The Flower Merchant

When my at-the-time fiancée and I were looking for a florist we stopped by the Flower Merchant. We told them we were looking for a florist for our wedding and they told us they were busy setting up for Christmas. Really? We were offering them more business.. They showed us three boutonnieres and didn't even offer a catalog for bouquets/table decor. We all know the boutonnière is not the big seller for a wedding. We felt that we were basically told to leave because they didn't care about weddings during Christmas. I will never go back. Don't waste your time.

Living in Springfield, my mom and I had heard that The Flower Merchant had the best reputation for doing beautiful weddings. There is no question they put together some great bouquets... but lets just customer service and common courtesy is not their thing. Weddings are a stressful time and flowers at a wedding are very important and expensive. We went in with the mind set of - we are going to say what we like but ultimately we have to trust the artistry of the florist and we did. As we got closer to the wedding we had to say things several times before we felt like we were being heard. I told the florist I did not want all white flowers, and her response was, "Well, there is no true white flower, they all have undertones of green or pink etc". Ok, I would just like some true pink in the mix... so finally we got that through (with plenty of resentment on their end and not much flexibility). One of my favorite lines was, "Don't worry, in all the years we've been around we've never had a dog leave these doors"... comforting, not. After the initial meeting and they knew they had our business they were completely rude! All of our other vendors seemed like they wanted my wedding day to be as wonderful and beautiful as I did except Flower Merchant. If I could go back in time the only thing I would do differently would be I'd hire Artistry and Bloom instead of them.

I absolutely loved working with Pat at the Flower Merchant. He is very creative, has great energy, and is FUN to work with! Pat knew I wanted something unique and different for my wedding, and he really brought it to the venue. When I walked into the room, the different levels and lights took my breath away. The Flower Merchant may not be the cheapest place in town, but the quality is well worth it. Definitely memorable. Oh, I almost forgot my bouquet. IT WAS FABULOUS!! I coudlnt' stop staring at it all day. It was filled with jewelry and momentos from my grandparents. So beautiful.

It was wonderful sitting down and chatting with Pat. Every bride wants her wedding to be unique and Pat wants every wedding he does to be different! I still recieve compliments on my wedding a month later. I will recommend this vendor to others :)