When your bouquet differs from the image shown

Because it is made by hand, in the recipient’s city, from stock bought fresh that morning. That is the whole proposition: a florist choosing good stems on the day beats a warehouse packing a standardised box a week earlier.

The trade-off is that no two arrangements are identical. Seasonal availability shifts week to week, a variety that reaches Amsterdam reliably may not reach Kandy, and a florist who has just seen better peonies than the ones shown will use them. A product that looked identical every single time would tell you the flowers had been sitting somewhere.

Substitution is permitted only inside these four rules. They are the instructions we give every florist we book, not a guideline.

• Equal or greater value. A substituted stem is never cheaper than the one it replaces. The value of the arrangement never falls below what you paid for.
• Same colour palette. A white and green arrangement stays white and green. Colour is usually the whole point of the gift, particularly for sympathy flowers.
• Never the named flower. A red rose bouquet arrives as red roses. A lily bouquet arrives as lilies. If the named flower genuinely cannot be sourced, the florist stops and contacts us — they do not improvise.
• Same style and scale. A hand-tied bouquet is not swapped for a boxed arrangement, and the stem count is not reduced to hit a price.

The florist contacts us and we contact you, before anything is delivered. You choose: wait for the flower you ordered, accept a specific named alternative, or cancel for a full refund.

We will not quietly send something else and hope you do not mind. The most common reason a gift lands badly is that it was not the thing the sender described in the message they sent alongside it.

Containers vary by what the local florist stocks — a ceramic vase in one city may be glass in another. Size, quality and style are matched; the exact object is not guaranteed. If a specific container matters, tell us in the WhatsApp chat and we will confirm before the florist starts.

Yes. Tell us in the WhatsApp chat when we confirm your order, and we will message you before any change is made rather than substitute. The practical cost is time: a message and a decision can push delivery to the following day, which matters if the gift is dated.

Tell us within 48 hours of delivery and send a photograph. Photographs settle these conversations quickly and in your favour far more often than people expect.

If the arrangement falls outside the four rules above, we remake and redeliver it, or refund it — your choice. Nothing needs to be returned; sending flowers back through the post would ruin them and prove nothing. The full process is in our refunds and complaints policy.