They say, the only way to remember ordering Valentine's flowers on time, is to forget it once :). With Valentine's Day being just around the corner, as a Floral Shop Manager for over 14 years, I wanted to give a few advises on Valentine's flower purchasing.
1. You might say you've heard this. But I can't stress it hard enough: Don't wait until the last minute. I see the same story happening, year after year, after year. That is when hundreds of people are trying to get through telephone lines right on Valentine's Day, while we normally stop answering the phone and suspend all our order accepting systems a couple of days prior to Valentine's Day. Why? Because we are too busy too keep up with demand.
2. While placing order, make sure to give exact address and correct telephone number for the recipient. Name of the business, name of apartment complex, etc. Is there a gate code? Don't try to lie and say that recipient is leaving early if in the fact they are not. Such lies won't lead to your flowers to be delivered early. More likely, your order will just be put off. Other words, don't try to make delivery engineer's work more difficult, try to be as accommodating as possible. If your recipient is not home or at work at that moment, be fine with flowers left on porch or with co-workers. Don't try to be secretive or overly surprising. Because often, the surprise you might get, is that your flowers were never delivered.
3. Don't try to save on Valentine's flowers. No matter how much planning Florists do and try to full fill all the requests, they have to go by delivery areas and the price of the arrangement is often a priority. With only 8 hours per Valentine's Day, good Business Owner won't be trying to waste extra hour on delivering one $50.00 arrangement that he/she just received through some wire service, if facing choice between it, and 20 other orders, $100.00 or more each, placed by direct customers, waiting to be delivered in opposite direction.
4. If you don't know what to order, just know this. Red color is for love, pink for romance. Roses, lilies, and tulips will be most common flowers carried by florists. Ask your own heart, and order the flowers YOU like. If you are a lifelong match, she will like the flowers you picked. Don’t try to be someone else, to be liked by her. If you are placing your order over the phone, just be direct right upfront and tell the florist how much you are willing to spend. Once they know the price, they know what to suggest.
5. Don't expect too much, and be happy with what you receive. Florists don't grow flowers. They order them from Whole Sellers. Unlike some customers, Florists do plan ahead, and order their Valentine's flowers months prior to Valentine's Day. Once Growers receive orders, they start growing flowers. To keep up with extreme demand for Valentine's day, growers know how to bring up the most amount of flowers in such a short amount of time. And they have to do what they have to do, to keep up with demand. For instance, some flowers might being cut 10-7 days prior to Valentines, and kept in big coolers in boxes, they then get shipped via air freight, often from overseas, to the US. Flower shops receive their flowers in boxes 5-3 days prior to Valentine's Day. They need that time to process the flowers and start making arrangements to be delivered on 13th and 14th of February. If flowers being cut prematurely and stressed during shipment, they won't be the same quality and they won't stay fresh as long as they normally would. Flower shops have no way of knowing when and how flowers were treated, all they can do is to make the most beautiful arrangement they can for the price you paid.
6. So more you buy flowers, so more you learn and fall in love with them. If you only buy flowers for Valentine's Day, you might not experience all the beauty of real designer's work with real great quality flowers. If floral arrangements are made by some part-time "technicians" hired as a temporary help, with flowers that are half of regular quality to keep up with your price demands, they won't be as pretty as the ones made by real designer with premium blooms. But reward of having your loved one receiving fresh flowers, is like nothing else. It is priceless. So buy what you like, and buy often. So more often you have your love message delivered to your partner, so more your love partner will love you :)
