Sunday, 1 April 2012

Fresh Flower & Gift Shop

The surprise arrangement I received was cute and understated, yet robust. The arrangement arrived in a short, rectangular vase with earthy and subtle accents. The arrangement had texture and volume, with different varieties of regular flowers (feathered tulips and an orange..dahlia?) This arrangement had a color scheme; a careful combination of color tones and hues, each flower highlighting and complementing each other. (From other photos posted, I sense her color scheme of choice is orange and yellow...).

Boy Sender says:

She seemed to really have her own style and didn't seem to want to work with the flowers you want. With other florists, they usually ask what types of flowers you like and then work with your budget, but Fresh asked for a budget and suggested flowers within that budget. While the arrangement turned out to be a success, the customer service wasn't as great as others, like Christine's (FiDi) who seems like she will really go above and beyond for the customer. Is this as good as it gets in Civic Center?

Natalini Flowers by Crispy

Crispy is a very special person in addition to being an extremely talented florist.  I stumbled into her shop several years ago while looking for the closest flower shop to purchase a bouquet for a co-worker.  She and her staff were so welcoming and helpful - making a beautiful custom arrangement on the spot for our price point.  And then she actually helped me walk it back to my office herself!  Who does that nowadays?

Since then I've returned several times whenever an occasion calls for flowers, and I have always been wowed by her artistry and generosity.  She has a loyal customer for life - I would never go anywhere else for floral arrangements, large or small.

If you want to see her and the shop in person be prepared for a little alley in SOMA that would be extremely questionable late at night but is fine to visit during the day.   It is a treat to watch her work if you don't mind the slightly sketchy neighborhood!

Bell & Trunk Flowers

I ordered a few wedding bouquets from Bell and Trunk and had so very many compliments. After shopping around and dealing with over-priced and impersonal vendors, Bell and Trunk was a treasure. Let's call it "The Jewel of Potrero."  Each bouquet was unique, full, and the flowers were fresh. Vanessa and team were a pleasure to work with, taking note of what flowers I liked, the theme of our wedding, and then incorporated some complimentary flowers I hadn't thought of. At the end, I had beautiful flowers and was happy they came from such a cool shop. Thank you Bell and Trunk!

Natalini Flowers by Crispy

I saw it and I believed.  Crispy did such a wonderful job!

We found Crispy through our wedding planner, she was very nice and friendly, welcoming and accommodating.  she was willing to work with our ideas and budget to come up with the best final design.  She doesn't normally make sample bouquets but she made one for me under my special request.  She even made a bouquet for me for my rehearsal!

I didn't get to see Crispy at all on my wedding day but her work was truly amazing.  Both ceremony and reception sites looked like how she described and some more!  Simple and elegant.  We got lots of compliments and people thought we spent a fortune on those beautiful arrangements.  We took a few centerpieces home after the wedding and the flowers lasted one more week!

Thank you crispy!

Soulflower Floral Design

I met with another florist and while he was nice he was only going to give me exactly what I asked for rather than designing the flowers. I wanted to see a little more creativity and design in the flowers and Emily was the right person for the job.

Since she's done flowers for my reception venue at Axis Cafe she was able to offer better suggestions on what would work well in the space. Originally I wanted low centerpieces but Axis has high ceilings so she opted for taller centerpieces so that they wouldn't get lost in the space. Emily was willing to work within my budget and offered suggestions on what would give me more bang for my buck such as ensuring there are some flowers at a buffet table or going with hurricane lamps and candles on the fireplace rather than flowers. She appreciated that for the kind of venue it was it didn't need a bunch of flowers to dress it up, just a few key centerpieces.

Emily was able to bring the vision I wanted to life and it was even better than I could've imagined! When I walked into the space that day I couldn't stop thinking how gorgeous the flowers were and how they really enhanced the space. People were coming up to me commenting on the flowers as well. Thanks Emily and SoulFlower!