My husband and I selected a popular wedding venue in downtown Raleigh, The Merrimon-Wynne House. Once you sign the contract for your wedding date, they require you to select 4 vendors from their curated vendor list (catering, planning, rentals, & florals). We were shocked by some of the minimums for some of the vendors so we had to spend our time reaching out and gathering invoices from every vendor to find the 4 that match our budgets best. We decided on Hathaway Floral Design as our florist because she offered a lower minimum and her inspiration/website catalog matched the wedding day vision we had.
Lauren Hathaway, the owner of this business, did not talk with us much. Her assistant, Georgia Hodgson, corresponded with us most of the time. Both ladies were pleasant and easy to get in touch with, however, there were multiple hiccups during the planning process. There was a miscommunication at one point about delivery fees and extra charges that dramatically increased our invoice. Lauren did offer a discount on these fees after we expressed our concern about the floral budget and stated that the quality of the florals wouldn't be affected. She could achieve our vision with the florals and greenery at her disposal. However, looking back, I feel like the quality of the florals was not in line with what we paid (close to $7000). A majority of our budget went towards the arch & reception florals.
The bridal & bridal party bouquets, men's boutonnières, aisle meadows, and aisle petals were perfect! Those were priced fairly and the quality was there. The altar arch was not close to what we had envisioned- it was droopy, lacked greenery & fullness, and wasn't the shape we asked for. I had asked at the beginning of the planning process if I needed to buy and bring the arch shape we wanted but she assured us that she had it taken care of. We ordered 8 table garlands that weren't even on the tables- I later found out that there wasn't enough room for them so she placed them elsewhere in the house but I didn't really see where they went. I also noticed that around 12-12:30pm, she hadn't arrived yet and our ceremony started at 3pm. It was weird as well that she never stopped by to introduce herself or say hello- we haven't met her face- to- face. We had met all of our vendors except her. It felt like for the thousands we spent for florals, the quality was here and there. I must say her quality in other weddings is breathtaking so I am sad to see the quality was laid throughout for our wedding. read more