Using grower

[sugarpike434]

After searching the web for Metalina roses, which I saw on the romanticflowers.com website, I finally found a grower in N. California that will sell to consumers. www.Obiesfloral.com not only has one of the nicest websites with great pics, but their customer service is fantastic, as well as their prices being too good to be true. Each rose is only .80 a stem, with shipping being much more reasonable than even 2G Roses. Shipping to my location in S. CA will run only $33, and that's for the approx. 425 roses we'll need. I've ordered a sample bunch ( and was allowed to specify exactly which roses I wanted - we're getting 13 different colors to compare!) which will be delivered Friday - I'll post again to let you know quality. The sample bunch of 25 roses was $35 incl shipping. They have plenty of other flowers available too, but my daughter wants only roses...

[sugarpike434]

OK, we got the roses Saturday - this is Tuesday and they're still beautiful. The quality is superb, and the roses actually smell great! I'm not used to hothouse roses having much of a scent, but my entire house smells like roses. I e-mailed Obies asking which colors were which, because I'd been told there had been some substitutions--only one had been substituted and Deedee was able to give me it's name and make suggestions about some other colors. I think we've decided to go ahead and have the roses delivered on Friday instead of on Thursday though, because so many of the roses opened faster and were more open than we'd like them to be for the bouquets...of course that could have been due to the temperature being in the '90s this weekend...anyway, very pleased with Obies quality and service and can't wait now to get the roses for the wedding!

[jrd230]

June 1, 2002 Bride

Thanks for the tip. At .80 cents each it ends up being more than 2G right? Or are the flowers you ordered a more expensive rose? Where are you located? I'm in the bay area and found local wholesalers who were able to beat 2G prices. More importantly, they were willing to give discounts for bulk purchases.

[sugarpike434]

Actually, this grower is only charging $33 for shipping UPS, for as many bunches as we need...2G's shipping charge is $75. The first package on 2G's list is 14 bunches of roses, plus filler and greens for $355. We aren't using fillers or greens, so 14 bunches at .80 = $280, plus $33 for shipping, comes to $313. It's probably very comparable, but 2G doesn't offer the Metalina rose, which is what my daughter wants. If you have any connections with lower prices and Metalina roses, please pass them on. You have a definite advantage in that you're up there already...and thanks for responding - I was beginning to believe I was the only one who read this board! I'll upload a pic of the sample bunch of roses we got as soon as I figure out what I named that file!

[sugarpike434]

Ok, here's a photo of the Metalina roses and the Bianca roses. The Metalina's centers match the rum pink accents on her dress - they're perfect! And not easy to find.

[sugarpike434]

Sorry - the system won't let me load the picture - too big, maybe. Well, the flowers are gorgeous, none the less!

[Bedazzledbride]

I have just looked at Obiesfloral.com and I was absolutly amazed. The flowers are of a beautiful quality, and they are inexpensive to boot. This is something that I am definately going to look into, and I think that it might be the right choice for me. Thank you so much for posting this message. I dont think people realize just how much the extra help and support means to us stressed out brides. I really appreciate it. Good luck with the planning, and I hope to hear from some of you soon.

Bedazzled!!!!

[guinevere75]

I looked at www.obiesfloral.com as well. I have been planning to use 2G roses for my March 15th, 2003 wedding, but checked out Obies after checking these boards. Their selection is wonderful, but after several days, I have yet to receive a reply regarding my email request. Hopefully, I'll hear something soon.

[guinevere75]

Ok - I went back to the website (www.obiesfloral.com) and sent another email. DeeDee responded almost immediately. She apologized for not answering my first email - she had not ever received it. She was very nice, and I can tell she would really take care of any bride that she works with. Her prices are slightly higher than 2G roses (www.freshroses.com), so I'm going to order a test bunch from 2G and see how they are. If I have any problems with the 2G roses, I will definitely be using Obies Floral. DeeDee truly wants to help each bride individually. I would really love to use Obies because of the personal touch, but I'm going to try 2G roses first because of the BUDGET.