CENTERVILLE — A Miami Valley wedding planner said several florists in the area stepped in at the last minute when a Greene County florist canceled at the last minute or no-showed for several weddings.
“They jumped in, and those weren’t their brides. That wasn’t their problem to fix,” wedding planner Angela Lemke said.
She said Flowers by Des was the vendor for one of her June weddings and that the florist never showed up.
“It was heartbreaking for her,” Lemke said.
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This bride is not alone. News Center 7 found out, 16 people have filed complaints about Flowers by Des to the Ohio Attorney General’s office. Several of the complaints offer similar stories about how Flowers by Des canceled right before their weddings or did not show up at all. Most of the complaints say they also did not get a refund.
Lemke reached out to The Flowerman in Centerville for help and she wasn’t the only one.
“I started getting phone calls from the event planners at the venues,” Steve Smith, the owner of The Flowerman said. “They said ‘Steve, we have an emergency.’”
In about three hours, his team was able to put together flowers for three or four weddings.
“I’m so proud that our team came together and they were able to do it, and it was kind of an exciting thing for us to help these brides,” Smith said.
In total, he said his business has helped 12 to 15 brides left stranded by Flowers by Des. Brittany Evans said she was one of them.
“Lifesavers. Very kind people. Very helpful. They let me go in and pick out the flowers that I wanted. They really saved me and I really appreciate them,” Evans said.
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She had originally ordered $106 worth of flowers from Flowers by Des for her bouquet and her husband’s boutonniere. She said she booked with Flowers by Des thinking she was getting a promotional rate. Several brides tell News Center 7, they paid more than $1,000 for their weddings and Flowers by Des didn’t show up. Weeks later, they are still waiting on refunds.
The Flowerman cut the brides he helped a deal. He said his team offered them 20 to 50 percent discounts.
“It’s an honor and it was just a really good feeling you know to have that gratitude from the customers,” Smith said.
On June 18th, News Center 7 reached out to Desiree Pace, the owner of Flowers by Des via email. Her team declined to comment.
On July 7th, News Center 7′s Molly Koweek called Pace. She texted back saying she was unavailable to talk until Sunday. However, in a subsequent text message she said “Doesn’t matter how many hours we have spent letting clients know we will be part of their big day and explaining ourselves to them will be undone do to this. Others know they have 90 days for a refund per contract and we are sticking to that.”
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