San Diego Wholesale Flowers & Bouquets Review

Last-minute DIY wedding (and floral arrangements) and still a happy bride!

Vince seemed rude at first, but he's just really busy. He was a gem at our consultation appointment, and helped me hone-in on what I wanted for the wedding. I was blown away when he took me in the big fridge during our consultation, and basically showed me how to make my own bouquets with the exact flowers I used.. this brought my price from about $800 to under $300! I was ecstatic.
He also bailed me out because after that great appointment where we talked out all the details, I thought everything was set, but when I called to check on the status of the order 5 days before my wedding, he told me that I had really never actually placed an order and therefore my flowers were not ordered... uh-oh!! Did  I mention I wanted pink roses for my Mother's Day weekend wedding?! I freaked out but Vince kept me calm and found me exactly what I needed even though pickings were extremely slim, and his price for pink roses on mother's day was only a few dollars more than on any other day, which is great. (I called the other Wholesale Flower place off Morena, and they wouldn't even speak to me because they had so many orders! They just laughed and gave me a resounding "NO" when I asked for pink roses.)

That being said, five stars for Vince and team!!

I only wish they would have been more accurate with instruction on how to care for the flowers (roses and hydrangea) and how far in advance to make the bouquets. We made them the night before, and the flowers were still small and ended up dying within 4 hours of taking them out for use in the ceremony. The extra flowers we had after the wedding were most beautiful one week after they were bought, cut, and arranged; they lasted a month in vases at home! If you are dealing with roses and hydrangea, let them mature for about a week before you want to display them.

Enjoy!

5745 Kearny Villa Rd
Ste 104
(at Chesapeake Dr)
San Diego, CA 92123
Neighborhood: Kearny Mesa

(858) 505-0055

House of Stemms Review

If I could give Steven G. and the rest of the House of Stemms team 6/5 stars, I would. We first met Steven at his flower shop in Horton Plaza and were immediately struck by how knowledgeable and honest he was. I was putting together flowers for my wedding, and wanted something that looked tasteful, elegant, and fabulous on a rather small budget. I told Steven that I didn't know exactly what I had in mind, but gave him an idea of how I wanted our reception and ceremony to look. He immediately gave us some ideas, and I'm glad I listened to him because the end result was amazing.

I started out with only reception flowers and bouquets/boutineers in my order, but as the wedding approached, I realized how important flowers are in the overall decor and feel of the wedding spaces, so I kept calling/emailing and asking Steven for advice. My (now) husband and I live in Los Angeles, so it was hard for us to meet Steven in San Diego, but he was very accommodating to our schedules and helpful in meeting us in different locations. He even brought a sample centerpiece to our wedding venue (The Prado @ Balboa Park) one afternoon, so we could see what the flowers would look like in the space.

What I was most impressed with, however, was what Steven did with our huppah. My husband and I built our huppah from scratch, and we wanted Steven to decorate it. Building the huppah ended up being somewhat of a nightmare because we weren't sure what to do with affixing the canopy to the poles. We were also a bit concerned about the cement-filled terra cotta pots we used as bases for the poles as not being aesthetically pleasing. On the day of our wedding, my husband set up the huppah and entrusted Steven to decorate it. When I stepped down the aisle and saw the huppah decorated for the first time, my tears welled up in joy, because it was so beautiful!! Steven not only tastefully hid the pots (all 4 when we originally only asked him to decorate 2), and also properly affixed the canopy to the poles.

In every possible way, Steven went above and beyond our expectations. Even when I did a last minute change from white cala lillies to black ones, I was so breathtaken by how gorgeous my bouquet was. I was amazed at how beautiful the floral arrangements were, and how little we paid.

To future brides out there-- do not pay the exorbitant prices that other wedding florists charge! Steven can do everything those florists do AND BETTER, for probably half the cost. So many of my girlfriends (many who have either had platinum weddings or are in the wedding industry) commented on how beautiful all of the floral arrangements were. When they found out how little we spent on our flowers, they were shocked.

Thank you so much to Steven and the rest of the House of Stemms Team for making our wedding so incredibly amazing and for going above all of our expectations. We will be visiting you soon to bring you a gift!!!

324 Horton Plz
San Diego, CA 92101
Serving San Diego and surrounding area
Neighborhood: Gaslamp

(619) 237-8842

Dilly Lily Review

Dilly Lily did the flowers for my June 2010 wedding, and they were just outstanding. From beginning to end, the process was seamless.

For my initial consultation, my fiance and I met with Mary. We had a general idea for the flowers - hot pinks and lime green with a teeny bit of black thrown in - and we didn't want anything to do with traditional wedding flowers. We wanted ours unique. Enter Dilly Lily.

Mary took what we told her, was able to immediately pull together some photos from previous weddings and draw up exactly what we wanted. She put together a mix of flowers, dahlias, spray roses, orchids, etc, and topped it off with some black velvet leaves to incorporate the black into the bouquet. She even created 2 different centerpiece ideas for me on the spot, and I loved both of them.

We had a price point we had to hit in order to keep our budget, and a few days later Mary emailed us with an itemized list of the flowers and the final total, which she made come in right under budget.

A couple weeks before the wedding, I headed back in with my mom and met with Rebecca to see the final mock up of my bouquet, and discuss any last changes. Rebecca was so easy to work with and the bouquet she showed me was beautiful.

The day of the wedding, everything went off without a hitch. The centerpieces were perfect and all the bouquets/corsages/bouttonieres were great.

One last thing. The Valentine's Day before our wedding, my husband called Dilly Lily and they made a special mini version of my bouquet for him to give me. I was surprised and loved it. It had been months since our initial consultation, so all my fiance could do was give our names. Mary looked in our file and created a gorgeous arrangement. As our Valentine's Day plans started early and included brunch, they had the bouquet ready to go as soon as the store opened and my fiance walked in. They really go the extra mile for you.

I highly recommend Dilly Lily.

742 W Fullerton Ave
(between Burling St & Childrens Plz)
Chicago, IL 60614
Neighborhood: Lincoln Park

(773) 404-0602

Belmont Flower Market Review

This place is freakin' amazing. It doesn't look like your traditional flower shop, but don't be shy, it's totally worth going in! Their flowers are really beautiful, and they specialize in a lot of plants.  I bought two bonsai trees and a beautiful jade plant.  If you are like me and you kill anything green that you bring into your home, I highly recommend the very beautiful jade plant.  I bought one for my office last September and she keeps growing! I can't believe it. She is so absolutely beautiful. (Check out her picture under my profile)

I love this place because the owners know what they are talking about! Each time I bought a plant from that for myself or as gifts, I ask for instructions on how to care for it and the owner is very thorough. I have brought plants back to help bring them back to life when I have been less than good about taking care of them, and the owner has helped me each time.

This place is owned by people who clearly know what they are talking about and have a real love for flowers and plants.  I recently went back to buy a mother's day gift plant as well as a beautiful easter lily for easter.  I love this place!!

2558 N Clark St
(between Deming Pl & Wrightwood Ave)
Chicago, IL 60614
Neighborhood: Lincoln Park

(773) 529-8770

Natalini Flowers by Crispy Review

I'm pretty sure not everyone holds the same opinion as me, but in my opinion, the flowers make the wedding. Of course, there are other things that help to form a cohesive look and feel for a wedding, but the flowers really set the mood. I love flowers and wanted something beautiful for my wedding.

I had different ideas when I met with Tita Crispy about what I might want, but she knew what I wanted even before I really knew...elegant, flowy, romantic. And on my wedding day, she delivered something so beautiful and magical words cannot even describe it.

Everyone came up to me and/or Eddie the whole night to let us know the flowers were beautiful. We went for tall arrangements that consisted of branches coming out of a tall glass vase that were intertwined with orangy dahlias. Some dahlias were also placed in the water. Three smaller glass vases footed the tall arrangement.

This was Tita Crispy's masterpiece. I only mentioned the colors I liked and we agreed on the flowers. She took that and made something so phenomenal, it was exactly what I wanted and it tied in so well with the wedding and the ballroom. It was elegant and romantic. I LOOOOOVED it.

Flowers by Natalini are more expensive. And while I started out with a specific budget, after making some changes, the price did increase by about 30%, BUT seriously the flowers were so amazing that I am glad I went with it. Also, Tita Crispy was super sweet and provided bouquets for our moms as a gift and the smaller arrangements were gifts for our guests too.

And Tita Crispy is so warm and friendly that you will just fall in love with her. She is super sweet and fun and just has this positive spirit that I love. So you get to work with someone who is super talented and really kind as well as get beautiful flowers.

So I highly HIGHLY recommend Natalini Flowers by Crispy. She is the BEST!

532 Natoma St
(between 6th St & Russ St)
San Francisco, CA 94103
Neighborhood: SOMA

(415) 503-1690