Su-V Expressions

I’m going to start out by saying I’m not a huge flower person, I just knew I wanted succulents at my wedding. My wedding was outdoors, and i liked the rustic outdoors feel. When we first met Sue, she was hilarious, down to earth and easy to talk to. That’s when we knew we wanted her to do our wedding, she did all of our bouquets, the guys boutonnieres, our flower girls basket and our center pieces. In the end all I could say was WOW, I loved everything about them. My bouquet was Soo freakin pretty, I didn’t throw it and just threw one of my bridesmaids. Since I dont know really know flowers, I just told sue to work her magic, and did she ever! People are still giving us compliments about everything… and its sadly already been a couple of weeks. I have the wedding blues, but can reminisce with the pictures. Here are a few.

Overall Impression:
Sue really takes the time to understand your vision and she has really great ideas. The end product is beautiful and just what we wanted for our wedding flowers.
Positives:
–Sue really knows her stuff! She’s a Certified Floral Designer (CFD)
–She takes the time to brainstorm with you
–Beautiful end product
Negatives:
–She’s really busy
–Can be difficult to communicate with
My wife is on Pinterest all the time and she had a million ideas when it came to the floral décor for our wedding. We met with Sue and my wife showed her so many pins from her Pinterest page that had elements from all sorts of décor themes. Sue helped us to brainstorm and get organized and helped us to refine the vision for our wedding. We met with her a little less than a year before our wedding and 6 months later my wife and her crazy Pinterest searching decided to change the vision. Sue was very patient with our changes and helped us to brainstorm once again.
My wife had the idea of using vintage cups and vases as our table centerpiece. She collected them from thrift stores throughout the months leading up to the wedding, and Sue was very accommodating in taking in the dozens of boxes containing these fragile vessels prior to the wedding. We were a bit nervous about having the boxes get mixed up or lost, but in the end all of the vases were used. Sue also was nice enough to gift us with some bud vases that she used so that the guests could take the table arrangements in its entirety.
Sue was often very busy and it was reflected in the communication and in the messiness of her shop. We often needed to email her a few times in order to get a response. The shop also seemed to be in disarray and the area that we met in was cluttered. It was reflective of how many clients use Su-​V Expressions for their special day, but it also made us a little uneasy at times. Nevertheless, we still felt that we could trust her and that everything was going to go as planned.
In the end, the wedding flowers and décor were exceptional. Sue was able to coordinate with our linen vendor and our day-​of coordinator to pull off our vision. At first we were a little surprised and disappointed to see that there was hints of pale yellow in our arrangements because the theme was blush pink and creams. In the end, Sue really knew what she was doing – this little hint of added color looked amazing in the photos and turned out to be just great.

Though my wedding was in 2013 I would like to share my experience. I met the owner in wedding café at ward center. In the beginning she was nice and cheerful i told her everything about my wedding however as soon I mentioned to her that my wedding has a budget her vibe or expression became different. I will always remember what she told me that all of my money spent went to the hotel and she slightly laugh or more like a chuckle. All i wanted was for her to help me plan my wedding without overspending on flowers. I decided to find another florist company after the meeting. FYI, it felt like im not a $$$ to her company.

I will be honest, Sue and I are friends in the business. But she was also a vendor at my wedding.
Sue is one of the most talented, sweetest, and did I mention talented florists on the island. I know a lot of the reviews discuss communication. A piece of advice — just give her a call. She truly DOES care about each of her clients’ events. Because she is so talented, because she REALLY doesn’t overcharge, and because she’s so great, she does get very busy very quickly!
She IS very busy, but if you’re lucky enough to book her, your flowers will be beautiful. Don’t worry even a little bit. By far, she goes above and beyond each and EVERY time. Because of the line of work I am, I know that many of you may have clear and distinct ideas of what you want in terms of flowers and décor. The best advice I can give you is to give Sue your ideas but at the same time give her the freedom to do what she does best — create art that fits you! Because keep in mind… sometimes those full and fluffy peonies that you wanted so bad… may look horrible when they come in. Fact of life in the islands. Allow Sue to substitute it with something that looks just as great and don’t throw a hissy fit. She knows it’ll look better than brown flowers in your bouquet.
Anyway, thank you Sue and your amazing team!!!

Sue did the flowers for our wedding at The Halekulani and she hit it out of the park! She responded quickly to our email, and after we attached a few photos as «guidelines» for what we wanted, she came back with photo examples of what she could do, and a price that was well below the quotes from the two other potential vendors. She kept in touch with us and delivered fresh, beautiful arrangements and lei right on time. We would highly recommend Sue for any event requiring flowers, especially weddings. Mahalo!

Horrible service!!! Never responds to any of my emails or calls. She sent one email stating that we would meet the first week of November. That week pasted by and I did not receive any calls or email from her. I emailed her to ask if she is too busy to let me know. She said she would contact me the next day… 2 weeks later no response. Horrible experience for a Bride!

It’s kinda crazy how much you spend on flowers for your wedding day, which only lasts a few hours at most, so when my hubby and I were searching for a florist to hire for our big day, we were all over the map on the endless options we had for the flowers we needed.
We live in the mainland and planning our destination wedding via email was critical to stay organized with all the vendors we hired. It was difficult to get a hold of Sue after submitting an inquiry request on their website a month prior to our trip out there. When I made two attempts emailing and a voice mail with no luck, I decided to continue looking at other florists.
We flew out to Hawaii six months prior to our wedding day to meet with all the vendors were were looking to hire and secure our date with. It wasn’t until our hired wedding coordinator asked during our meeting who our florist was, that’s when her connections came in very handy. I did express my disappointment in not hearing back from Su-​V, but after she persuaded us to give Sue a try, she managed to get us an appointment with her within five minutes of texting Sue and the morning we were to fly back to San Diego.
Side note, if you meet with her at her shop, you’re better off parking at a meter right on Kapiolani instead of parking in the super tight, hard-​to-​maneuver-​through parking garage. The storefront itself is not a shop, it’s simply a place for her to store and prep her floral pieces (I guess I was expecting a shop like the ones I go to back home).
Anyway, after meeting with two other florists prior to our meeting with Sue (and not telling her the rates we were quoted), she provided the lowest cost for the same amount of flowers. She came five hundred under one vendor and three thousand less than the other floral vendor we met with. Before we booked her, I expressed my concern for her lack of communicating back with her potential customers, so it did come as a surprise when she later had a new admin assistant replying to the on-​line inquiries shortly after I shared my constructive feedback, lol.
Sue’s work speaks for itself. Become a Facebook fan of her business and you will see the beautiful pieces she makes to really impress you and your guests. I love Hello Kitty and loved how she was able to use the HK charms I bought for my bridesmaid bouquets and the bling Hello Kitty pendant my hubby bought for my own bouquet.
One suggestion that she recommended was to reuse the flowers from our ceremony for the reception, this helped bring down the cost significantly where she recycled the flowers from the arch for our sweetheart table and the six floral pieces used for the rows of chairs we had during the ceremony were transferred as a table centerpiece.
I didn’t want the beauty of her work to go to waste at the end of the night and since ninety percent of our guests flew into Hawaii for our big day, I asked if she can help with coordinating the donation of our floral center pieces from our reception to a local senior living community. Sue happily agreed and returned later in the night after our reception ended to pick up all the pieces and drop them off that same night.
I loved our wedding day and when I look back at all the pictures from that day, I can’t help but thank Sue for making our vision of having the beautiful, tropical flowers into a reality with our dream wedding in lovely Hawaii. Mahalo, Su-​V!

Best vendor I had at my wedding hands down! Sue is amazing.
I had a very clear idea of what I wanted. She took that image and not only made it real, but went above and beyond what I had in my head. She was on time the day of the wedding, stayed later than anticipated to make sure the cake flowers were placed properly, and even saved the day (for me at least) by having those altoids on hand right before I walked down the aisle! Her flowers are stunning, she listened to what I wanted and gave me the lush romantic flowers I envisioned. Plus, she worked within my budget with no problem whatsoever. Her floral design is really and truly like nothing else. Pinterest worthy I would say :)
I cannot say a bad thing about Sue or her team. She’s the best I’ve encountered and I’m trying to think up of another reason or event to use her services again just so I can see what she can come up with!

Sue and her team were the best. As an event planner and with extreme attention to detail, I am hard to impress. Having very little time to plan a big polo VIP event on the North Shore, all it took was a 15min meeting a week ahead. Flowers arrived early, with an extremely helpful and flexible crew. Guests commented on flowers everywhere. Great designs, above and beyond what was agreed. Fresh, modern and approachable styles, not stiff old school. Thanks Sue!

Our wedding flowers were colorful, funky and fun– just what I wanted! Su-​V was awesome and helpful in all our meetings. She is really friendly, caring, and offered lots of great ideas. We didn’t really have a vision at all at our first meeting, but she was so patient and understanding! Eventually, I created a Pinterest board for ideas, my wedding planner Dianna forwarded it to her. That helped a lot and she incorporated many of the ideas that I loved. She also helped me sort out my vision at the last meeting– her expertise is invaluable!
I really don’t want to knock off a star, but I have to be honest – it got a little complicated with the payment. I didn’t get the final invoice until a week before the wedding, and I quickly sent in my payment from Seattle. But, she didn’t get it in time because it was forwarded to her PO Box (which is not listed on her website). And, her credit card machine was down. I had to scramble to get the payment in the day before, which was really stressful. I wish that part had run a little more smoothly.
BUT, in the end, I was really happy with the flowers and I feel that they were reasonably priced. My husband and I decided to go relatively minimalistic with the flowers so that we could afford other things like a videographer. Even so, it didn’t feel minimalistic at all! Seriously, the bouquets were real works of art. The flowers added so much vibrancy and color to the wedding that we didn’t need a lot of other hoopla– just simple white chairs and while linen.
I loved my bouquet so much that we took it with us to the Big Island for our honeymoon. It lasted the whole week :)

We got married on 7÷7÷07, one of the busiest wedding days of the year. When we secured Su-​V as our florist she advised us of many things. I could care less what her office looks like. She delivered. She advised my wife that peonies were an early spring flower and that July was a little late to get peonies. She offered multiple alternatives and said she would do whatever it took to make our wedding spectacular.
Flash forward to our wedding day, the peonies were still in season. The church was decorated well by her team. They were professional, on time, friendly, and melted into the scenery.
She worked with our budget. She was friendly. We don’t know when we will get a chance to work with her again, but I definitely recommend her. Pictures uploaded soon. Thanks Su-​V for making our special day remarkable.

When we went to her office for a consultation, the office was very cluttered and messy. We generally knew what we wanted and did not want and even brought pictures. I had called a few times to follow up and get a quote from her. To this day, months later, we never got a quote from her, but are really glad we went with someone else.

On my wedding day Sue delivered my bridesmaids bouquet to our hotel room… when I saw the roses in the bouquet I was VERY DISAPPOINTED!
The roses were not fresh… because the edges were turning brown? Even my mom comment… how come the rose flower look brown? I was so embarrassed! I also had rented her vases it was HORRIBLE… the vases were not cleaned… it was so foggy inside I could not see the flowers in it… I really suggest if other brides are going to use her vase please remind her to clean them or fill them with water. I totally forgot about the idea of filling up my vases with water until I saw my friends wedding centerpiece… I’m so mad that Sue did not suggest it to me, maybe its too much work to fill each vase with water (lazy). So over all I do not recommend working with Sue and did I mention her wonderful communication skills!

I agree with many of the Unilocalers — her communication skills are not her strong suit, and her office is like a storage room. When we met with her, we had to wait like half an hour (she was with another client), and at our first meeting, I was hoping she could give us some ideas for flowers, and all she showed us was a deck of cards with generic pictures of the different types of flowers. She did not show any pictures of her previous work.
But, if you know exactly what you want, and you can accept the fact that you’ll need to be persistent with her, the extra effort that you’ll expend in working with her will pay off come your wedding day. Our arrangements turned out to be absolutely breath-​taking, more beautiful than I had ever imagined. Everyone complimented us on our flowers (probably more than anything else about the wedding) and wanted to take home our centerpieces.
On our wedding day we did not have to worry at all about the flowers. The bouquet and boutonnière arrived on time without a hitch and it was exactly what I we envisioned. Between the ceremony and the reception, we did not even notice Su-​V and her staff taking down the decorations to place in the ballroom — it was like they were invisible.
She definitely contributed to the success of our special day.

I love Sue & Glen! They are so great & totally got my vision spot on. :) Our wedding wouldn’t have been perfect without them! The flowers put everything over the top. I couldn’t be happier with them. It’s such a small island a lot of people I know went through her. SO friendly & accommodating. :) THANKS AGAIN!

I had selected Su-​V to do the flowers for my wedding. I first met Sue at the Wedding Café, and she stood out from the rest of the flower vendors by saying «You give me a budget and I will work with it». Well, every bride has a budget, so of course I had mine. It was hard to get in contact with Sue, it’s almost like you have to try your luck and hopefully she picks up her phone because her answer machine is always full. However, I met with her and gave her some guidance on what and how I want my flowers. I didn’t have to worry on the day of my wedding, because she gave me confidence that she would show up. And of course, she showed up and prep everything. All my guests liked the flowers.

Sue did our wedding and it was incredible. She did everything from bouquets, arbor, petal runner, and centerpieces. We were planning the wedding from the Mainland and Sue was ALWAYS very responsive to our calls or emails despite the time zone issues. I am very particular person, and I attend high end events in NYC done by some of the nation’s top floral designers. Sue’s designs were right up there in quality, freshness and artistic creativity. I would highly recommend her services to anyone that wants a reliable, hard working florist for their special day.
As for the comment on her offices, I would rather she spend money on giving me the most value for my dollar than renting class A space in the expensive Honolulu market. It’s nice to see a professional balancing motherhood and a thriving business.

I have to be honest. SuV does beautiful work. She comes highly recommended by many other vendors in the business and she really came through for me in the end… like a champion!
That being said, the honest review is exactly in line with what others experienced as well. Her communication is truly her weakness. It was difficult to get confirmations, or get feedback from her after our initial meeting. There were times when I was extremely frustrated — at one point she was the only vendor that I had outstanding to confirm.
In our initial meeting, she offered to get us lavender table linens. I didn’t get confirmation on the linens until the week before my wedding! The final invoice was also not settled officially until the last week prior. I was able to pay and finalize everything in the last week prior.
On the wedding day, her team was early and on top of everything. The order was correct and the flowers were perfect! So, other than the stress and frustration of communication in between — — she really did come through with beautiful flowers and decorations wonderfully.

My fiancé and I had a very good idea about what we wanted. We had the visuals, the look, everything pretty much down to the wire. Then we began to look for someone who could pull it off! Boy, were we in for a wild goosechase!
Being so out of the box, we had the hardest time getting a florist that we felt «got us». We met with about three florists and after every meeting, no one I walked away from I felt got the idea. Once we met Sue, we know the wait was over.
She knew the pieces we wanted, she was able to be realistic with our budget, and she got the idea! And bonus, she was truly excited to work with us!
When we bagan to work with Sue, we also asked if there was anything that we could do ourselves to help out in our budget and Sue was cool with that. We wanted to do a lot of what we could ahead of time so that we could save more of our budget towards the luxurious flowers we wanted. It was not hard for Sue to get the Black Bacarra and Black Magic Roses we specifically wanted. In the end, I threw in a flower that was almost gone out of season but Sue got the last of them for me!
My wedding day was awesome when Sue dropped by with my bouquet and my girls bouquets!!! They were absolutely hot and I couldn’t wait to see the rest of the flowers! When the doors opened to my ceremony, I cried because the first thing I saw was my head arrangements and they were just dripping with hotness!!! Everything that I had envisioned with Sue was what she gave me! I am a totally visual person who can pick on the little details and these arrangements were just a feast for my eyes!
Her staff was super too and I got to thank them before our reception began! They were so ecstatic to be a part of our day and I truly thank them for making out day what it was! All the hard work and planning had paid off! I will never forget what you and your staff did for us!

Our wedding coordinator recommended them for our flowers — bouquets and center pieces. We set a budget for the center piece per table, as well as an overall flower budget, and they did a fantastic job! They were also flexible enough to work with us, as we found the vases we wanted at a discounted store.
I didn’t do any additional research for florists, so I’m not sure where they fall in the price range compared to other florists in the area. I had white orchids and Gerbera daisies in my bouquet, and that was $$ (but it could be that I was trying to be thrifty on something, and flowers can’t be it?). If you don’t care about keeping your bouquet, I would recommend not getting a tossing one. It was kinda spendy for a 5 minute photo op.
Only thing I’m not sure about is if they do the actual decorating part. Our wedding coordinator was out there doing the flowers for the rows of chairs an hour before the wedding…