The best way to buy flowers.

What's the best way to buy flowers? Is it cheaper to buy flowers online? We have been getting these questions more lately, so here's our brief wrap-up for you.
If you can't get into the shop or are ordering something for a friend who lives a distance away, the next best thing is phoning your local florist, or the florist closest to where you want your flowers delivered, and talking through what you would like with them. Even ask a friend in the area to recommend somewhere. You can talk to the real people and go through the occasion and how you would like your flowers. Many individual florist shops also have online ordering now, which is handy if you need to place an order after hours, although as a florist I still prefer to talk to you!
If you are needing to order for a distance away or overseas and do not know any florist shop in the area, the next best way is to order using an established relay service such as interflora, or somewhere like direct2florist which enables you to order through local florists. You can do this online or by going into your local florist and getting them to place the order for you. Although those companies may have a fee for processing.

Be aware that unlike many items flowers are not cheaper online in most cases, prices will in the case of individual florists be about the same as in-store, (though possibly more, as the cost of setting up and maintaining a website must be taken into account), and also many relay or third-party flower ordering companies take either a fee per order, or a percentage of the value, leaving the florist that makes the order  with less than the value you have paid, which takes away from the value you receive in flowers.
In some cases we have seen third-party companies taking up to 80% of the value, and we believe this is unfair to the customer, when if they only knew that if they were to call the local florist directly, they may find themselves saving a great deal.
For example -
At the time of writing this, a little research shows that one third party site charges $102 for 12 long stem red roses, one relay company charges $108, but our price is $75.
To avoid the charges of middle men shop local if you can! That's our advice.
Hope this helps,
Adam's Garden Florist
Flowers Gold Coast