flirty fleurs floral industry blog

Hey Flower Friends,
I have a Question for you today, and would love to hear your answers. It’s a What if this happens to you scenario…
It’s based off a situation I encountered this past month – here’s the backstory. A few weeks ago I was driving my SUV into Seattle with a full load of flowers for an event. Now I had had some problems with my SUV acting up and had taken it to the mechanic earlier that week and all seemed repaired and fine and I resumed business as usual. On the day of the event I had picked up my Uncle as he enjoys coming along for the ride and seeing different parts of Seattle. As we are cruising down I5 I see traffic ahead (not surprising anywhere near Seattle!) and as I slow down I turn off the AC, nice breeze out and I wasn’t concerned about the flowers being too hot. Well, about 5 minutes into sitting in traffic I see the temperature gauge going up and immediately roll down all windows and turn on the heater to pull the heat off the engine. The traffic is at a standstill and I start holding my breath for many reasons – please don’t break down, please don’t kill the flowers with heat. Kept telling myself that the heat will just help those roses and peonies open up more! Thank goodness my Uncle had come along for the ride so I wasn’t freaking out alone!! We made it to the venue fine, a bit hot from the heater blowing on us, but fine. We go about business and get all the flowers setup. WHEW!! In the end, that’s all I ask for, the flowers delivered and setup, don’t care if the car breaks down in the loading dock – ha ha!
The SUV did definitely have problems and I was praying all the way home that night. I live an hour north of Seattle and got home around midnight after the late night strike of the event. Driving home in the slow lane, praying, and heater on full blast the whole way to keep from overheating. I was very lucky that day, in the end all was fine – flowers delivered and cleaned up, and I made it all the way home! (well, in the end, not so good for the SUV – Cracked Cylinder!!)

durango

This brings me to my Question though and would love to hear your answers and/or a situation you may have encountered yourself…

Have you ever had a problem on your way to an event? Car/Van/SUV break down while in route? Got into a car accident?
What did you end up doing? How did you handle getting your flowers to the event?

8 Responses

  1. My second biggest nightmare (first is being late for a wedding) but hasn’t happened yet. When the van is having issues, I rent from UHaul. When I have driven a wonky vehicle to an event I say to myself like you, “just get me there: after that I don’t care”.

  2. I’ve been lucky both times something like this has happened.

    I got a flat tire on the way to an event. Luckily my husband was with me and we changed it quickly. Then, double whammy, another flat tire on our way home after the strike.

    My engine also blew moments after delivering a wedding once. So glad it held out until after! Luckily we were in the city so we barely puttered into a Mechanic.

  3. My van was loaded and ready to go and it wouldn’t start. Ugh!!! I called a flower friend and she came over, we loaded up her smaller suv and she drove me and my flowers all the way to Tacoma nearly an hour away. Its good to have flower friends

  4. Hasn’t ever happened to me thus far. But, makes me want to maybe put something in my contract? Wonder if anybody has something like that written in their contracts that they would be willing to share?

  5. I have arrived about 5 mins late, my staff and I exit he van and as I’m closing my door, my elbow hits the door locks! Yes, keys are inside along with the brides flowers which are needed for photos NOW! Long story short, the planner preoccupied the bride and one of the catering crew got a wire hanger from a groomsman and saved the day. Only took about 15 mins!

    Here a related segment from our contract:
    “Pink Posey Design is not responsible for circumstances that may impede or delay floral delivery including but not limited to weather conditions; traffic situations or any other transportation or vehicle difficulties.”

    Hope no one has had a worse story! Yikes!

  6. Oh Alicia I had a bad dream about this a couple of months ago because my air conditioner has been flakey lately and it’s my worst nightmare too! I had to laugh because my bargaining conversation with my SUV would have been the same – just get me there!! I’ll walk home if I have to! Hasn’t happened yet, but does creep into my mind.
    As far as a contract clause, it’s something to think about. Maybe include “acts of God”; vehicle problems could be tricky as it is our responsibility to make the delivery happen. Hmmm, have to give that one some thought – it’s a good issue to raise.

  7. I rent cargo vans for big wedding set-ups because I only have a small car and recently encountered a problem with that. After confirming the rental twice in the days leading up to the event (and booking it weeks in advance) I arrived to see the last cargo van pull out of the lot. It was the end of the month so with lots of people moving they had overbooked and it seemed no other rental companies had cargo vans or trucks left. I ended up renting a mini-van with stow and go seats and we had to do two trips instead of one (I don’t even want to think how many trips in my car it would have taken). Dealing with the rental issue caused a 30 minute delay, but we had a long set-up window and the venue was close by so it didn’t matter in the end. The van needed a good vacuum before returning it though. Now I want a van with stow and go seats!

  8. oh my goodness, i was thinking about this just this week but was afraid to put it out there incase I was jinxing myself for this weekends wedding! i too am thinking of adding something into my contract. i always leave myself a lot of buffer room for delivery window. I’ve always told myself that if I had to I would call a delivery guy i know who i think would try to find a driver in my area and call in a favour, or i would call a few cabs and pay $$$ to get the flowers there that way. I don’t have family here and none of my friends have cars. it is my secret dread for sure. I can’t imagine how upsetting it would be to have to call a bride and say we can’t get there in time, today’s brides seem to pin so much on the perfection of the day.