Fleurs De Florissima

Florissima is one of the designated florist for The BoatHouse, and in my opinion, they only did a average job for the price they charged.

Aubert was no where to be found on the day of the wedding, as he promised. All the bouquets & boutonnieres were left in the bridal room, and some of them with mis-labels. No one from Florissima were there to help... in short, it was chaotic.

One note, read all the fine prints on the terms and conditions, which will be included in the contract package...some vases/stands were expected to be returned, and make sure your guests will not take them with the flower arrangements. after signing the entire package, and If there were any revision affecting the price, only the payment contract will be resent. (Who knows what had be signed months ago...)

Florissima did a BEAUTIFUL job for us!!! The flowers were magnificent - I dont think the Boathouse could ever have looked more beautiful - the transformation they maneuvered was astonishing!! We had never been to an event there (other than lunch and dinners) and were not quite sure how different it could look for a wedding - boy were we overwhelmed!! Everyoune has called and asked who did the flowers. I have been giving their name out to everyone. It was everything we could have ever wanted for our daughters wedding!!!

It was wonderful working with Arlene and Aubert (which of course helped to make it so special).

All our best, Michele, Marshall, Stephanie and Scott

Aubert and Arlene did an absolutely gorgeous job for me and really exceeded my expectations. From the bouquets to the centerpieces they really couldn't have been better. Also, i really appreciated the calls they gave me the day of for piece of mind that everything was under control.

thanks again for making my bid day look so good!

Sara~

My experience was nothing but amazing with Florissima. Aubert helped me attain my "perfect day". The staff was nothing but professional on the day of my event and the flowers were spectacular! Every time i think about the room i just smile and i will have the pictures to always remember them by.

I highly recommend them to anyone!

Bethanny K.

Throughout the planning process - they were terrible at getting back to me. I'd send email after email, leave repeated messages and not hear back from them. The day of my trial (a month before the wedding) I still had not received the revised contract (after numerous requests over 3 months!). I doubted them all the way through - and my instincts were right...
On the morning of the Wedding, my first phone call of the day was from Aubert saying he didn't like the boutonnires I picked because they were too big. (A fiddlehead fern - with 3 or 4 hypericum berries at the base). I told him it was okay to just use a "few" berries wrapped, because the last thing I wanted was big boutonnires (we had talked about that several times). The only thing I specifically didn't want were roses (as we had discussed). When the bouts arrived they were giant roses with berries at the base. They were huge...and falling apart. My day of coordinators talked to them and they promised to send the correct ones later on (THEY NEVER DID). Next up - I'm on the rooftop taking pictures and I look over and see an arrangement sitting out (the centerpiece off of the base). Let's just say it was FILLED with bright green hydrangeas (not antique green with the rust tips), had MUMS?!?! (a cheap filler!) and not one single hypericum berry (my contract specified lots of them). My contract stated wine and gold orchids, dahlias, baccarat roses, antique green hydrangea (used sparingly) and green hanging amaranthus. It also stated that there was to be NO FILLER, and that the base of the arrangements were to have lush baccarat rose petals and flower heads (that didn't happen b/c they had to use the roses to replace the mums!). Thankfully, I had really great day of coordinators who had pictures from my trial and my contract and they got on the phone with them immediately. Without them, the flowers would not have looked 1/10th as good as they did in the end! Other little (or not so little) things that were wrong:
- I specified in the contract that the girls' bouquets were to be wrapped in black grosgrain ribbon, they came in satin (I specifically asked for something NOT shiny).
- The groom's boutonnire was a black calla to be wrapped in gold satin ribbon - and to be SMALL. The one that arrived was giant, wrapped in white tulle with metallic gold trim (my dress was a very dark ivory).
- My mom's bouquet was wrong, and we had sent Aubert an exact picture of what she wanted.
- The clear clarinet vases we rented from them were upside-down on the tables and had NO water in them. Just empty glass on the table. AND, the vases were not all the same - there were 6 tables in the back corner with diff. clear vases (straight-some plain, some with etchings?, and not clarinet) - also not filled with water (and dusty!).
- There was both PINK and green hanging amaranthus (my contract stated green only).
- My cake was supposed to have a few red roses on it and petals at the base. It had about 35 bright red spray roses randomly checkered throughout it. It was awful - it looked like mini-roses had vomited on the front of the cake. Even my husband commented on how awful it looked.
There is so much more but I've gone on long enough! Thankfully, on the day of the wedding, I was able to let it go and really just enjoyed the day - but that doesn't make it okay or right. I hear so many stories of florists not following through and it's extremely frustrating b/c there's so little recourse you can take. My advice - thoroughly research your florist. Read reviews and talk to other brides who have used them (it's helpful to hear from people with similar budgets to you). Most importantly - go with your instincts...if you're worried about them, you're probably right!

8/6/2008

The flowers were beautiful!!!!!!!!!

Thank you for helping make the room look wonderful!!!

Peter Martino

8/12/2008

Hello Arlene,

Dan and I wanted to thank you and Aubert for your amazing work on our wonderful flower arrangements at our Boathouse wedding on Sunday. They were amazing and so beautiful! The centerpieces for the ceremony were especially breathtaking. Thank you again for all your help.

Sincerely,

Andrea Tieng and Daniel Kanemoto

8/24/2008

Aubert and Arlene,

Many, many thanks for making our rehersal dinner so beautiful!! We received so many compliments on the arrangements. The lanterns worked out so well. It was a pleasure working with you.
Sincerely,

Jeri Shapiro

9/15/2008

Hi Arlene,

I just wanted to thank you for the amazing and beautiful job you did on the flowers at my August 29 wedding at the Carltun. Jason and I and my parents were mesmerized by how beautiful the draping looked on the ceiling and the flower in the middle with the tea lights. You had made every single change that we discussed and everything was very elegant. I got a ton of compliments on the flowers that night and have passed your name along to some of my friends who are engaged. The flowers were definitely very full and I will always remember how beautiful they were.

Thank you again for everything and we will be in touch and thank you for your patience with my mom and I. I also thanked the Grober's for passing us along your name.

Lisa

9/28/2008

Arlene:

I just wanted to say a big THANK YOU! The flowers were absolutely
beautiful, you outdid yourself.

Holly

10/1/2008

Hi Arlene,

I was going to write you this note sooner after Gabriela's Bat Mitzvah party. I wanted to say thank you so much for made such beautiful candy theme centerpieces! The party room looked great and beautiful.
Everyone at the party told us that they thought the centepieces were awesome!. Gaby and I love the centerpieces. She wanted to keep it all.
So we brought it home and and decorate in my house basement.

Thank you so much for the beautiful centerpieces you did for my two children's parties. I look forward to having you again for future parties. I will keep in touch with you. Thanks again!

Rebecca
Sent from my BlackBerry(r) wireless device

10/13/2008

Dear Arleen and Aubert,

The last of my company from the wedding left for the airport on Friday, so I am finally getting to sit down to write to everyone, and you are at the top of my list. Thank you so much for all you and your staff did to make Corrie and Jim's wedding absolutely perfect! So many of my guests came up to me that night and called the following day to tell me how much they enjoyed themselves and how beautiful everything looked.

All of my friends who have had weddings, recounted their horror stories of things that went wrong for them. However, reflecting back, I can't think of even one. Everything looked spectacular and went exactly as planned. I couldn't have asked for more. You and your staff went above and beyond, and it was so greatly appreciated. The mere words, thank you, seem so inadequate to describe my gratitude.

It was such a delight working with you, and I truly hope you will keep in touch. If there is anything I can do for you to help you have the same experience when your son marries, I sincerely hope that you will call and ask, as it would be my pleasure.

I wish you all the best, and thank you again.

Fondly,
Chris

10/19/2008

Dear Arlene,

I just wanted to thank you and Aubert for the absolutely beautiful flowers on Friday for our wedding. The bouquets were perfect, and both Mark and I were stunned when we walked into the Boathouse and saw all of the amazing centerpieces. I am so, so happy we went with the centerpieces after all.... they made the whole space such a magical setting.

Again, thank you so much for making our day that much more special. It was simply perfect.

With best regards,
Aurelie

10/27/2008
Aubert & Arlene: Thank you so much for the beautiful set up at the Boathouse. It was exactly the way we had envisioned our wedding to be. We received so many compliments from our guests and "elegant" was the top adjective used to describe the wedding. The flowers were just gorgeous and we were extremely pleased. Aubert, you are always so warm and kind whenever we see you. You have the ability to put anyone at ease! We are excited to see pictures and the video which will capture all of the details that you had put in and they will last a lifetime. Thanks again and wishing you all the best and continued success... Lila and Eitan Benayoun

11/4/2008
Hi Arlene, I just want to tell you and Aubert thank you for a beautiful room. I got so many compliments and I know that Middle Bay was quite impressed with your work so you should be hearing from them again. They loved the fabric draping around the dance floor. Everyone loved the tables, especially the chandalier centerpiece. Again, thanks for all of your work. I hope you got to see a picture of the room and how great it came out in the end.Gail