So...it happened, I asked a vendor for a partial refund.
It was always my plan to do all of our flowers myself, but I ended up chickening out two months before the wedding and hired a florist to do my bouquet, DH's boutonniere, moms' corsages, dads' bouts. During consultations with her, she asked for a deposit before sending a detailed proposal, which I thought was weird and refused - I always get a contract before sending money.
Fast forward to wedding weekend. My girls and I made all their bouquets with grocery store flowers, and they turned out amazing. Super vibrant colors and the arrangements looked great. The next morning, we sent a groomsman to pick up the flowers from the florist. As soon as I see my bouquet, I'm disappointed - the flowers look dull, the way the greenery is arranged makes it look like weeds. But I told myself it's because they're from a farm, my expectations were probably just off.
Two hours before the wedding, I get a call from one of the GM's wife that one of the dad bouts is missing. No idea if it even got picked up. So my FIL didn't have a bout. I thought to myself, maybe the GM wasn't paying attention - again, not the florist's fault.
Well. We got our pics back, and I saw the straw that broke the camel's back. I had specifically requested a certain color of rose because it was the color my grandpa always got my grandma. This year is 15 years since he passed, and my grandma, who I was extraordinarily close with, passed in September. This particular color of rose (not a very unusual color either) was an absolute requirement and the florist knew that. Get the pictures back, and what do you know...they aren't there.
I finally sent her an email, asked about the bout, asked about the roses, and asked about why there weren't any Shasta daisies, which are my favorite flower, which I had requested, which she put in the proposal. She tells me those daisies aren't in season, she used a gerbera instead. I looked closer and okay, there is a gerbera - you can barely see it because of how the flowers are arranged, but it's there. But why put Shasta in the proposal if you know they won't bloom then?
She said the flower shop was "busy" when GM came to get them, she doesn't know if the boutonniere made it in the box and she took responsibility because she didn't check herself to make sure everything was in the box. And the roses. The color wasn't blooming that day, and the ones she ordered arrived dead. So they just did not include them - no warning before the fact, no reaching out after the fact. I guess she thought I wouldn't notice?!
Well, I did. And remember the BM bouquets we made, with grocery store flowers? The store(s) had the roses, in the right color. And we didn't buy them, because I paid $200 for a bouquet from a florist who put in the proposal the color of roses I asked for and didn't let me know they couldn't be done.
So I have asked for a partial refund. If you were in my shoes, how much would you think was fair?
Thanks for making it this far...