Floral Preservation and More .Net

I've struggled for some time about how to write this review. I want to start by saying that the owner was very nice and helpful with my questions. I live out of town, but was getting married in St Louis. A lot of our communication from the very start was over email and text messages.  She communicated about the process and was easy to work with from the beginning. When we first got to town to go to the shop in person, the employee who was meeting us was over 30 minutes late to our appointment. Despite that (maybe we should have taken that as a sign), we still went with this company. I figured it was just a bad day for them and the owner had still been a joy to communicate with so far. Because I live out of town, I inquired about shipping my order from the very beginning. At that time, I was told we could have that done. As we got closer to the time my box was completed, I was told about the shipping risks and that my package couldn't be guaranteed.  At that point, we already ordered and started the box and had no other way to get it to us, so we accepted the risk that comes with shipping. We understood there was a shipping risk,  but were told everything would be packaged well. Indeed, everything was wrapped with bubble wrap and packaged well. They were even so kind as to ship the box after the holidays so that we would be home to receive it and it wouldn't have to wait in a storage facility- I really appreciated that care and concern.  However, when I opened the box, I saw that the window had been pushed out and my flowers were essentially all broken apart- destroyed. I contacted the shop and was told how to open the box and try to fix it. As I opened the box, I noticed that some of the fasteners, and in the area of the box where the window came through, were never fastened.  The ones that were fastened took quite some effort and the use of tools to undo, so I cant help but think that having the box not secure from the inside with thorough craftsmanship was setting a shipment up for failure. It truly surprised me because the shop knew that this particular box would be making quite the journey; although, all of their work should be done properly and with care from the inside out. It is truly unfortunate, as these were my wedding flowers- unable to be duplicated.  The shop owner was kind throughout the process,  even sending my ribbon from the bouquet to me after everything. However, that kindness does not bring back my flowers or make up for all the money we lost throughout this process. I fully understand the risk that came with shipping, but I think our order started out with a disadvantage in not being sealed properly to protect our memories and investment.  So very sad and unfortunate.  I see the finished picture of our box posted on their page, and it just hurts- that is nothing like what I received.  My main disappointment was that the box wasn't properly sealed from the beginning, making it much harder to ship well.