Oh No! The Flowers Are The Wrong Color!!

by FrugalBabe on October 21, 2007

I imagine this lady has got to be a ton of fun to hang out with.  And I can’t imagine her marriage lasting more than 5 years.  What sort of person thinks it’s necessary to spend $27,000 on flowers for a wedding?   Obviously I don’t know anything about these people other than what was mentioned in the article, but something makes me think that if just the flowers for a wedding cost more than the price of a new car, the florist in question is probably pretty reputable.  I would say that the chances that the flowers were in dusty vases with no water is slim.  I imagine that this lady is probably extremely hard to please, very wealthy, and used to getting her own way or else.  And she didn’t like the shade of the hydrangeas.  Poor baby.  So she sent the florist an email asking for a $4000 refund (so I guess most of the flowers must have been fine, since she only asked for $4000 out of the $27,000 paid).  But the emails probably weren’t all that polite.  The florist said he ignored them because they were so insulting.  I bet she was a total witch when she communicated with him.  And now she’s filed a $400,000 lawsuit against the florist. 

People like this lady (and probably her new husband) are a total waste of space.  They don’t realize or care that there are people in the world with real problems.  People who are starving, have nowhere to live, no clean water, no medical care.  People who are dying of cancer because a chemical company dumped carcinogenic waste into their water sources for 30 years (now there’s a valid lawsuit).  But Elana Glatt has to deal with orchids that aren’t as perfect as she pictured.  The poor thing.

I hope a judge throws this one out (possibly while ordering the florist to give back $4000 if it’s deemed appropriate) and gives Ms. Glatt a lecture about what’s important in life and what’s not. 

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  • http://mrsmicah.com Mrs. Micah

    That’s about 6 times the cost of my wedding…for flowers! You’re right, she can’t be much fun to be around, nor does this bode well for her marriage. (Especially if she let something like this “ruin” her wedding day) Unless her husband is just like her.

  • Lauren

    With any luck the judge will make her pay the court costs.

    My wedding cost the price of the license. I bought my own ring at the last minute, because we had forgotten about it. My husband asked me to wear a dress I already owned that was his favorite, and he surprised me with flowers he bought from a street vendor that were my favorite color. Total cost including ring? $350

  • Govern

    What you forgot to mention is that the bride is a lawyer, lives on the Upper East Side of New York City and is a ‘jewish princess’. She knows exactly what she is doing. She didn’t sign a contract with the florist, which would have had her sign and acknowledge that the color she wanted matched, from a stupid picture, couldn’t be guaranteed in nature. Ta da…a loophole! The woman will win something in Supreme Court (of all places). She is demanding $400,000 but you can bet your bottom dollar, the bride will win enough money to have covered the wedding. So, in essence, she will have gotten married for free. Just like all the little jewish prince and princesses, they get something for nothing and then gloat about it to their friends how they ‘get over’ the little guy.

  • melissa

    shockingly, the going price for a wedding in new york city is probably on average 100,000, so i’d imagine the bride was no different from thousands of other new yorkers who have also spent that much on flowers. IMO, if someone spends that much money on something and is dissatisfied, the least they deserve is a response.if i spent that much money on flowers and they weren’t what was specified in the contract, i’d be pretty mad. and it wasn’t just if you ordered a car and it came in the wrong color, the wrong make, dirty, and was missing things you had paid for in it, wouldn’t you call to complain? and if the car company had already cashed your check and was not responding to your complaint, i’d imagine you’d be pretty upset too. the issue is not whether someone should spend that much on flowers, it is whether if they spend that much, do they deserve to get what they paid for?

  • FrugalBabe

    Melissa, you make a good point – if you pay for something, regardless of whether it’s a ridiculous purchase or not, you have a right to be satisfied. But you do not have a right to be rude, and from the article it sounds like the woman was rude when she took her complaint to the florist. And anyone who pays $100,000 for a wedding is completely out of touch with the realities of 99% of the world.
    Govern, you may have a good point about this particular lady’s character, but I don’t believe we know her ethnicity or religion. And making anti-semitic comments isn’t a good way to impress people.

  • April

    I agree that $27,000 is ridiculous, but I guess if you are wealthy, it’s not such a big deal to you to spend that kind of money. While I think the bride does sound like she’s a spoiled brat, I wonder if the lawsuit might have been avoided if the vendor had responded to her e-mails, no matter how rude he thought they were? If a vendor refused to respond to me, I’d be unhappy, too. I might not sue, but then again, if I was a lawyer, I just might, who knows. I’d like to think I would never sue over something as silly as flowers.

    Also, her ethnicity and religion have nothing to do with her character. There are plenty of bridezillas, from all different backgrounds.

  • http://CheapHealthyGood.blogspot.com Kris

    There’s an update on the lawsuit in today’s Consumerist. Looks like she’s not being completely unreasonable – she paid up front, many of the flowers were dead, and several vases were dirty. While $27,000 is still a ridiculous amount of money, she’s not totally out of bounds.

    And Govern, Frugal Babe is right – your comments are way out of line.

  • meg

    Wow, this is a harsh and judgmental post. I think it’s fine to be a little appalled that someone would spend that much money on flowers, but I am just really suprised that you would call a complete stranger a “total b*tch” and a “total waste of space.” I guess I am also suprised that you think that just because a vendor charges a lot of money for a service, there is no way that service could be deficient. I mean, the amount that someone charges for a service doesn’t automatically indicate how reputable they are, right? It seems to me that, especially given how frugal you are, you understand that good vendors and good service can be had at all different prices. The same goes for bad service and bad vendors.

  • FrugalBabe

    Meg, you’re right – this is a harsh and judgemental post, and I meant every word of it. I am sick and tired of frivolous lawsuits that seem to pop up everywhere. This issue – if indeed the flowers were of poor quality – should have been taken to small claims court, and should have been for $27,000 max, since that’s what she paid for the flowers. Anyone who claims that poor flowers “ruined” their wedding, is truly a waste of space. People need to re-examine what’s actually important in life – and flowers are not one of those things. A $400,000 lawsuit over $27,000 worth of flowers (of which apparently only $4000 worth were bad) is absolutely ridiculous. We need to call a spade a spade.

  • http://frugalbabe.com Frugal Babe

    One more thing about this case that really bothers me… Since the flowers cost $27,000 and the lawsuit is for $400,000 we can only assume that the additional $373,000 is for ‘pain and suffering.’ This makes a mockery of real pain and suffering. A friend of mine was sitting at a red light and was hit head on by a drunk driver several years ago. She still gets steroid shots in her back every few months, and the broken thumb she suffered turned into arthritis which is permanently painful. She got $60,000 after her insurance company settled the lawsuit. Most of that has been used up seeking out new therapies for her injuries. That is pain and suffering. Wilted flowers at your wedding is not.

  • April

    Maybe she’s taking him for $400,000 because he was unresponsive. Not saying it’s fair compensation, but maybe the florist should handle customer complaints professionally instead of ignoring them, no matter how rude they seem. Maybe she would have settled the thing out of court if the vendor was willing to work with her. I don’t think we know enough about what happened, really, except that she spent a whole lot of money on flowers.

  • Amanda

    Some people baffle me…flowers grow from the ground, that is a lot of money!!!! My wedding cost less than $500…including both rings, the dress, the bridesmaids dresses, the grooms attire, reception, everything.
    We had the ceremony outside at a river (free)
    Artificial flowers for bouquets made by me
    my dress came from www. rosedress.com only $75
    Got the rings from JC Penney online for $25 each.
    My cake was made by a friend, free
    my reception site was a restaurant in which everyone bought their own meal, we reserved a room and my mom works there so reception site was free, we left a $50 tip for the waitress.
    We kept the guestlist small.
    I had a friend of mine perform the ceremony, she was ordained online. I still gave her the $100 I was saving for the officiant before she decided she wanted too.
    I downloaded music and hubby used and mp3 player and boombox for the ceremony music, free
    My mom and a friend took pictures, with digicams, I have over 300 wedding pics, free
    My aunt and another friend videotaped, so I have 2 wedding videos, free
    I bought decor only for the reception, $40 the ceremony site was beautiful enough.
    At the ceremony everyone stood, no chair rentals, no one minded a bit! free!
    I wrote my own ceremony and vows.
    I just don’t understand why people would want to start out married life in DEBT, come on people!!!!
    I refuse to even apply for a credit card, I have no debt and 2 kids.

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