We provide quality floral designs with affordable elegance. With over 25 years of floral artistry experience let us professionally serve you to ensure a stress-free special day. Mary's Special Touch Floral Studio is the only floral business in the Starved Rock, Illinois area with continuing, advanced education in planning and designing wedding and party flowers.
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Reviews (9)
Stephanie Bias
Mar 02, 2021
Reex M.
Jun 14, 2020
Angela Brown
Jun 07, 2020
SUB PAR FLOWERS! The ONLY reason I am writing this review is because the florist just kept trying to make excuses for why they fell apart. We had a winter wedding and was married in late january. The temperature was 39 degrees. Before I even walked own the isle there were flowers that were coming completely out of where they were supposed to be tied into.
The groomsmen boutonnieres did not make it thru the ceremony. The ceremony was INSIDE so temperature had no part into why they were falling out. I had 3 WHOLE roses fall out completely. Stem and all. After 2. 5 hours of having them. Tried contacting her as to what happened and I kept getting excuses. She kept trying to turn it on me when I tried contacting her as to why everything was falling apart. MY FLOWERS FID NOT SEE OUTSODE FOR THE FIRST 2.5 HOURS.
Some accountability would have been nice for the amount we paid. Got 1 bouquet for me 3 small ones for mother and mother in law and flower girl 1 wrist one for my grandmother 8 boutonnieres for groomsmen, usher, my uncle and grandfather. In total the bill was 650 for everything above.
The groomsmen boutonnieres did not make it thru the ceremony. The ceremony was INSIDE so temperature had no part into why they were falling out. I had 3 WHOLE roses fall out completely. Stem and all. After 2. 5 hours of having them. Tried contacting her as to what happened and I kept getting excuses. She kept trying to turn it on me when I tried contacting her as to why everything was falling apart. MY FLOWERS FID NOT SEE OUTSODE FOR THE FIRST 2.5 HOURS.
Some accountability would have been nice for the amount we paid. Got 1 bouquet for me 3 small ones for mother and mother in law and flower girl 1 wrist one for my grandmother 8 boutonnieres for groomsmen, usher, my uncle and grandfather. In total the bill was 650 for everything above.
Lili Santillan
Jan 30, 2020
I can't say enough about Mary. She is purely amazing! She is so great and easy to work with. We got married October 26, 2019 and with all the colorful fall flowers, Mary made our special day even more special with her beautiful flowers and arrangements. She knew exactly what we were looking for and brought our vision to life. I would recommend her to everyone. I promise, you will not be disappointed. She went above and beyond anything we could ever imagine. Thanks for everything Mary! You really do have a special touch!
Jennifer D.
Jun 13, 2018
I can not say enough about Mary. She is AMAZING. We used her for my sisters wedding at Starved Rock about 5 years ago and I knew I HAD to use her for my Chicago wedding this year. Her flowers and arrangements are amazing, her pricing is extremely reasonable, and she is full of ideas. I give her little pieces of ideas I have and she ran with it and comes up with amazing work. It's like she knew what I was thinking and made it possible.
I was nervous she wouldn't be able to travel downtown and do my wedding in the city but she did it and I am forever grateful. Seriously if you want to work with someone with years of experience, great ideas, and extremely reliable, Mary is your person.
I was nervous she wouldn't be able to travel downtown and do my wedding in the city but she did it and I am forever grateful. Seriously if you want to work with someone with years of experience, great ideas, and extremely reliable, Mary is your person.
Ashley Z.
Jun 04, 2017
It's hard to figure out where to start with this review. I had an awful time with this vendor and I would not recommend her. Several friends told me that something would go wrong on our wedding day and sure enough it was one of the most important things to me - our flowers. A few months before the wedding my fiance, mom, and I met with Mary. She seemed nice, experienced, and seemed to understand my vision perfectly.
We discussed everything I wanted, made a final total in price, and we put down our deposit. The three of us left so happy and we couldn't believe the value we were getting! 3-4 weeks before the wedding we dropped off our centerpiece vases and to pay our agreed remaining balance. At that time, Mary and I discussed how it would be a good idea to go over everything one last time to make sure we were on the same page.
The meeting went horrible. Suddenly our bill had gone up $200 extra dollars which was news to us and the flowers were not what we expected. For example, we wanted roses, carnations and eucalyptus in all the bridesmaids bouquets. Suddenly, none of the bridesmaids bouquets had roses. She told me if I wanted them to have roses I would have to pay extra when we had clearly discussed that they were included in our initial meeting.
Regarding the $200 extra dollars, she said I added several things onto our bill after she gave us a price. But that was not true. We had talked about everything, she gave us a total price, we wrote a check for the deposit and left. The only thing I added after the fact was our cake flowers and surely those weren't $200! (Which by the way, for our 9 cake roses, a few mini carnations and Euc she charged us $65!).
When I confronted her about having less product and paying more, she literally argued with me for 45 minutes about it. I was in tears. As I was leaving in tears she actually told me that I must be upset because it was my brides nerves getting to me! Really? Ugh, no. As we drove home my fiance and I went back and forth on what to do. We called my mom and she too was shocked because she had heard everything we agreed upon.
She too was shocked that suddenly we were paying more and getting less. Here it was, less than a month from our wedding and we all agreed we should cancel the order. We felt she was being dishonest and she wouldn't accept any responsibility. We called her that night when we got home and told her we wanted to cancel our order and wanted our money back.
At one point she was raising her voice her with me and then a few minutes later was crying when we told her we were still going to cancel. Honestly, I felt like she had accidentally misquoted us but rather than being forthcoming about it all, it was all snuck in there. Even though we felt she had been dishonest, we felt bad and decided to meet her the middle.
We would pay a little more and she would add roses to our bridesmaids bouquets and we'd get our cake flowers. This was our second biggest mistake. Fast forward to our wedding day. I was upstairs getting my hair and makeup done. I had my sister in law and two friends setting up everything downstairs. According to them, the flowers looks like they were in serious need of a drink of water.
The boutonnieres arrived in sandwich baggies which may have had something to do with why they looked like they were slowly dying. Mary bad mouthed me to my friends and sister in law saying I had been trying to get something for nothing along w other not so nice things. My sister in law and friends she was the most unprofessional vendor they have ever met in their lives.
After my makeup and hair were done, I went downstairs to take a peek at how everything looked in the venue. I heard about how Mary talked bad about me and then the worst part of all was the flowers were wrong. The groomsmen had carnation boutonnieres when I was under the impression they would all be roses. My bouquet which was supposed to be large and beautiful but it was the size of a normal bridesmaid bouquet.
Suddenly at the last minute, I had my friends run out and buy roses. I didn't have my bouquet for my first look because it was being ripped apart and re-done to make it look how it should have been "large and full". Below are two photos. The $60 bridesmaid bouquets that were almost just carnations until I caught that during our final review, and the teeny tiny junior bridesmaid bouquet.
Who makes any bouquets that small. Overall, I was shocked at how unprofessional Mary was. She raised her voice and cried on the phone with me, she accepted no responsibility for her mistakes, the flowers bouquets were much smaller than anticipated (especially mine! When we had talked about it some many times and it was supposed to be "large and full"), didn't have the right flowers (carnation boutonniere), and in the end bad mouthed me on my own wedding day to my friends and sister in law. Unbelievable. Please don't make the same mistake I did. Worst vendor ever.
We discussed everything I wanted, made a final total in price, and we put down our deposit. The three of us left so happy and we couldn't believe the value we were getting! 3-4 weeks before the wedding we dropped off our centerpiece vases and to pay our agreed remaining balance. At that time, Mary and I discussed how it would be a good idea to go over everything one last time to make sure we were on the same page.
The meeting went horrible. Suddenly our bill had gone up $200 extra dollars which was news to us and the flowers were not what we expected. For example, we wanted roses, carnations and eucalyptus in all the bridesmaids bouquets. Suddenly, none of the bridesmaids bouquets had roses. She told me if I wanted them to have roses I would have to pay extra when we had clearly discussed that they were included in our initial meeting.
Regarding the $200 extra dollars, she said I added several things onto our bill after she gave us a price. But that was not true. We had talked about everything, she gave us a total price, we wrote a check for the deposit and left. The only thing I added after the fact was our cake flowers and surely those weren't $200! (Which by the way, for our 9 cake roses, a few mini carnations and Euc she charged us $65!).
When I confronted her about having less product and paying more, she literally argued with me for 45 minutes about it. I was in tears. As I was leaving in tears she actually told me that I must be upset because it was my brides nerves getting to me! Really? Ugh, no. As we drove home my fiance and I went back and forth on what to do. We called my mom and she too was shocked because she had heard everything we agreed upon.
She too was shocked that suddenly we were paying more and getting less. Here it was, less than a month from our wedding and we all agreed we should cancel the order. We felt she was being dishonest and she wouldn't accept any responsibility. We called her that night when we got home and told her we wanted to cancel our order and wanted our money back.
At one point she was raising her voice her with me and then a few minutes later was crying when we told her we were still going to cancel. Honestly, I felt like she had accidentally misquoted us but rather than being forthcoming about it all, it was all snuck in there. Even though we felt she had been dishonest, we felt bad and decided to meet her the middle.
We would pay a little more and she would add roses to our bridesmaids bouquets and we'd get our cake flowers. This was our second biggest mistake. Fast forward to our wedding day. I was upstairs getting my hair and makeup done. I had my sister in law and two friends setting up everything downstairs. According to them, the flowers looks like they were in serious need of a drink of water.
The boutonnieres arrived in sandwich baggies which may have had something to do with why they looked like they were slowly dying. Mary bad mouthed me to my friends and sister in law saying I had been trying to get something for nothing along w other not so nice things. My sister in law and friends she was the most unprofessional vendor they have ever met in their lives.
After my makeup and hair were done, I went downstairs to take a peek at how everything looked in the venue. I heard about how Mary talked bad about me and then the worst part of all was the flowers were wrong. The groomsmen had carnation boutonnieres when I was under the impression they would all be roses. My bouquet which was supposed to be large and beautiful but it was the size of a normal bridesmaid bouquet.
Suddenly at the last minute, I had my friends run out and buy roses. I didn't have my bouquet for my first look because it was being ripped apart and re-done to make it look how it should have been "large and full". Below are two photos. The $60 bridesmaid bouquets that were almost just carnations until I caught that during our final review, and the teeny tiny junior bridesmaid bouquet.
Who makes any bouquets that small. Overall, I was shocked at how unprofessional Mary was. She raised her voice and cried on the phone with me, she accepted no responsibility for her mistakes, the flowers bouquets were much smaller than anticipated (especially mine! When we had talked about it some many times and it was supposed to be "large and full"), didn't have the right flowers (carnation boutonniere), and in the end bad mouthed me on my own wedding day to my friends and sister in law. Unbelievable. Please don't make the same mistake I did. Worst vendor ever.
Sam P.
Apr 17, 2017
Tiffany B.
Dec 31, 2015
Mary is the greatest floral designer I have ever met! You can tell she truly loves what she does. Not only does she love her flowers but she also loves her brides, even after the wedding. I still bump in to her from time to time and she always remembers my name and gives me hug. I love her! She did an amazing job for my wedding! The flowers were spectacular! She is a true artist!
Cynthia J.
Oct 21, 2015
We loved Mary from the first time we met her. She is enthusiastic, caring, knowledgeable, and bluntly honest; and with these qualities, we could not have asked for or trusted a better person to work with us on our wedding. Prices were fair and reasonable; she stayed within our budget and schedule, and went above and beyond what was required. Thank you, Mary, for all that you've done! The bouquets, flower arrangements at the church and reception, and for our cake were simply beautiful!