Comments on: Saying “I do” to large lawsuits

By: Wedding Florist in Indy

Wedding Florist in Indy — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 00:35:21 +0000

I am curious about a few different items about her wedding. 1) How did she feed her guests and have a dress, photographer, cake, music, liquor, etc on the remaining budget???? 2) Hydrangeas are not the red/green color until they are about dead in the FALL… not at the begining of August. 3)Most of the vases could of had water in them when they were delivered… hydrangeas are “Heavy Drinkers” and can down tons of water in a matter of a very short period of time.
If it were me… I would have spray painted green hydrangeas lightly (floral spray). In the future I hope the florist has a “Bridzilla ~ Momzilla and MomInLawzilla provision” in the contract.

By: enygma

enygma — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 00:50:55 +0000

Well, considering we live in a society where a parent can sue the school and his/her kid’s teacher for not writing a good enough college rec letter, I can’t say I’m too surprised by the bride’s demands. I’m not saying whether or not she is justified, but the amount she is asking for is pretty exorbitant.

By: Molly

Molly — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 20:47:41 +0000

Never teh Bride:

You would think so, but people in this state have a crazy idea of what services are worth. She lost the mother-son dance and some non-memorable parts of the reception, but some of the photos remaining clearly show where she had to elbow her way through relatives to get each and every shot she *did* have. As such, the family’s claim that they have “no photos” of the super important mother-son dance cannot possibly be true unless their entire extended family fell off a cliff on the way home.

By: Audrey

Audrey — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 19:31:36 +0000

Hmm…maybe I should have sued my florist, by this lawyer’s standards. She provided hideously arranged flowers that did not match the pictures I provided in even the most remote way - I ended up taking scissors to my bouquet just before rushing to the wedding site. She also didn’t do the corsage-flowers we’d talked about for mothers etc. but went with pinned versions. She was an hour late, the person showed up 10 minutes before my wedding started. And the flowers were all wrong for the cake…totally. It looked like a hippy threw up rather than the daisy heads and green rose petals I had requested be sprinkled around.

I think the only thing she got right were the flower girl petals and the guys’ boutonnieres.

By: Pencils

Pencils — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 17:58:48 +0000

Actually, it IS pretty ridiculous, because I learned while doing my wedding that you cannot guarantee hydrangea colors. Of course, her florist should have told her that, but it’s possible that they did. Hydrangeas are not like, say, tulips, that come in definite colors for specific types. Green ones are immature flowers and I think “rust” ones as this bride specified are what happens to pink hydrangeas as they get older. The colors of mature hydrangeas vary wildly from blue to pink to purple, sometimes even on the same plant, depending on the pH of the soil, the amount of light and water they’ve received, and then finally the breed of hydrangea. However, her florist should have made sure that the bride understood that there was a possibility that the correct colors might not be available–I didn’t have a florist contract, I did my own, but I think it’s a standard inclusion in florist contracts. That they’d do their best to provide the flowers as agreed, but it depends on market conditions. If a bride wanted specific flowers and contracted for them in the winter, and in the summer a hurricane killed the entire crop, should the bride be able to sue the florist? No, because there should be a line in the contract.

By: Dianasaur

Dianasaur — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 15:55:37 +0000

But obviously they couldn’t afford it or they wouldn’t need $400,000 so badly! Just kidding.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 21:58:15 +0000

Plaintiffs routinely inflate the damages claim by 10 or 100x what they would settle for. It’s just a tactic, and the amount of vitriol this woman has gotten because of that figure has been pretty unfortunate. Yeah, maybe she spent too much on the flowers, but given what the florist told her, she at least has the right not only to contract damages, but possibly to further damages based on fraud. If I bought a car for that amount and I was given a completely different car I couldn’t return, I’d want my money back, and damages for fraud, too.

It’s different from the Judge’s suit because the ALJ harassed them for years and refused to take settlement amounts hundreds of times more than the pants were worth.

Finally, I hate the comments I’ve been seeing elsewhere about how spending this much on flowers is somehow a reflection of poor character. Most weddings are extravagances that can be done for the civil union fee. If you can afford it, there’s nothing wrong with going all out on flowers.

By: Never teh Bride

Never teh Bride — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 19:00:57 +0000

Molly: Five whole memory cards of photos for $500?! Lordy, that’s a bargain! If I was that bride, I’d probably have just let it go.

By: dupree

dupree — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 18:38:42 +0000

Anyone having a 60k wedding and budgeting 27k+ on flowers is not to be taken seriously. florist should pay the 4k and let it go

By: Molly

Molly — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 18:08:22 +0000

On the surface, the amount seems pretty extreme. I will say that if half the wedding budget was flowers, it does stand to reason that having the wrong color flowers/lots of wilting/dusty vases would have a major impact on the whole day. If floral arrangements were used as a major part of the landscape, I can see a pretty hefty refund being in order - perhaps even the full amount. Too bad the florist didn’t go with $4000. It looks like multiplying it times one hundred is more of a bid for attention.

Although I don’t agree with it, I know in Florida it’s possible to sue for damages far in excess of the contract if the event was a “lifetime” milestone. Weddings, graduations, baby showers and such are included. I know this because a friend of mine who photographs weddings almost got sued for tens of thousands because she lost one memory card out of 5 she filled up on a job that paid her $500. Logically, she “owes” $100 but in a country where you can sue for emotional distress… She’s lucky they took her apology.