FTD vs. just calling a local florist

[ohgillian]

I want to send flowers to someone in my city.

I've always just done FTD, but maybe I should just call a random florist near the person's home? Is there any reason to do one vs the other?

[pierogigirl]

I've heard that if you use FTD, or the like, you may not get an arrangement that looks anything like what you picked due to substitutions. If you call the florist directly you can ask what flowers they have available and for the same amount of money probably get something much nicer than the FTD arrangement since you cut out the middle man.

[casmgn]

Delivery fee will be cheaper.

[noodleoo]

I did the local florist for my moms birthday and it was great. I picked a place off yelp that had good reviews and was close to her. I called and they were so nice. I said I wanted to spend $50 and gave a few ideas of colors and flowers my mom liked. They came up with something for $52. My mom sent me a photo of it and it was gorgeous! She loved them.

I went this route because we ordered flowers online for my SIL when she had a baby and also saw a pic. The arrangement looked NOTHING like what was shown online. It felt like a rip off. I will definitely do the local thing form now on.

The only online company I like is pro flowers. H gets me flowers from there and they are beautiful and last a long time. But they are shipped in a box and for other people, I would rather something already arranged in a vase.

[dapotato]

if i'm sending flowers within my own city, i know of ones that do much nicer, unique work than ftd and tend to use them. plus i'm supporting local businesses directly.

if you don't know of any, ask people for recs?

[ohbirdie]

I always go with the local guy. There seems to be no need for a middle man.

[ESF]

Call a local florist. FTP takes a huge cut so you get less for your money.

I'm sure you can find a local florist by googling and yelp. FTP doesn't alway work with the best florist in town so I wouldn't choose them simply because you don't want to go with an unknown.

[magdala]

I use proflowers.com They ship directly from growers and I have found that their cut flowers last longer than either the local florist or FTD. They do have surcharges for many things so keep an eye on the extras (morning delivery, holiday delivery, add-on candy etc.).

[puppyluv]

Call one directly. If you order online, they will outsource it to a local place. If they dont have those flowers in stock, they will make up whatever they feel like.

Last time, I called one of them directly and told her I wanted something like XYZ online. (Their local website had the exact same pics as one of online retailers) She said she didnt have those exact flowers but she worked with me based on what she did have in stock for the colors I wanted and stayed with in my price range. And the delivery charge was also cheaper than online.

[RoxMonster]

I highly prefer local florists. Whenever H has used FTD to order my flowers, they have come in a box with a vase separate and I have had to put them together. Perhaps you can order them differently and he just wasn't aware. Anyways, I have typically found local florists to have more reasonable prices and nicer arrangements for the money.

[ohgillian]

Thanks! All of this confirms what sort of seemed logical to me -- I had just never thought about this before. I think one reason I considered it is that the last flowers I ordered via FTD (for a friend) looked pretty pathetic to me when I saw them on FB.