do quality work. Guess what, some
"storefront" operations aren't so hot either. Same goes for any other
wedding vendor. Just because someone chooses to work out of their home
does not mean that they are less talented and/or less committed. What
it means is that they've chosen to work out of their home. No other
assumptions regarding skill, reliability or anything else would be fair.
As with choosing any other vendor, talk to satisfied customers, call the
BBB, use your best judgment, etc. But *don't* automatically pass by the
business people who choose to work out of their home.
BTW, out of the 3 photographers I interviewed, 2 had home offices. All
3 had excellent reputations and showed me nice portfolios. All 3 are
very busy and have thriving businesses.
Shari (&Erick) 9/19/98
less than a month... tick, tock, tick, tock
Evelyn Baker
Betty. I worked from my basement for five years before I couldn't work from my home
anymore. I believe Basement Betty is a term that was deliberately thought up by
"professional floral associations" to put independent designers down. I've heard as
many, if not more horror stories about shops than I have about people who work out
there homes. I've worked in some of those shops. Of course as in any industry there
are reliable people and unreliable. Working from your home doesn't mean cheap and
shoddy. You take that chance with a shop as well.
I know a lot of criticism is due to people working from their home undercutting
storefront businesses. Admittedly, that is common. As a florist working from my
home I know I was competitive with shops but couldn't undercut because my volume of
buying was much lower and I couldn't sell left over flowers for other orders,
however, I made up for that by offering personal service.
This is something the wedding industry will have to deal with because it isn't going
away. And now that I work from a shop I still support designers who want to work
from their homes because that is their right.
Evelyn Baker
SPECTRUM wrote:
hay...@earthlink.net
Are you saying that because a person pays rent on a storefront that makes
he/she more legitimate? I work out of my home because I have a 3 year old
boy, I have 13 years of wedding floral business(8 years in a
storefront)experience and my work runs solely on referrals. I have 25
weddings this year and my week is completely consumed by the following
weekends weddings. I work non-stop Wednesday-Sunday. I don't believe you can
call me a weekend warrior. The person, (it's never fair to generalize) you
dealt with was a flake. I'm sorry if you were burnt by her, I hope you did'nt
lose any money. If you did'nt, get over it and stop whining about home based
business. People are more impressed by a vendor who is not afraid of
competition. Thank You for allowing me to vent! June