How much would you pay for this bouquet?

[Disappointedflowers]

I ordered a bouquet online to be sent to my DP's and my DM sent me a picture of them to say thank you.
I was extremely disappointed considering what I had spent and said so. Only then did my DM say that she hadn't thought they weren't all that thinking I had probably spent £x amount to which I then said I spent considerably more.
She did say that there was also a hydrangea head that didn't really go with the rest of the arrangement, so she put that elsewhere, and a ridiculous amount of foliage, some of which she used in another bunch of flowers she received and the rest ended up in the green bin as it was too much.
I'd really appreciate some thoughts from you lovely bunch (see what I did there! 😜) as to what you think I should have been charged for these flowers? 🙏🏻

.....and this is the issue, supermarkets have such huge buying power that their prices are often below wholesale prices for florists. It's a huge distortion of the market. However, foliage is NOT cheap, at all, it can in fact be very costly, and the flowers you are buying from a supermarket are not the same as a reputable florist would stock - roses won't have such big heads, won't be specialist varieties, stems won't be as long, all of which cost more.

Well, yes, £30 for the flowers alone......plus the substantial numbe rof stems that have been removed, overheads, packaging, sundries, florists time.....people seem alarmingly naive about the cost of a decent quality single flower stem from a bricks and mortar florist.

It does seem expensive but we don’t see all of the bunch.
When I receive flowers I always send a photo of all the bunch including the leaf filling, in a vase with a thank you message on WhatsApp. My DDs do the same with me. If the person who placed the order isn’t happy they can get it rectified.

No way is that £70, what a rip off

Don't be daft.

You’re joking! On what basis?

I can't see hydrangea

It's in the OP "She did say that there was also a hydrangea head that didn't really go with the rest of the arrangement, so she put that elsewhere"

There's a single, sad hydrangea in vase somewhere in OP Mum's house hopefully in a better fitting vase

Did you not see in the OP? She says the mother pulled the bouquet apart and took out greenery and hydrangea.

We’d have to see the full bouquet before it was split up ..

There are 10 flower stems in it.
Plus the hydrangea = 11
So £6.36 per stem (with filler foliage)
Outrageous!

I would complain.

Don't mention the editing your mum did. Just the number of stems.

3 paltry roses!!! Rubbish

I just wanted to come back and say thank you to all for taking the time to reply, especially the florists, your inside knowledge was very much appreciated. 🙏🏻 So sorry that you've been hit so hard by the shit show that is Brexit. 😢

I did contact the florist and they very kindly offered to come and swap out the bouquet for something else, but my DM declined the offer as she's just got too much other stuff going on right now to have the energy to deal with one more thing. I hadn't wanted to cause her more trouble; that's why I had ordered a hand tied bouquet so that she could just trim down and plonk in a vase, but nothing is ever straight forward!😂 (especially with my DM!🙄) I think because it was such a large bouquet there were so many thick stems sticking out at the bottom that it made it hard to put in any of the vases she had. (Birthday/christmas present idea, yay!)
Speaking to the florist, I will in future order over the phone rather than online, so that I can express my preferences more clearly, especially requesting that they are in a water bubble in case they are not in when delivered.

FWIW I have used many other online deliveries before, with very varying degrees of success. I had hoped by using a local florist to my DP's house to avoid some of the problems I have previously experienced.
M&S are the major culprits here; over the years they have gradually reduced the hydration system used to the point where there was absolutely nothing last time I used them. Once again was sending flowers to my DM in June although it was much, much hotter than the one we're experiencing right now. I received notification at 9am that the flowers were out for delivery but they weren't actually delivered until 6pm that day. All day spent in a hot delivery van with no hydration and they looked a complete state by the time they were received. Posted a review on M&S stating that this is a major problem if they are going to continue with no hydration and they deleted my review, stating that my complaint was more to do with the delivery service than with the flowers themselves. No M&S, my problem was with you!

Thanks for the update @Disappointedflowers To be honest, it wasn't possible to give you feedback without seeing the full bouquet. I know your Mum said she took out the Greenery - but some greenery is very long lasting and pretty. Some I have had, for instance have had re berries on them which contribute to the colour - and the picture you showed had a number of blooms which had still to open. Sorry she did what she did to the bouquet before you got to see it though. At least the florist was apologetic and wanted to make things right

@Disappointedflowers
Speaking to the florist, I will in future order over the phone rather than online, so that I can express my preferences more clearly, especially requesting that they are in a water bubble in case they are not in when delivered.

Yes, this is what I do when ordering for my DIL. Sometimes the flowers seem quite expensive, but they are always fresh and if I order something in particular they are included. They always use either one of those vase/bag things or can put them in a simple plastic vase if I ask for it (for example when they were moving house). I can also make sure that they know how to find the house and which door to use if they are out, so that the flowers can be in the shade. They seem genuinely keen to get it right for me so I always go back to them rather than online.

Personally I've had some awful online flowers delivered to me, half dead, dehydrated and often too many cheap flowers such as lysimachia or basic chrysanthemums. Online bunches containing roses are a particular no no as they often only last a day before drooping.