Substitution policy

Why substitution happens at all

Cut flowers are an agricultural product. A farm can lose a block of a specific rose variety to weather, disease or a grading failure in the week before cutting, and no amount of planning on our side changes that. Any florist who tells you substitution never happens is either very lucky or not telling you what they did.

What we can control is what we substitute with, and whether you find out from us or from the box.

What we swap without asking

Variety within the same colour and flower type. If your order calls for blush roses and a named variety falls short, you get a different blush rose of equal or better grade. Same colour, same flower, same or better stem length and head size.

This is the only category we handle silently, and we handle it silently on purpose. A phone call the day before your wedding asking you to choose between two roses you have never heard of is not service. It is transferring our problem to you at the worst possible moment.

What we call you about

Anything larger than a variety swap. Specifically:

• A different flower type. If blush roses are genuinely unavailable and the closest match is a blush garden-style carnation, you decide, not us.
• Any colour shift at all. Even a half-tone. Colour is the one thing that has to match your dresses, your linens and your palette, and it is never ours to change.
• A quantity shortfall. If we cannot fill your full stem count, you hear about it as soon as we do, with options.
• A grade downgrade. If the only available stock is a shorter stem or smaller head than quoted, we tell you and adjust the price.

We contact you by phone first and email second, using the details on your quote. If we cannot reach you and the event date forces a decision, we default to the closest colour match and credit any difference in grade.

Seasonal products

A few products are genuinely seasonal and we say so on their pages rather than substituting quietly:

• Tulips: February to April
• Seasonal Fall pack: September 1 to November 27
• Seasonal Christmas pack: November 26 to December 24

Outside those windows we will tell you honestly what is available for your date rather than accepting the order and substituting later.

Combo packs and designer's choice

Combo packs, mixed filler and mixed greens are sold explicitly as designer's choice. Their composition varies week to week with what is freshest and best value, and that variability is the reason they cost less.

What stays fixed on a combo pack is the palette and the ratio between focal, secondary, filler and greenery. What varies is the specific species. If you need a precise species list, order the components individually.

Freshness and damage claims

Photograph the problem and contact us within 24 hours of delivery. We will replace the affected stems, credit them, or refund them. Your choice.

The 24-hour window is not a way of avoiding claims. It exists because after roughly a day it becomes genuinely impossible to distinguish a transit problem from a conditioning problem, and we would rather publish a clear line than argue about an ambiguous one.

What a claim needs: a photograph, your order reference, and which bunches are affected. What it does not need: an explanation or an apology.

Stems that have been cut, arranged or held out of water for an extended period fall outside the claim window, because at that point the outcome depends on conditioning rather than on what we delivered. The conditioning guide is worth ten minutes before your delivery arrives.

Cancellations and changes

Changes are free until we place the farm order, which is typically two to three weeks before your event. After that point the flowers have been bought against your date and changes are limited to what we can absorb.

If your date moves, tell us as early as you can. We will do what we can, and we will be straight with you about what that is.