Reviews of St. Louis Florists

Over the past 3 weeks I have interviewed 3 prospective florists, and I would like to share my thoughts on each

The first was Les Bouquets. This florist came highly recommended by several other vendors. The owner's name is Melinda. She seems very nice, but during our interview it didn't seem like she was really listening to my ideas. (ie- no roses please, I think they're cliche and over-used; also wanted to use mainly seasonal/spring flowers to keep costs low and keep greenery to a minimum to keep the look modern and clean) it did seem like she eventually got the ideas, after much coaxing. Two weeks later, I still had not received the proposal, so I emailed her, and she finally returned a proposal 2 days later. This proposal confirmed my suspision that either she wasn't listening or our styles did not mesh- over half of the items discussed were incorrect representations of what I had described, roses were in everything, and the propsal came in waaaaay over budget- estimated at $2200- yikes! (Our requested budget range was $1200-1600)So, needless to say, she is out of the running. (Though, to her defense I have read many other satisfied reviews and she might do a better job with someone who has a different style and budget in mind)

The second florist is RW Designs. I heard about this one from multiple sources- it was rated best florist in St. Louis by St. Louis Bride Magazine and it was also the company that did the arrangements I had admired from a "real wedding" on theknot.com. The RW stands for Rich West- he was very friendly and open to ideas, and also had great alternate suggestions for ideas that were too expensive. He had the awesome idea of using craspedia to create a more modern and masculine boutonnierre for our groomsmen, and also suggested adding football mums to some arrangements to add some sturdiness/ structure. His proposal was created during our meeting and emailed to me the same day. It had specific desciptions of each item that were exactly what we discussed and itemized pricing, which is helpful in determining how much it would cost to add or cut certain items. The estimate came in just over $1600, so right around budget.

The third florist was Artistry. This florist's office is located in the St. Louis flower market. The rep was helpful and polite, no complaints, and the estimate came in right around $1600, but I think I just liked RW designs better. Also, the Artistry estimate did not include any descriptions of each item or an itemized price list- just one total estimated price. One thing I did like about Artistry is that they allow you to preview your flowers the day before the wedding, and determine if you would like any changes before the big day. (Cool if you are a perfectionist!)

So, at this point I am leaning towards RW Designs! Hope to decide by next week.