Artificial Flowers --- HELP!

[nklpikl]

I'm using a seller on eBay, whose product looks great (in the pictures) seems really reasonable and who has been so nice, via e-mails. Very accommodating and willing to work with you on anything. If you need her information, let me know. Or search "real touch" or "silk bridal boquet"

 

Good luck!

 

Can I have her info. LoveMyKings @ gmail dot com the only one I see on ebay is flowersfromdetailsbyj.lynn is that it?

[Karen_and_Andy]

I had to chime in here with my two cents worth because I saw this post and I totally agree with the person who recommended Something Spectacular.

 

A good friend of mine was married this past December on a Carnival Cruise in the Caribbean and she hired Something Spectacular to design the flowers for her wedding. They were the nicest silk flowers I've ever seen plus everyone on the ship, including her Carnival wedding coordinator, photographer, and the staff who setup for her wedding, kept telling my friend that hers were the nicest silk wedding flowers they had ever seen brought onboard. I'm not exaggerating when I say they totally look and feel like fresh flowers, and I even have my bridesmaid bouquet set out for display in a vase in my living room. It looks totally natural and everyone who sees it thinks it's real.

 

Because of how my friend's flowers turned out, all the compliments she received, and all the great things she told me about her experience with the florist, I booked them about a month ago for my wedding. Everything has been going great so far, and I've been very pleased with how friendly, personable, honest, and competent the designer is. She has made some excellent suggestions and convinced me that I can have something other than the all white flowers I thought I was going to be limited to in order to coordinate with the odd color BM dresses I selected.

 

One thing to note about Something Spectacular, however, is that they book up way in advance. I think that's probably because they have won a lot of awards and their work is so good that a lot of people want them to design for them so you have to either reserve your wedding date with them really early or hope they can fit you in. The designer told me that she limits the amount of orders she takes so she can spend a lot of time working with each person so that's probably another reason why they book up so fast. I'm just happy that I booked early and my date was still open. Yippee!!!

 

I'll post some photos of my flowers either when I get them or when the designer sends me the proofs. My wedding isn't until the beginning of next year so I don't know yet when she will start designing my order. My friend received her order about a month before we left for the cruise so plenty of time before but not too much time where she had to worry about where to store everything for a long period. There were 8 of us as bridesmaids plus she had her bouquet, all the corsages and men's flowers, flowergirl flowers, etc. so she had a lot of flowers! I'm glad my wedding party isn't that large. That would totally stress me out.

[DNineMoons]

Karen,

 

I was looking forward to talking with someone at Something Spectacular, but for some reason I am completely unable to get through to them! Whenever I call, it doesn't even ring, it just goes to a recording that says "The mailbox for: Something Spectacular floral designs, is full and unable to take more messages. Please call back." I must have called at least 15 times on different days and it still says that. I emailed them and I got an email back saying they are having server problems and to contact them by phone! Do you have any tips on getting in touch with them?? The phone number I've been calling is (586) 778-4624.

 

Thanks,

Emily

[Karen_and_Andy]

Hi Emily, that is the right phone number but I've noticed that their voicemail fills up fast, and I had that same issue the first couple times I tried calling. Kim, the designer I'm working with (and I'm pretty sure the owner) told me that they get so many calls a day that the line fills with inquiries faster than they can return calls and clear voicemail. She said they are having website and email issues right now and are relying totally on the phone for initial contact so that really adds to the volume of calls and messages they get. She gave me a backup phone number and email to use in case I had any difficulty getting through again to the number on the website. My friend who used Something Spectacular for her wedding flowers in December told me she thinks the backup number is probably Kim's home or cell number. The backup email address definitely appears to be a personal one.

 

I don't know Kim well enough to know if she would be okay with me posting potentially personal contact info on a public board where spammers or telemarketers could easily find and abuse it. She's been very nice so far, and my friend raved about how accomodating she was throughout her entire planning process so I'll email her tonight to see if she is okay with me posting the info. I'll also let her know that someone is trying to contact SS. When we spoke last week she said SS is super busy with spring and summer weddings right now so they may not see or get to my email right away. I'll also call the backup phone number for you and let her know. She may not even be aware that SS phone mailbox is full.

 

In the meantime, does this board have a messaging feature where I can send you the info I have right now? I just found this board yesterday so I don't know how secure it is or if it has a privacy feature so email addresses can be shared without exposure to spam. If so, let me know and I'll give you the SS backup contact info I have right away. If you are looking for quality flowers, I really think you would like their work. They are a little more expensive than some I've seen online from other places, but after seeing how real looking my friend's wedding flowers were and how nicely everything was made, I pretty much made up my mind right away that I wanted my flowers from there. I think they are definitely worth the price difference, and all the suggestions and ideas I've gotten since reserving my spot with them have been very helpful. I feel I'm getting my money's worth and more.

[DNineMoons]

Karen,

 

Thanks for doing that for me, I appreciate it. Although at this point I'm pretty sure she won't be able to do my date (august 9) but it can't hurt to ask. Right now I am planning to order the silks from Angel's Accents and then put them together myself, which makes me nervous! I don't want to mess up!

 

If you could send me her personal contact info, I would be glad to have it. You can send it to me at emilyandtrevor@gmail.com.

 

I really appreciate your help!

 

Thanks,

Emily

[Karen_and_Andy]

Hi Emily, I was able to get through to Kim at Something Spectacular. She responded to the e-mail I sent to her personal mail account and then she followed up with a call to me about an hour later this afternoon.

 

Here's the scoop. She's busy with weddings plus one of her parents is very ill and in/out of the hospital the past few months. She said she's been spending a lot of time traveling between her house and theirs to help. She didn't say where they live, but I got the feeling that it wasn't closeby. If she's out of town a lot, that explains why her voicemail has been full lately. I knew something must be going on if you couldn't get through that many times. I had difficulty with full voicemail the first couple times I tried calling SS but a few days later was able to get through with no problem. Now I just use the backup email and phone she provided. Jennifer said Kim was always thorough and responsive to her and so far she has responded to all my email and calls so that's a good sign.

 

Here's how she said to reach SS while all this stuff is going on. She asked that I not post her personal mail address on the board because of spam but she does want to be available for brides who are trying to reach her. She said I should feel free to email her personal contact info to anyone here who asks so I will send you all the contact info I have. If anyone else is interested, let me know and I'll email the info to you, too. She said 2 other ways to reach her as backup are through the snailmail address on the website and a contact link she said is on a website called the Gathering Guide. Sounds like the requests for info there go directly to her personal email.

 

I Googled the gathering guide tonight and found the link. It is I didn't know your wedding specifics so I couldn't ask whether she is available to help you, but it's worth checking into because she does such nice work and the flowers are beautiful. The website says they can sometimes fit in orders when full so maybe everything will work out. I'll email you her info shortly. It's in the spiffy new wedding planner that my coworkers gave me this week. Good luck and let me know what happens. It would be nice to meet brides here who have some of the same vendors so we can share feedback and compare our experiences.

[Karen_and_Andy]

Emily, you have mail! If you didn't get the SS info I sent, let me know and I'll resend.

 

If anyone else needs additional contact info for Something Spectacular in Michigan, email me at Karen-1705 at hotmail dot com and I'll send you what I have.

 

Woo hoo, take that spambots. I think typing my address that way will help me avoid more junkmail from spammers. Now if it was only that easy to get rid of all the vendors telemarketing me from my info provided by David's Bridal. Why does DB share your info without your permission? Argh!

[DNineMoons]

Karen, you're a saint, thanks for sending me the info!

 

I emailed her on Saturday morning after I received your email, and I haven't heard from her yet, but I'm sure she'll get around to it sometime this week.

 

Thanks again, I'll let you know how it turns out!

[Karen_and_Andy]

You are very welcome. If you haven't heard from her already, I'm sure you will at some point soon. She may be traveling based on what she told me last week about the situation with her parents. If you don't hear anything in a couple of days, let me know and I'll call her for you again. Did I give you her phone number? I don't remember. I'll eMail it to you in case I didn't previously.

[DNineMoons]

Karen,

 

I just heard from Kim by email and she was SO sweet. She said she is out of town, as you said, at her relative's house, but my order is small so she believes she can fit it in - she just wants to wait until she gets home to send me a definite answer, so by Wednesday we should know. Her email was so long and thorough, I am truly impressed! I am really excited that I will (most likely) get to use her - I will enjoy giving her my business.

 

Fingers crossed she can fit me in!

 

She did say she's booked until the end of the year, FYI in case other brides were following this.

 

Thanks again Karen, I'll keep you updated!

 

-Emily

[Karen_and_Andy]

Emily, that is great news. I will keep my fingers crossed that she has good news for you soon. That would be awesome if SS designed for both of us, and I wonder if anyone else on this board is using, or has used, them for wedding flowers. Anyone else here using Something Spectacular for your bouquets? If so, have you received your flowers yet?

[Crusin's_girl]

Anyone recive their flowers yet? Do they actually look real? How much were you charged? SS looks AMAZING! Any info is greatly appreciated!

 

THANK YOU!

superbecky79 hotmail com

[Karen_and_Andy]

Hi, I haven't received mine yet from Something Spectacular as I just started the process about a month and a half ago and my wedding is still a ways off, but I have seen photos of sample flowers and chosen from there. I'm almost totally decided but Kim is still putting together a couple of the final sample groupings for me to choose from.

 

I love everything I have seen so far. The flowers look very realistic and it appears that the costs are based on how realistic you want to go. For example, I started off with a much lower budget and liked the samples and thought they still looked realistic, but I really really like the samples when I bumped up my budget. It seems to be one of those areas where you really get what you pay for. I should've known better when I first set my budget that there was no way I was going to get the quality and size of bouquets I wanted for as cheap as I had hoped from anyone. My friend Jennifer's bouquets from SS were so nice and I was hoping I could get something like that cheaper but I found to go cheaper from anybody meant that the quality level dropped or the size of the bouquets dropped.

 

SS had been very fair with me and I feel like I'm getting a really good deal. They've spent a lot of time with me to find out what I really want and what's important to me. I really like that and it makes me feel more comfortable especially since they are not local where I can just stop in their store all the time. My bouquet will be a larger sized medium, round bouquet with a mixture of level 1 and level 2 flowers. The prices change based on the types of flowers I pick but it's going to be around $135-140 for my bridal bouquet. I want good-sized, dense and full BM bouquets so those are going to be somewhere around $65-75 each, and most of the guy's lapel flowers will be around $5-6 each. I'm really happy with SS so far.

[Inspiration_bride]

i got my flowers last week... i will attach a pic of the bouquet and try for the bout's and coursages later! :)

[Karen_and_Andy]

My florist, Something Spectacular in Michigan, sent me a photo today of a sample bouquet made with the same flowers I'm planning to have so I wanted to post it here until I have a photo of my bouquet to show. She said this one was made for a bride in April, but mine would look like this only a little smaller if I wanted the two colors of pink roses with the small white flowers (only remember they are called stefasomething).

 

The bridesmaid dresses I picked are a green color called peridot. I can't decide if I like pink roses or peach roses with the green dresses but I think I would like orchids instead of the small white flowers in mine. When I get more photos from Kim I'll post them here for everyone to see.

[DNineMoons]

[quote name='Karen_and_Andy']My florist, Something Spectacular in Michigan, sent me a photo today of a sample bouquet made with the same flowers I'm planning to have so I wanted to post it here until I have a photo of my bouquet to show. She said this one was made for a bride in April, but mine would look like this only a little smaller if I wanted the two colors of pink roses with the small white flowers (only remember they are called stefasomething).

The bridesmaid dresses I picked are a green color called peridot. I can't decide if I like pink roses or peach roses with the green dresses but I think I would like orchids instead of the small white flowers in mine. When I get more photos from Kim I'll post them here for everyone to see.[/quote]

Karen,

Those look great!! I am expecting some sample groupings from Kim for my flowers this weekend as well, so I will be excited to see what she puts together!

Personally, I am more of a fan of pink roses than peach roses. Kim told me she just ordered a whole bunch to use in mine, and she was excited so she emailed me about them since she said they are just beautiful. I can't wait to see them! Also, I think orchids are beautiful, they would look great in that bouquet.

-Emily