Carol’s Secret Garden

wow wow wow wow!!! My husband and my wedding was a DREAM COME TRUE. It was an absolute fairytale and Carol’s Secret Garden had a huge role in that. Carol, Barry, and Suzanne were amazing every step of the way. During our first meeting, we had a smaller budget and they worked within it. As our budget increased, we continued to add stuff and we were soon glad we did. They really listen to what you want and execute it perfectly.
There was a mix up with colors and when I showed up at Padua Hills, the colors for the ceremony was not what I picked out. I immediately had a bridezilla moment (sorry to that suzanne!) and barry brought over new colors and the next time I went outside, everything was changed and absolute perfection. When husband and I stepped into the ballroom, it was beyond what we envisioned.
I asked my parents what their favorite thing at the wedding was and they said the flowers! My only regret was losing my bouquet by the end of the night!

The artistry and customer service is phenomenal. The flower arrangements were stunning and transformed a plain venue into a magical, romantic and unforgettable place. The prices were very reasonable and we were pleasantly surprised with many free extras. They went over and beyond in making our day special and saved the day when we miscounted the table centerpieces needed. They rushed back to their shop and made up another one just in time.

We used Carol’s secret garden for our wedding last week at the Claremont botanical gardens. I LOVED our flowers. I worked with Suzanne and she knew exactly what look I was going for. Our arch was SO beautiful and made our ceremony site. we even moved it behind our sweetheart table at the reception for extra décor. the boquets and centerpieces were beautiful and she even put a crystal broch on my boquet which made it look extra nice. So professional and we are so happy with the outcome!

I used Carol’s Secret Garden for my wedding at Padua Hills Theatre. I went with them because they were the preferred vendor for Padua Hills Theatre.
I met with both Carol and Suzanne. My initial meeting was with Carol and she was very nice and tried to work within my budget and my needs. She had a lot of great ideas since I did not know what I really wanted other than the shade of colors I wanted to use. She was very helpful and had a lot of suggestions. Suzanne was also very nice when I met with her to make changes and finalize everything.
On the day of my wedding, everything was set up on time. My bouquet and bridesmaid bouquets were already in the dressing room when I arrived. The decoration and flowers at the gazebo were breathtaking and absolutely gorgeous.
My only disappointment was the bridesmaids bouquet. It was tiny, kind of sad looking, but it was okay. Just make sure they show you what it will look like so you are not surprised the day of the wedding. My bouquet was beautiful. No complaints there.
Overall, no hassle, no stress, and absolutely beautiful decoration. I will definitely recommend Carol’s Secret Garden.

Carol and Barry were amazing. Not knowing too much about flowers, I did some research and showed Carol generally what I was looking for. She really took that and ran with it. The bouquets, centerpieces, decorations… everything looked wonderful.
Carol threw in the toss bouquet and the escort table centerpiece for free with an early booking. She also worked with my budget without sacrificing the presentation of our flowers. They were also already on site when we showed up to Padua Hills Theatre to take our pictures. Everything was pretty much ready when we got there. To anyone who is having their wedding at Padua, use Carol’s Secret Garden. You won’t be disappointed!

I’d give a 4.5 if I could!
I just got married at Padua Hills Theatre on 4÷19÷14 and when my florist bailed on me I decided to go with Carols since they were on site at Padua.
I worked mostly with Suzanne and she was great! She kept mentioning how similar our taste was when I showed her my floral inspiration look book so I felt really comfortable with her suggestions and alternatives. I was very set on blush and mauve colors insisting nothing bubble gum or fairytale pink & Suzanne totally understood.
The week before the wedding I was a little hesitant during a call bc I had forgotten what we decided on during our planning meeting and the paperwork I had was a carbon copy which was very difficult to read (which is the only reason I don’t give 5 stars. I really think they should think about typing up the notes/​order after the meeting and emailing it to the customer so its clearer for all parties.)
Then the week of the wedding I realized I didn’t order enough center pieces for my tables and Carol and Suzanne both called me to give me options and I felt totally comfortable with our final decision.
I received soooo many compliments on the flowers during the wedding and after! They’re still coming in! They really nailed my vintage romance feel and totally avoided the fairytale look I was scared of!
Totally recommend just wish they were closer to me in west la!!! Lol

Suzanne was so helpful and was able to work with us and make our wedding beautiful. After looking around at several places, Carol’s Secret Garden was the place we went with. They are very professional and easy going. Suzanne even made a sample for us right before the wedding. Our flowers turned out to be soooo beautiful that everyone at our wedding were fighting over the arrangements. They made such a great job. Looked like we paid more than we did. I was really picky with my flowers, and they still did what I asked for. Highly recomended.

Carol’s was a preferred vendor for my wedding 11/​2012, and they did an absolutely beautiful job. After I had seen their look books, I knew they would be the ones I chose to do flowers. Working with Suzanne was very easy, they were very accommodating, even though I brought them 200+ paper flowers to incorporate into bouquets. I had complete trust in them to execute my vision, and it turned out lovely, even despite the almost rained-​out ceremony we had. They were quick to set up an alternative just in case the rain didn’t stop.
Now I don’t want to give people the wrong idea, because the flower really were great. but I had to give them a –1 star for the following:
–because they set up an rainy day alternative, they charged me $ 250. they were up front about this and it was no big deal, but Suzanne called me two days after the wedding (while I was on my honeymoon!) to remind me to pay the invoice ASAP in cash. we had paid everything else up front, a little faith that it would get paid would have been nice, not to mention disrupting me at 10am during my honeymoon was a little annoying.
–despite the overall price being reasonable, i felt i overpaid for the bridal and bridesmaid bouquets. to me, they were much smaller than i envisioned (and the pictures i had brought in). another bouquet i had purchased for my church ceremony was $ 90, and bigger than my bridal bouquet, which was $ 250.
–i was very easygoing when it came to the flowers, but i did have a few specific requests: i did NOT want fabric draping down the aisle, we did not need a tossing bouquet, i wanted white lilies in my bouquet. all of these things were disregarded — the draping was there, we ended up with 2 tossing bouquets, and no lilies in my (small) bouquet. additionally, the centerpieces were completely different than what had been described to me.
again, everything was beautiful, and turned out perfectly. i am very happy with the service and product i got from carol’s, and would use them again for another event if i needed a florist. however, i would advise anyone with specific requests that differ from the wedding in their look book to state them clearly and repeat them MANY times, even to receive verbal confirmation if possible.

Carol’s Secret Garden was our preferred vendor at our wedding venue — Padua Hills Theatre. After seeing pictures of her work, there was no question in my mind that I’d be using them for my big day! I met with her a total of three times before my wedding day. Once to get a quote and book her, then to review the details about a month before my wedding & once more to drop some things off (color swatches, etc). Working with her was a breeze! I was not stressed/​worried at all about my the flowers for my wedding. I knew they would be beautiful! I didn’t choose specific flowers I wanted; I was only specific with the colors. She executed my vision perfectly! They were fresh, beautiful flowers & I have not one complaint about this vendor.

This review is long overdue! Carol and her staff did the flowers for our 1÷15÷11 wedding. They came highly recommended, and after visiting the shop, we knew we would not have to worry about the quality of the flowers or timely delivery. The staff is very personable, professional, and helpful with all the floral choices there are to make. We really appreciated their flexibility when we changed the order a few times after we had a better feel for our ceremony space. My bouquet was just what I wanted, and all the centerpieces and church flowers were gorgeous! I love looking back at our wedding pics and seeing all the gorgeous flowers. If we ever have the chance to indulge ourselves in a landscape of flowers again, we know just where to go!

I worked with Suzanne at Carol’s Secret Garden to order about $ 500 of flowers for my 10/​15/​2011 wedding. I thought they did a pretty good job, all things considered. They were very flexible with working within my budget and were very timely in delivering my flowers on the day of the wedding. They also tossed in a toss bouquet for free, which was very nice of them.
If I could give them some suggestions, it would be to invest resources into building up their online presence and their capacity to correspond with customers online. I had some trouble tracking them down to schedule an initial appointment via email. (I’m a Millennial. I really hate using the phone.) And then I was really surprised to get a phone call from them the week of the wedding — they left me a voicemail instructing them to pay the remainder of my balance IN CASH. I thought we had made arrangements to put the charge on my card, as I live more than 50 miles away.

My flowers were beautiful, and a delightful surprise. I wasn’t really sure flower wise what i wanted, but Carol took care of it all. Just imagine what she can do if you know what you want!

Carol’s Secret Garden was a preferred vendor for our reception site (Claremont Doubletree), plus we had already met Carol, the owner, at a bridal show and really liked her and her work.
Carol was very helpful and informative throughout the flower selection/​design process. She was upfront about the costs and really help us to keep our costs low without sacrificing the beauty of the arrangements we had chosen.
All of the flowers were extremely fresh and the arrangements completely surpassed our expectations. Carol will really make what you pay stretch to its fullest potential.

Carol’s Secret Garden was one of the preferred vendors on my venue’s list. They were very nice and very helpful when I had some last minute changes to my décor. The flowers were beautiful and very fresh! They also had some décor at my ceremony that went above and beyond what I thought I was getting. It was simply stunning!!!
The only reason I did not give them 5 stars was because I was so disappointed with my bouquet. I showed them a picture and told them I wanted mostly dark purple callas with a few ivory and lavender callas. On the wedding day I was so heartbroken to see that it was mostly white callas. NOT what I wanted at all since I am not a fan of white white bouquets. Also, I asked for the bouquet to be petite in size because I specifically wanted a petite bouquet. It was very large and extremely difficult to carry. I would say my bouquet came out exactly opposite of what I requested. Large with mostly white callas.
Since I did show them a picture of exactly what I wanted I was surprised with how different it looked. Other than this I was pleased with how my flowers came out.

We just had our wedding this past weekend, and Carol’s Secret Garden was recommended to us by the venue (see Padua Hills).
Carol (the owner) was amazing. The flowers were so fresh and beautiful, and they really went beyond my expectations. We gave them a photograph of a centerpiece from a wedding magazine, and they were able to translated it to a scaled down version (as far as price) without sacrificing the looks.
The staff was really friendly, and helped out tremendously as we had to coordinate everything from San Jose. They are closed on mondays, so you should call to schedule an appointment as they get pretty busy.
Highly recommended and worth every single penny we spent.