You know how online reviews can be a bit dodgy? Half the time you're wondering if it's someone's mum writing glowing reviews or their competitor having a go. We get it, we've been burned ourselves buying things online based on fake reviews.
That's why back in 2013, we took a massive gamble and signed up with Feefo. They're completely independent, they only collect reviews from actual customers who've actually bought flowers. We can't delete the bad ones, we can't get our mates to write nice things. It scared the living daylights out of us, honestly.
Fast forward to now, and we've just won another Feefo Trusted Service Award. To get this in the flower game, you need at least 50 four-star reviews in a year. We got over 3,000 reviews last year, with 2,400 being four or five stars. Not our mums writing them either, actual customers from places like Charing Cross who've trusted us with their special moments.
The thing about flowers is they're subjective. Like art really. One person sees romantic and lush, another might think it's over the top. So putting ourselves out there with zero control? That took guts.
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My partner Andrew was reminiscing the other day about playing footy against Waverley College down at Queens Park. Charing Cross kids everywhere, he said. What stuck with him most was those brutal winter mornings when the southerly would rip up the hill. Absolutely freezing, fingers so cold you could barely grip the ball.
Those early morning games, shivering on the sideline, taught him about showing up when it matters. Funny how that lesson from his school days connects to what we do now, making sure flowers get delivered to Charing Cross when they're needed most, no matter what.
Here's the thing about ordering flowers to Charing Cross. Your flowers don't come from some warehouse in western Sydney. They're not sitting in a box overnight waiting for Australia Post. When you place an order with us, it goes straight to a real florist with a real shop near your recipient based on their postcode.
The system's pretty clever actually. Say you order 24 red roses for delivery to Charing Cross. The order first goes to our partner florist closest to your address. But if they've only got 12 pink roses left for the day, the system automatically reroutes to the next closest florist who can fulfill it properly.
These are proper florists with actual shops, hiring local people who know the area. They know Queens Park gets busy on weekends, they know which apartment buildings have tricky access, they know to avoid Alison Road during school pickup. That local knowledge makes all the difference.
Every November, we see orders flooding in from proud parents. Their kids have just graduated from Waverley, and nothing says congratulations quite like flowers arriving home after the ceremony. Our local florists know exactly when those ceremonies finish, they time deliveries perfectly so the flowers are waiting when the family gets home. It's those little details that matter.
Look, we've all been there. Someone's had a flutter at Randwick, lost more than they should have, and now they're properly in the doghouse. Our same-day delivery has saved more relationships than we can count. Order before 2PM on a weekday, and our Charing Cross florist will have those apology flowers delivered before dinner. They understand the urgency, trust me.
The amount of proposals that happen in Centennial Park is actually mental. Then comes the celebration flowers to the newly engaged couple's Charing Cross home. Our florists have become part of these love stories over the years. They add that extra touch, maybe a special ribbon or note placement, because they know this isn't just another delivery.
End of year at all those private schools around Charing Cross means teacher appreciation time. Our partner florists have navigated every school's delivery policy by now. They know which schools need deliveries before 3PM, which ones prefer the office, which ones allow classroom deliveries. It's this experience that makes everything smooth.
Bit funny really. Here we are, a family from a tiny coastal town in Northern NSW, delivering flowers to one of Sydney's poshest suburbs. Started with a daggy little shop on Marine Parade in Kingscliff, taking Yellow Pages calls (yeah, the book) for flower deliveries we couldn't even do.
One day we got our tenth call asking for Sydney delivery and thought, hang on, what if we could actually do this? No boardrooms or strategy meetings, just Andrew and I at the dinner table working out how to partner with real florists everywhere.
Now we've got over 800 partner florists, but we're still the same family making decisions between school runs and netball games. No offshore call centres, no corporate rubbish, just Australians answering phones and coordinating beautiful flowers.
From one rickety shop in Kingscliff to flower delivery across Charing Cross and beyond. We're still that Mum and Dad operation, just with a bigger reach and more friends in florists around Australia.
Want to experience what 3,000 other customers have reviewed? Give us a go. Order before 2PM weekdays for same-day flower delivery to Charing Cross. Real florists, real flowers, real simple.