Beautiful By Nature Florist Reviews
Reviews
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4.0 out of 5 rating
4.0 out of 5 rating
16 Reviews
80% recommend it
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Jared W. Sent on 01/17/2022
Stunning Arrangements
Nikki at Beautiful By Nature is a creative visionary! My wife and I gave her the theme for our Wedding Renewal and immediately she started to produce ideas for us. Shortly after our first meeting she gave us an idea for centerpieces that became the foundation of our design scheme. Through open communication she kept us informed about her progress and decisions we needed to make so that we stayed on track. We did not shackle her with cost or demands; instead, we let her use her expertise to provide us with designs she felt would work best. On the day of our event, we were so moved with the arrangements because they exceeded our expectations and were very cost effective. With Nikki on our Team our event became extra special for us and we can’t wait to work with her again! -
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Charlotte Sent on 01/10/2012I really enjoyed working with Joan! She made the planning process very easy. She was very easy to get ahold of and dealt with my changes (there were quite a few) with ease. On the day of the wedding she arrived early and made sure I was happy with everything! Because we were having the ceremony in the same room as the reception, she stayed through our ceremony and helped the venue's staff with the room change to ensure that all of our flowers were perfect. Joan completely spoiled me as bride bringing me extras on the day of and making sure I was content. And nobody could beat her prices!!
I would recommend Joan to all brides! She will work closely with you to make sure you enjoy your special day! -
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Katie Sent on 05/18/2011I wish I could give Joan 10 stars instead of just 5. She was absolutely amazing through the entire planning process! She has the best prices that I have seen anywhere, and also provides the best work I have seen. I was absolutely blown away when I saw my bouquet and all the flower work that she did. She went above and beyond with everything that she did. Everything was so gorgeous, way better than I have ever imagined.
She was always easy to get in contact with, very sweet and helpful.
When I discussed my budget concerns with her, she did everything in her power to give me the most beautiful wedding flowers, without breaking the bank.
All of the arrangements were so beautifully and intricately put together!
I absolutely recommend Joan for any florals that you will ever need! I am definitely looking forward to using her in the future. -
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Kathy Sent on 12/29/2019Beautiful arrangements
Joan's arrangements were amazing. Her team did a fantastic job. -
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User1417374 Sent on 11/02/2013Thank you Beautiful by Nature - the flowers for our 10/19/13 wedding ceremony and reception were gorgeous and exactly what I hoped for. Your timeliness and professionalism helped ease my worries on my special day. -
Deirdre M. Sent on 06/04/2021
Warning! Read Online Reviews Before Hiring Beautiful by Nature Florist! Don’t Let This Happen To You!
I am very astonished and disappointed in the lack of professionalism and integrity demonstrated by both Joan and Nikki of Beautiful by Nature Florist, in the way the way they have responded to my daughter (the bride), who has sent pictures and texts/emails showing the images of what she received as bridal flowers, compared to what was ordered. The owners are defensive and accusatory, blaming others for the poor quality and design of their arrangements. A national florist owner reviewed the conversations and photos between my daughter and Beautiful by Nature Florist. He also read the online reviews and was shocked at the way they come out swinging with threats of legal action against customers who post complaints, making excuses and not accepting responsibility.
“Brandon B.” appears as owner on some of the Yelp reviews, yet Joan Pennebaker has been the unaccredited business owner for the past 30 years (6/28/2001), according to the Better Business Bureau. “Brandon B.” could be a fictional front man. Don’t know. Now Joan claims she is selling the business to her associate Nikki, who has been involved in the amateurish arrangements we received. Each of them claims credit for creating our arrangements to our specification and also directs “credit” to the other.
Beautiful by Nature Florist is a preferred vendor at Arden Hills, where the wedding was held, which is why I felt comfortable working with them. I had seen many photographs of beautiful arrangements displayed in bridal magazines.
Beautiful by Nature Florist was notified in advance, that my daughter’s wedding would be featured in an upcoming issue of Bride and Groom Magazine and this provided them an opportunity to shine and showcase their abilities. Instead, we were given arrangements that would denigrate any florist. The bouquets were nothing like what was discussed at the consultation with Joan and there was zero resemblance to the “vision” arrangement photographs provided. I specified free-form bouquets, as the supplied photographs showed. I told Joan that my daughter particularly liked peonies. Joan stated on her contract, English style boho, shabby-sheik modern. I also supplied a picture of a bouquet as a color reference with dark blue accents to match her ring and the color theme of the dresses. Joan attached that color reference photo to the contract and noted 10% deep blue.
We were notified the day prior to the ceremony, when Nikki called to schedule a $50 pick-up appointment fee that the peonies didn’t come in well and roses were being substituted. My husband went to pick up the flowers the day of the wedding and drove the flowers in his air-conditioned car, less than 20 minutes to the venue. Nikki blamed my husband for the flowers not arriving in “pristine condition”. They even went so far as to manufacture a statement from him, stating he would not be going directly to the venue, which was a complete fabrication. They blame him for accepting the flowers, as if he had any choice, just hours prior to the ceremony. Not to mention, he had no idea what was ordered; he was simply reliving us of a task by picking up and delivering the flowers. I met him as he arrived and brought the flowers into the venue. When my daughter saw them, she was thunderstruck. But what could be done at that point? Hair stylists, make-up artists, videographer, photographer, bridesmaids and mothers of the bride and groom were all in various stages of preparation for the event.
My daughter flew out from North Carolina in February to attend Arden Hills Wedding show. She wanted to meet Joan in advance of her April date, and review pictures. Joan told her it was not the time or the place to talk to her about her event. Joan was there to get new business, not to discuss current client’s jobs. We asked for them to send us sample pictures. They ignored the request.
When the moment arrived to distribute the bouquets and pin on the boutonnieres, we could not tell which the bridal bouquet was. They were all virtually the same size. They were all small, had few flowers and mostly consisted of weed-looking filler that was not evenly distributed within the minimal flowers. We initially thought the throw bouquet was the bridal bouquet because it had more ribbon. Then we noticed that only one bouquet had some limp lamb’s ear added and determined that had to be bridal bouquet. The boutonnieres were equally unimpressive. Black tape, sloppily wrapped, held them together. The cheap, short straight pins provided, bent every time they hit a flower stem. We had to keep pulling them out to straighten them, moments before walking down the aisle, creating extra stress.
I let my daughter handle her complaints with Beautiful by Nature Florists directly, because it was her dream that was crushed. She has been a model and connected with the bridal industry for the last decade in different capacities and has many professional contacts. She knows what quality is standard and expected. My daughter sent texts and emails to the Beautiful by Nature Florist which were only responded to by Nikki. They agreed to set up a phone call to discuss the job but Nikki and Joan were always busy. When one date was finally set, my daughter needed to reschedule because of a work commitment and this one reschedule was blamed on my daughter, after she had tried for weeks to set up a meeting and they were unavailable. Joan finally did call six weeks after the wedding to leave a voice message stating she was not going to go down the “unprofessional path” my daughter was going with the emails, texts and photos. She also stated that she was selling the business and hoped my daughter would not be slandering the new business owner. They had offered to refund the bridal bouquet only, but that doesn’t begin to cover the cost and the disappointment of the inexcusable product they supplied and no refund was ever made. On this voicemail, Joan claimed that she did the work herself, following the picture I had provided. Joan also claimed to have posted the pictures and received many compliments on them.
When I heard the claim of posting those pictures, I became very incredulous. No one would want to show off that work we had received. I decided to do a bit of investigation to search for the post. When I typed Beautiful by Nature Florist into my search bar, I was not prepared for what I found. Several sites with negative complaints against Beautiful by Nature Florist. The complaints all had a common theme. Phone calls are not returned, contracts are lost, confusion, wedding dates mixed up and missed, expensive flowers are substituted for lesser flowers, lies, rudeness, not providing what was requested, accusations of slander, threats to sue customers who posted complaints, etc. When I looked at Beautiful by Nature Florist Facebook page, I happened to right-click on a photograph Joan posted and it took me to a floral design business in Dallas, TX. Perhaps the photo was posted only for style, but the photo appears to represent Beautiful by Nature Florist’s work.
Our ceremony was originally scheduled in May of 2020. At that time, all of the florists were booked. My daughter and I are extremely artistic and can create just about anything we set our minds to. I began watching YouTube videos on floral arranging, bought supplies and flowers and began building bouquets. It was fun and easy. My only hesitation was not having access to peonies (which we did not receive anyway) and being tasked with the job while entertaining a house full of out-of-town guests. This was all pre-COVID and when I met with Joan, she said she could make accommodation for us. A deposit was paid. As it turned out, I was so well organized, I could easily have created the arrangements for the wedding myself. After seeing what we received, I wish I had.
Apparently, Beautiful by Nature Florist has a set price chart, like a menu board. Bridal bouquets are $250, regardless of how grand or how puny and unimpressive. Bridesmaid’s bouquets are $80, boutonnieres are $17.50, and corsages are $41.66. And guess who Joan says is the new owner? Nikki! So this is the end product and attitude you can expect if you contract with them. BBN has tried to control the conversation and place themselves in the position of control from the start. A Zoom call was to be set up by Beautiful by Nature to include my daughter and myself. When my daughter emailed a Zoom invite to them for the same time, asking them to accept her invite so she would be able to record the call, Nikki wrote my daughter back and told her she would remove herself from future correspondence with her.
The photographs of what we received speak for themselves. A word of caution, if you do use them, do not pay by cash, check or Venmo. Pay by credit card so that you may have some recourse, should they breach your contract. Review online complaints on Yelp, WeddingWire.com, Womply.com, social media sites and now, Style Magazine and the Better Business Bureau, where they are not accredited, but will be receiving their first reviews for Beautiful by Nature Florists. The venues that refer them will also be notified and sent copies of the other reviews as well.
My daughter is now going to the expense of scheduling another photoshoot in her home state, involving hair stylist, photographer, flowers, etc., just so she can have some beautiful flowers in the pictures to represent their wedding that will last forever. Unfortunately, family and friends will be missing.
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