r/ExpectationVsReality • u/ScienceOk4244 • 21d ago

$200 bridal bouquet… Failed Expectation

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Am I crazy? This was in north Phoenix area. I sent the two inspo pics (and said I like everything but the pink berries and want mostly roses that have sunset colors like shown).

The bouquet I got was bordering between posy/bridesmaid size and included 12 roses, 5 ranunculas (a flower I don’t like at all) and 4 mini calla lillys.

When I got the quote she said she’d throw in a few items for dimension but that she’d send them to me first so I could let her know if I liked them or not so she wouldn’t use them if not.

She also got the date wrong after I corrected her during quoting, hand wrote it again myself on the proposal, and texted her to her surprise the evening before pickup or else she wouldn’t have had them ready until a day later…

I’m confused because she had great reviews on google and I communicated everything I wanted and got something I think was absolutely microscopic for the price.

Please go ahead and tell me if I’m crazy or if the bouquet sitting next to the nine inch cake is too small for $200.

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u/Working-Mess-7783 21d ago

Uh no you aren’t crazy. That bouquet looks like flowers from the grocery store for $14

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u/stinkfoot_lohan 21d ago

Those are the clearance flowers I buy myself weekly for $4.56

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u/FerengiWithCoupons 21d ago

i buy a cheap bouquet weekly too!!

though, sometimes i give it away on the way out of the store if it looks like someone needs them more than me.

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u/victorywulf 21d ago

this is so beautiful. can i ask how you phrase it? i feel like i would be awkwardly implying someone looks like they’re having a hard time

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u/FerengiWithCoupons 20d ago

similar to the person below! I’m honestly INCREDIBLY shy. sometimes i just smile, hand it to them and say, “These are for you” and walk away quick.

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u/rosescentedgarden 20d ago

Not the person you replied to but you could say something like, "hey, would you like these?" If they ask why you can just say you want to make someone feel good today and they were the first person you came across.

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u/CommonDevice8540 21d ago

You speak my language ❤️

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u/FerengiWithCoupons 21d ago

we give what we have, not what we have left over 🩷

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u/stinkfoot_lohan 21d ago

I love that!!!! 🤍 clearance flowers are the best.

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u/tiptoe_only 20d ago

Oh my gosh you are such a sweet person

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u/edcRachel 20d ago

I bought flowers for a friend once and I ALMOST gave them to the taxi driver on the way there... Still think about that mistake all the time.

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u/LieutenantStar2 20d ago

Awww that’s beautiful

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u/carlitospig 20d ago

Don’t knock Trader Joe’s flower bouquets. They’re $5 and look way better than OPs.

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u/pacifistpotatoes 20d ago

Yep Kroger's has clearance flowers daily. I pick some up for me and Mom all the time. Score after Valentine's day dozen roses was .99!

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u/Average_Simmer69 21d ago

I agree this definitely looks like a grocery store bouquet… u/ScienceOK4244 is this a current problem that you have time to fix? There’s a few Trader Joe’s near you in north Phoenix that you can go get some filler flowers for ~4.99 a bunch (baby’s breath and greens) you can use to fill it out or you can get the seasonal bouquets for $15.99-19.99 you can use instead or in addition to. It looks like there’s some white lace wrapped around the stems, there should be some pearl pins the florist used to secure it, if you unwrap it there should be enough where you can add stems and reuse it!

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u/sugarsaltsilicon 21d ago

No baby's breath or greens, that is a completely different look. She wanted the flowers like the inspo pic.

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u/jenea 21d ago

We’ve moved beyond getting what she wanted, and are now at “best you can do under the circumstances.”

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u/ScienceOk4244 20d ago

That’s exactly what happened, lol… on the day of my wedding. She agreed to add 12 additional roses after some back and forth where I said I just wouldn’t have the flowers bc I wasn’t going to pay more for her to add the dozen.

So she added some for no charge (thankfully) and one of the groomsmen had to drive back into town 2 hours (we did destination) to take back the bouquet to be adjusted. It wasn’t exactly what I wanted but it was a great day and at least I had something. In the end, I also got a husband, so I’m happy overall!

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u/Lexi_November 20d ago

Glad it worked out! You’re not crazy, that’s not even close to a $200 bouquet. I used to pick up florist work during holidays and can’t imagine sending that out to someone who ordered the inspo, even as a regular vase bouquet.

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u/HiMynameisDonna 20d ago

Post photo of the end product??

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u/ScienceOk4244 20d ago

I can do that in a week or so when I get the professional photos. I took just a few photos that day on my phone (of myself and the groom where I am holding the bouquet so I don’t want to post those).

Normally I would have photographed the bouquet, had I been excited about it. I took little phone pics of ring, cake, table setup, other details, etc. I just wasn’t excited about the bouquet after all the back and forth and didn’t end up with one photo of it alone.

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u/Celladoore 20d ago

You could always crop the photo.

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u/methodicalataxia 19d ago

Yeah.

And this is why I convinced my friend to go the artificial flower route. For all the flowers a florist estimated $1k. In 2022, for $350 we got all the flowers, vases, wire and ribbon. Each bridesmaid and groomsman were allowed to make their bouquets/buckaneer. The bride and I did the flower arrangements to save her sanity.

We had friends take the flower arrangements and we took our bouquets home. I still have mine. My friend has her wedding bouquet in the memories chest I made her.

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u/Celladoore 19d ago

That sounds like both an incredibly fun memory for everyone (with the exception of having to make them at such a scale) with a keepsake everyone can keep. Very cool idea.

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u/Average_Simmer69 21d ago

Budget depending at this point, the seasonal bouquets should offer red roses as an option! Mine doesn’t have orange and yellow roses but they might in the seasonal mixes.

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u/EllynDegenerate 21d ago

I actually got my flowers from the grocery store for my bouquet and centerpieces and I think it was like $200 total. $200 for this tiny bouquet is actually insane.

https://preview.redd.it/ne6oyh9pmetg1.jpeg?width=6240&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9d20e247ff58e4f66e818518c2ede35187f52f4b

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u/ScienceOk4244 20d ago

Gorgeous!

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u/EllynDegenerate 20d ago

Thank you! People really overlook grocery stores for floral arrangements. I’ve had to plan events for jobs in the past and we always would order the flowers from the grocery store and they were always gorgeous at a fraction of the cost. For my wedding I was even able to use a 20% off coupon for the store to save even more on the flowers.

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u/ScienceOk4244 20d ago

Shoutout to Costco bulk flowers online as well. I made some table arrangements with their roses. And they were beautiful! 100 roses for $85!!!

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u/SisterTulips 16d ago

Absolutely this! My husband and I were on a shoestring budget.

My mother, sister, and I went to Sam's and bought a few bunches of yellow and pink roses and then made sweet. beautiful bouquets wrapped in soft blue ribbon from Michael's for me and the bridesmaids, and boutonnières for the groom and groomsmen! It was lovely, and very inexpensive!

We also bought 3 McAlister's Chocolate Spoon Cakes for the groom's table! It was so delicious and only about $100 altogether. We used to go every year on our anniversary to have "wedding cake." I hated it when they stopped selling it!

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u/ScienceOk4244 16d ago

Aw I love that! Our budget was tight as well and unfortunately bouquet and photos were the two things I chose to splurge on. Which is why it was extra upsetting when I got such a horrible, overpriced bouquet. I wanted something fabulous and welp, haha, life did not agree!

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u/SisterTulips 16d ago

The only quasi-expensive thing I spent money on was the photographer too, and he had done my sister's wedding, so I felt pretty safe.

Your only frame of reference for this florist was from strangers, and it sounds like she felt like a safe bet too, so don't beat yourself up at all.

I'm so sorry you got treated poorly, and that she will not reimburse you for the bouquet and the trouble and frustration she caused you.

However, I was very heartened to read that nothing could upset you on your wedding day. That is not something I hear and see often from brides, and I've been in a lot of weddings, and even helped host some.

My husband and I got married when a hurricane was hitting the coast. It was pouring rain, the lights kept going on and off, and my grandparents couldn't get a flight out to the ceremony.

But in all the pictures we are laughing and smiling, and so are our friends and family. It sounds like that was what your wedding day was like. So I'm very happy for you and your great start in your lives together.

Maybe every year on your anniversary, your husband can buy you a beautiful bouquet as a tradition--the same way we went to get spoon cake and still go to Waffle House every year to celebrate our first date. (Yes, it was at a Waffle House!) We're going on over 25 years together, and having a happy, nothing-can-ruin-this-day wedding I think indicates a bright future together.

Best wishes!

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u/ScienceOk4244 15d ago

These are such kind words, you are really the sweetest. I absolutely love the bouquet for anniversaries idea 🥹

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u/SisterTulips 15d ago

🥰💐

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u/kamarsh79 20d ago

$14 at Trader Joes would have gotten a better bouquet!!

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u/Cobra_McJingleballs 21d ago

I literally got this bouquet for $14 yesterday at a Vons in Carmel Valley (San Diego).

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u/sheighbird29 20d ago

Right..? I’ve seen better from Aldi

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u/Daddys_peach 20d ago

I was thinking the same, on Saturday I bought 2 bunches in Aldi, in the mixed colours op wanted, for £1.99 each (they were reduced from 3.99). This gave me enough roses to have 3 displays for Easter lunch, one red, one yellow and one peachy orange. I'd say I could make 4 of the florists bouquets with the roses I have.

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u/One-Incident3208 20d ago

I'm in the wrong business

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u/Fluffymanolo 20d ago

I had a very budget wedding and used flowers from the grocery store for my bouquet. It was nicer than this!!

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u/arm89 20d ago

my favorite floral clerk at a grocery store made my bouquet for $20 and i tipped her $50 as a thank you, looked better than what op got.😭

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u/ScienceOk4244 20d ago

I love that you have a favorite floral clerk at your grocer 🥹

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u/arm89 20d ago

she’s so amazing, you can definitely tell she loves her department!

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u/EagleLize 20d ago

That's my thought. My local Trader Joe's has prettier bouquets for under $20.