8 not a very nice florist

pic: vw garden

while i was in queenstown i went to a florist to organise my flowers (they were recommended on a wedding website and i had precious little time so i went with her) bad decision - firstly, she told me that my top two flowers were unavailable (peonies and david austins), then she suggested carnations may be a good substitute (should have walked out there despite the florists protestations that they were making a comeback) then when i asked for green hessian ribbon to tie the bouquet (i wanted a tightly packed ball of open pale pink roses) she looked at me like i was an alien and kindly offered some of her own suggestions, crystals sprinkled throughout and some lovely pearl accents on the stems (i mustn't have explained my clean, minimal aesthetic properly) and when her lovely assistant offered to go into town to fetch a sample of said green hessian (they pronounced it hiss - sian) she promtly told her that she wasn't paying her to drive into town and back, poor thing!

after that debacle i changed tack and asked for some ideas for simple bathroom arrangements (she suggested three single roses at varying heights in a skinny vase) i suggested perhaps a phalaenopsis orchid, she yelled 'NO!' then realised how cray cray she sounded and tried to explain that we couldn't introduce another flower into the mix, okay fine, but then i looked down and saw a lovely arrangement she had prepared earlier, a single gerbera and a single strelitzia (bird of paradise) in a tall skinny vase. perhaps she needs to listen to the advice she gave me a little more closely.

next when hannah and i spied some hebe (green small leafed shrub) in a vintage looking jar vase and commented that they would look good she looked even more perplexed and said 'but how will you tie in the punk (pink) of the bouquet?' i informed her that it was ok not to tie it in but she kept going and suggested hannah wear a rose in her hair or carries a single rose - oh dear.

things actually got worse. i asked about the possibility of using hebe and having a more rustic look. she said that it was virry ixpinsuve and then casually mentioned her cousin had a hebe bush and changed the subject. i asked her if perhaps, she thought it would be an idea to ask said cousin if they would sell us the hebe bush to use, her reply 'oh i guess i could ask'. hannah then talked about using manuka (amazing burnt looking stems and green leafs) she said she didnt have any, i asked if she comes by some (like outside the shop on the side of the road...) could she perhaps arrange it in the jar and send me a pic? she responded 'oh that wouldn't really be worth my while' oh, okay, but would it still not be worth your while if i decided to buy them from you!?!

so by this stage, as hannah and i had a plane to catch and were getting no where, we really needed to see if she was at all able to get what i wanted, hannah said, 'so we dont want anything in the bottom of the vases or extra adornments on the table, just to be clear', i think this really did it for her, she couldn't understand why we wouldn't want pearlescent stones at the bottom of the vases ('so what will you have at the bottom of the vase?' ummmm, water!) and rose petals strewn across the tables. we clearly were not on the same page.

we walked out of there, saw about 200 shrubs we could use and decided we can do this ourselves! luckily all the women in the family agree and i can't wait to do it, i think it will be nice to do together and to use what we find from the landscape it will also be a little more attractive than satin ribbon and crystals, i think.

xxx c