Patricia Gibbons, Floral Designs

If you read nothing else of this review (as it really is more like a novel now ;) ), suffice it to say that I am flower knowledgable and picky; Pat Gibbon's delivered on providing wedding flowers beyond anything I could have imagined and the designs were absolutely perfect. Oh, and seriously fair-priced to boot.

I am an avid gardener and demanded unique flowers for my wedding. Upon meeting Pat, I declared that I wanted whimsical, yet formal designs that were much more interesting and unusual than typical wedding flowers.

I pride myself on my ability to distinguish the dendrobiums from the cymbidiums, and if my husband wants to make my day, he gets bonus points for gifting a houseplant or succulent with roots and dirt attached over a dome shaped arrangement of perfect rosebuds. So basically, no roses or phalaenopsis allowed. I wanted texture and interest, succulents and hanging berries, proteas and fiddleheads, unshaped and unconfined arrangements. Wow, I was a pretty difficult client :).

Pat listened well, made excellent recommendations and tactfully corrected my selections. She wasn't afraid to say that the some of my favorite inspiration pictures were not formal enough for my venue. She pointed out when flowers I liked were out of season, and suggested better priced alternatives. She helped define the perfect purples and dissuaded me from omitting white from my bridal bouquet (thank you!!!! What I wanted WAS too colorful!).

All of this is great and dandy, but at some point in the process you realize that, to some extent, you have no idea of what you're going to get. Our conversations with Pat were 6-8 months prior to our wedding. As much as I like flowers, I didn't know what was in season, what would be available at the flower market and well-priced the week of my wedding, and ultimately I don't have the flower expertise to visualize how all of our conversations translate into arrangements. So we put our faith in Pat, trusted her understanding of our aesthetic, and put stock in her editing skills.

I had extremely high expectations. The results blew me away. The woman brought lotus pods out of her arsenal!

OK, so the the bride likes her bouquet and dad's boutonniere is dashing, happy customers, all good. Who else really cares about my wedding flowers, right? No less than ten guests made a point to tell me in my 2 minute average conversation with each of them, how exquisite our flowers were. At the end of the night, there were serious fights over who got to take home arrangements. Poor mom didn't get in on the action early enough, so I had to pull in some serious favors to reclaim a vase for her. I'm still hearing the rave reviews about how "friends knew I was into flowers and wow, how that came across at our wedding." A+ work, Pat. I am so happy we trusted you with our flower vision :).

Oh, and bonus points, it rained on my wedding day and Pat was out there practically in a poncho with a smile putting the finishing touches on our flowers. :)

Pat was professional and responsive throughout the entire year leading to the wedding. The flowers were beautiful on the day of: lush, vibrant, and hand tied with a gorgeous ribbon in my wedding colors. She also generously provided complimentary cake flowers and toss bouquet.

I have two small complaints: 1) instead of the requested corsages for the mothers and sisters, she supplied mini bouquets; 2) she would not allow anyone else to provide flowers for the event--this came up when i mentioned to her i had been thinking of sprinkling rose petals along the aisle, and she informed me that when I signed the contract it stated that she had sole rights to flower design. I reread the contract and didn't find this clause--I also spoke to two other event planners who thought this request was rather odd. It is, after all, the bride's day, not the florist's!

Pat was excellent in every regard. She is flexible, responsive, and incredibly willing to work within any budget you give her. Her floral arrangements are stunning as well!

Pat really does stunning work! Her designs are original and creative. She's highly organized, and a pleasure to work with.

Pat Gibbons did an amazing job on our wedding flowers this summer. We wanted beautiful flowers on a budget, and Pat delivered on that promise. When we quoted our budget to other vendors ($1,500) we were told that they did "very high-end work." In other words, they weren't interested in working with us. Due to busy schedules and long distance planning we only met with Pat one time. We had total confidence in her and we gave her creative license to create something beautiful. Our guests were so impressed. Pat incorporated some gorgeous greenery and other elements into our centerpieces that really made them pop. She was able to stretch our dollars so that it didn't appear that we were on a budget. Pat Gibbons is truly an artist. We would highly recommend her. Her website is beautiful as well, www.patgibbonsfloral.com

I was given Pat's name by a friend's friend. We set-up an appointment and I went to her home in El Cerrito (from San Francisco) to meet with her. She showed me her portfolio, which she described as "outdated", and we chatted for about an hour and a half. I brought a number of pictures to give her an idea of the look I was going for, but she never really seemed to get it. We agreed that she would continue to hold my date, and that we would talk again after she had sent me a contract to look over. A week and a half later I emailed her to check in on the contract. I was resigned to using her because of the referral. She emailed me back saying that she had "just" booked someone else for my date and was sorry but would not be able to help me. I reminded her that she was holding my date and still hadn't sent me a contract. This didn't seem to mean much to her.

I found her response to be very bizarre, unprofessional and inconsiderate. It took a total of four hours for me to get to and from her home and view a portfolio that was "years" out of date, just to be told that she decided to work with someone else.

Unless it's love at first sight, I wouldn't suggest relying on this vendor.

I first worked with Pat in 2006 for my middle daughter's wedding. Pat's name came up several times from our other vendors (Katrina Roselle Cakes being one) and after interviewing 4 florists we found her very professional, certainly the best fit in personality and style. She seemed to "get" the look we wanted and her work is not "trite". After meeting with her twice (driving to El Cerrito from Saratoga & San Francisco respectively) we trusted her instincts and experience and just let her run with it, communicating easily by emai and photos. We could not have been more pleased with her work - the flowers were exceptionally beautiful, creative, on time and on budget. She transformed the room with her work.

Pat is now working with us on my eldest daughter's September wedding. It's a completely different look and venue. Working with her again has been a joy. Pat's many suggestions have been practical and creative as she keeps the process moving steadily along.

We still have one daughter to go and look forward to working with Pat again, hopefully in the not-too-distant future!

I called Pat Gibbons on short notice after the florist I had picked out had a family emergency. I had a week until I was to be married, and was frantic. We were to be married 08/08/08 which was a very popular date to get married, and everyone I called was booked. A girlfriend of mine recommended Pat, who had done her wedding a couple of years ago. While Pat was very busy that week, she agreed to do the best she could in the short amount of time. The flowers were SPECTACULAR. She was so organized, friendly and upbeat. Her taste was impeccable, and guests (myself included) were blown away.

I would highly recommend Patricia Gibbons to anyone seeking a talented, reliable and non-nonsense florist. I interviewed a handful of florists before deciding on Pat. While some of the other florists were very nice and enthusiastic, and comparable in price, it was often difficult for me to get into contact with them. Pat, in contrast, was a consummate professional from day one. As you’ll see if you look at her past work, she has a very artistic sensibility—her arrangements have a signature style—but she’s also a real business woman, which means that she’s very efficient and straight-forward, both in person and on the phone, and very reliable. I decided that what I really wanted was someone that I could trust to make good aesthetic choices on my behalf, and to take all the responsibility off my—and my mom’s—hands on the day of the wedding. Pat did a wonderful job at both: she created exquisite pieces that perfectly complemented the swatches of fabric and other materials I gave her as a sample palette, and she showed up early, set everything up beautifully, and was finished well before everything started. I didn’t have to lift a finger, which was exactly what I wanted.

I think your meetings with her, of which there will probably be two—an initial consultation + a follow-up-—will be most productive if you bring, to that first meeting, a budget, a list of the pieces you need (# of bouquets, bouts, aisle arrangements, etc.) as well as pictures of the types of flowers and arrangements that resemble what you’re looking for. If there’s a specific flower/color you really want, or a flower/color that you just hate, let her know. The more specific and concrete you can be about what you want, the easier it will be for her to please you. At the end of the day, though, I’d suggest remembering that you hire a florist because they know more about flowers and flower arranging than you do!:-) As I look over our photographs, I’m increasingly impressed with the combinations of colors and textures that she chose. I don’t think I would have chosen them myself, but they really were more unique, sophisticated and lovely than anything I could have envisioned.

Pat was great to work with and her flowers looked beautiful! We turned to her with two months left before the wedding because we had "fired" our previous florist. Pat agreed to work with us and we met a couple of times to discuss the wedding flowers. Pat created stunning arrangements - a bouquet for the copper pot one of the bridesmaids carried, aisle decorations, small floral arrangements for the cocktail area, gorgeous garden-y lush arrangements for the guest tables, and stunning flowers for my hair and for the hair of my three bridesmaids and for my mom. The flowers for the cake were also beautiful!

Past also created the centerpieces for the rehearsal dinner at the Claremont Country Club. Those were truly amazing!

We spent more on flowers than we had planned to, but it was worth it. While Pat is not one of the less expensive florists, we found that her professionalism, punctuality, talent, and creativity were the more money we spent on flowers. And our wedding looked more beautiful for it!

We spent about $2500 on flowers. Floral centerpieces for guest tables - lush garden-y arrangements that included hydrangea and lilac were $100 a piece.

Pat did the flowers for my Easter wedding this past March. I would recommend her highly! I found Pat to be very easy to talk to and she understood what I was looking for. When I met with her, she had lots of pictures for me to look through, which was very helpful. I was able to show her what I liked and what I did not want. I really liked that Pat worked with fruits and herbs in addition to flowers. I ended up giving Pat a color palette to work with and my budget constraints, and she chose the most beautiful fresh, local flowers for our arrangements. Pat was also great when I had to change the cake table flowers at the last minute and add on two flowergirls right before the wedding. I also found Pat to be very responsive by both phone and email.

Pat's floral arrangements are just incredible. My bouquets were exactly what I wanted, the centerpieces were beautiful, and the flower-decorated arch was stunning! She is also very nice to deal with and was very flexible with our timing.

I received rave reviews for both my Ceremony and Reception flowers. Pat was open to my ideas and provided a portfolio of work from which I could gain inspiration that included floral arrangements with fruit incorporated. The use of grapes as part of the arrangements was a perfect touch for my Wine Country Wedding.

I have worked with Pat on countless weddings and events and find her one of the most creative, talented and gracious floral designers. My clients ALWAYS love her work, and I can't say how much I enjoy working with her.