Last weekend I married my best friend. We planned the wedding in 10 days because my mother is very ill and asked us to wed. We had already been dating for 5.5 years, and always planned on getting married, so we very willingly obliged and got to work on booking the venue and vendors. After securing a catering facility and finding "the dress", A&S Whitestone Nursery was our first stop. I hadn't even picked bridesmaids dresses, but I had an idea of what I wanted our color scheme to be; purples and cream. Ann, the owner, first had me look through her previous floral design work to see if anything piqued my interest. There were dozens of photos, all depicting incredible bouquets and centerpieces in a rainbow of colors. I chose a few that really stood out to me, and showed them to her, along with some photos from the internet. She carefully listened to my ideas, while very gently suggesting what would look best.. She is the professional after all! It saddened me that my own mother couldn't be with me to help choose something so important for my special day, but Ann was a fantastic replacement. She talked to me much like my own mother would, and made me feel comfortable from the very beginning! Obviously I had never planned a wedding before, so I didn't know what it entailed exactly, but Ann was sure to cover all the bases and asked (not demanded!) if I wanted certain things included, like corsages for my "Gudmadda";) (Godmother), petals to throw upon exit of the church, flowers for the blessed Madonna, etc.. She was so helpful, and not pushy at all like most vendors in the wedding industry can be. I truly felt like she wanted it to be as special a day as we did, not trying to upsell me anything that was unnecessary. After we decided what pieces were to be included, we talked about different flower types, and she showed me many varieties she already had in house, and described others that she would get for us. It was a concerted effort, I felt included in the process the entire time. We made all the final decisions and she wrote up the bill.. which was very reasonable! I've heard from many of my friends how much their flowers cost, and the price wasn't bad for all that we got. Remember, you are paying for quality, professionalism and years of experience.. If you want to be cheap, it will show. Anyway, that was 8 days before our wedding, and 2 days before it I called Ann in a panic.. Were the flowers going to match the dresses? What were the exact colors? Can she add one more corsage? Ann assuaged all my worries, and very patiently explained that everything was going to be fantastic. She also said I could stop by the day before, and she would show me everything put together, so if I wanted to change anything I could.. I called her the day before and told her I couldn't make it, I was just too busy. She was able to send me pictures of everything, and I immediately was relieved. They were incredible! But the pictures didn't even do them justice.. When the delivery arrived the next morning, I was completely blown away. The flowers were just extraordinary! I can honestly say they were better than I could have ever imagined. All my girls loved them, even the photographer was amazed at how lovely they turned out to be. And I hadn't even seen the centerpieces yet. All I can say is that when I walked into the reception room, my eyes teared up. I've never seen such gorgeous arrangements anywhere else in my life. They truly MADE the room. They were the star. Throughout the day and into the next, I had so many people come up to and call me to rave about the flowers, and ask where the florist was located. All of them were taken home, with one very special centerpiece going to my husband's father's grave, and a couple others to a local cathedral for the altar. I can't thank Ann enough for adding so much beauty to my wedding day. What could have been a very sad day, turned out to be the happiest of mine, my husband's and my mother's lives. She said cancer "had the day off," and she laughed and danced the whole day. It was very truly a fairy tale, and that's in large part due to Ann's discerning eye and flair for the spectacular.
P.S. I must mention that my mother, who is very ill and can't get out of the house much besides going for treatments, also called Ann the day before to send flowers to my aunts who helped me put the day together, and a gorgeous bouquet to me the day of the wedding. All were equally as beautiful, and my mother said she spoke and laughed with Ann for a while, and told me she was a very special lady. I can't help but agree wholeheartedly. Thanks for everything. read more