Our event planner, David Everett, figured me out right away. Even though he knew I had high end tastes, he was able to work within our budget and the finished product blew us away.
I need to add that David did all of our decor. In our venue, we needed lighting and lots of rentals to create the ambiance we were looking for. David did a FABULOUS job with all of this and ended up doing our centerpieces at the last minute because I was so unhappy with what our florist had proposed. I know he planned to use pictures from our event in his sample book, so ask about the Roman wedding!
I chose to work with Blooms because they are known as one of the best florists in Central PA. However I was a long distance bride and due to that, have a different set of criteria. For one, I do everything over email. If you are not comfortable sending proposals, or attached photos, you should not engage with someone who does not live in the area. How a business can even survive without these essential skills was way beyond the groom's comprehension.
The other challenge I had was getting them to think creatively and propose more than one option. I brought a few pictures to my first meeting to show a few examples of things I liked but truthfully I specified NO flowers that I had to have or any flowers that I didn't like. I expected them to take advantage of our open minds and propose something fantastic. The first proposal came in astronomically high and with no visuals. What a sell. They then trimmed the budget but I had no idea what a $75 maid of honor bouquet might look like next to a $85 version. Ultimately I gave my centerpieces away because I was not convinced that they could pull off what I wanted. All I asked for was something simple incorporating branches and candles... JDK, our caterer, did an awesome job with these ultimately. and they were able to EMAIL attached photos. 4 versions with accompanying pricing, so I could compare what $70 looked like and what $100 each looked like. Our centerpieces were less than $65 a table and everyone loved them!
Though I liked my bouquet, I felt the boutonnieres lacked originality- just white roses. They were like the ones I bought for my prom dates back in high school. And they did our pew decorations which consisted solely of big loopy bright white satin bows. Again, had I known what they looked like, I probably would have skipped that expense entirely.
Maybe if you live in the area and are very specific about your vision, this would be the right florist for you. I hope you'll have a better experience than we did.
We had already taken a few dance lessons so our instructor lucked out with teaching us the basics. Although I felt she was unprepared with what she would spend each hour doing, we took the lead and asked lots of questions to get our money's worth. Had a great swingin' first dance!