EASTLAND ALLEY was invited into the bridal suite to drop off bouquets while bride and bridesmaids were all getting ready. EA covertly used a personal cell phone to snap some photos and then posted them to their platform without asking permissio...n and before we had a chance to post our own photos. Based on this breach of trust we cannot recommend them under any circumstances, but this was not our only issue with them and they were overall pretty awful to work with.
They have zero regard for budget and will aggressively try to upsell, and then will make you feel like you are being cheap when you say no. THIS IS NOT A COMPLAINT ABOUT PRICES, as artists deserve to be paid for their skill; this is a complaint about sales tactics and regard for budget limits. For us, flowers were necessary but not a high priority; we chose a venue with natural beauty, so we didn’t need too many. We had other priorities and we gladly spent money in those areas. We don’t appreciate being judged for our decisions and values.
We gave EA our budget and she came back with a first proposal that TRIPLED it. When we asked to cut it back she initially said there was nothing to cut back, but then relented and we got the budget down. Even at what they consider the low-end for bouquets and arbor decoration, we had PLENTY of flowers (though I wouldn’t go any lower with the bouquets - they were perfect as-is). Our arbor decoration was more than enough and cost-wise it was half what they were initially pressuring us to do - we probably could’ve done even less, and when we expressed our concerns about cost, they refused to do less, - after seeing the quantity provided, we probably could’ve done 50-75% and it would’ve looked just fine.
Like I said, they do great work, and when it comes to flowers, they certainly deserve to be paid for their artistic skill. We have no complaints about the quantity we received for the price (actually it was more than we expected). Our complaint is not with the price, but rather the relentless upselling.
EA initially tried to sell us us on table arrangements with their rented hardware which in of itself amounted to over our total floral budget. We instead made our own arrangements which came out astronomically cheaper to purchase outright than to rent from EA. EA said they would build our bouquets to repurpose in the metal bouquet holders we purchased, but when we tried to drop off a centerpiece before the wedding, they insisted we NEEEDED a vase with water (and tried to sell it to us) - we liked the look without the vase and declined. Then less than 24 hours before the wedding, they called and said they absolutely could not make the bouquet holders we bought weeks out work with the bouquets they had made and insisted the only solution was to purchase vases from them. The venue was luckily present for this exchange and managed to find some hardware that matched our decor and fit the bouquets.
We were initially going to recommend that others should consider EASTLAND ALLEY if they don’t mind the up-selling and condescension. After all, they do very good work and we were perfectly happy with what we received - if this was a review solely about flowers then it would’ve been 5-star. However in light of their breach of trust, we cannot in good conscience recommend them under any circumstances.
this review has been abridged due to character limits. full review available on w3ddingwire.com