Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. Because of this, I try to give people the benefit of the doubt. So, when I had some initial uneasy feelings about hiring Lisa Riso, owner and head florist of The Greenhouse at Rhinebeck, to be our florist and secured the greenhouse barn for our venue, I gave her the benefit of the doubt. This was a huge mistake.
First I will acknowledge Lisa's strengths. Lisa is amazingly creative at arranging flowers. She has a well-developed eye for aesthetics as evidenced by the incredibly beautiful renovated barn on the property, which was our wedding venue. There is no questioning her talent; her work is absolutely stunning.
My objective is to focus on facts here.
Responsiveness: Lisa is unpredictable. According to my records, she only did what she said she would do twice. To her credit, she did meet me at the linen showroom to discuss colors. However, my hope is that the following example will provide insight into how horrible my experience was in working with her. It was the WEEK of our wedding (to happen at The Greenhouse). I had been asking Lisa for the past 3 WEEKS to email me a final total for the flowers. I emailed her, I called her cell phone (and spoke directly to her and she reported she would send it at once!), I left messages at the shop. No response from her. I was left to resort to behaviors I'm not proud of. I left a VM message for her on her cell phone stating that I will be calling her every hour until I heard from her (remember, it was the WEEK of our wedding). It took 3 hours to hear from her.
Professionalism: I received the final total the day I called every hour. The total was $1000 MORE than previously discussed. As a result of this increase, I wanted to make changes. Lisa called my home that night at 10pm ranting and raving that we could not make any changes. My now husband took the call, I was 2 rooms away and could hear her screaming. She was irrational and threatened to CANCEL our wedding that was only 3 DAYS away! I was really confused as this felt like it came out of the blue. Furthermore, during that call she demanded that we pay her in CASH the very next day for the flowers and the final venue payment (even though I was asking for this total for 3 WEEKS, and we sent a check earlier in the week for the barn). Out of fear that she would cancel the wedding, we complied with her request and as a result, paid $1000 MORE for our flowers. It was not practical for either of us to leave our jobs the next day and drop of the cash. Lisa, EXTREMELY irritated, provided us with a UPS account to overnight a check. We did this. It turns out however, that he USP account was cancelled; as a result, she stuck us with the bill.
The centerpiece example. I LOVED my original centerpieces. I approved to have a smaller centerpiece that the trial one in order to reduce cost (this decision was made prior to the final price list). The day before the wedding, I viewed the final pieces. They nearly completely different! Lisa reported that they were the same. They were not. She stated she took a picture of the original (I STRONGLY DOUBT THIS). I did not ask to see the picture for fear that she would become irrational and cancel our wedding. To her credit, she took the UNREQUESTED yellow roses out of the arrangement as per my friend's request on my behalf.
Our caterer further validated her lack of professionalism when they reported she did not show up when she said she would for their walk through. They fortunately let themselves into the building. They also reported that it was very difficult to have her return their calls.
The rental company also reported that she refused to allow them to drop off equipment when "needed to" (this is according to them) she allowed this to occur only the DAY before our wedding.
Value: I did not "shop around" therefore, I'm not sure I can speak to this. My husband feels that given the quality of flowers, the value feels "about right". I feel I can not accurately report on this because of my experience with Lisa's level of responsiveness, and professionalism.
Flexibility: Lisa was flexible with her creativity.
For future brides: The venue is beautiful. No doubt about it. I will however, only accommodate 80 people. Lisa told us that it would hold 100. This is not true. We had 85 and it was VERY tight. It was worth dealing with her level of professionalism and responsiveness for the venue. I would however, STRONGLY ENCOURAGE selecting another florist.
For me, as a bride, it was important that I could trust people. I needed to work with vendors who did what they said they would do. Lisa did not do this. read more
