Does anyone else ever have this problem......the bride tells you that you can not set up any earlier than lets say five, and then you get there and the florist has already been there, set up and is gone when you get there at 5:03? I did a cake yesterday with this scenario. The florist was supposed to put the flowers on top of the cake, and apparently scatter the rose petals on the table. I get there at 5:03 and see flowers on the cake table with no florist. I ask where they are and the wait staff says," she said she could wait all day that she would be late for her other orders". That really made me angry. Thank god she made the flowers for me to just sit on top, but still it wasn't my job to do that. I wanted to call the florist and chew them out, but also wanted to ask the bride what was up with her saying when I was allowed to set up. This also happened last month, though I didn't have to work with the florist. Bride told me I couldn't set up any earlier than 3, since there was a function going on. I get there to the 200 guest wedding reception hall and see flowers already set up, with no florist and I was early. People are just making me angry. I guess next time I will get there a half hour early..
Michele
I have a LOT of issues with florists, but this one sounds like maybe the bride didn't tell the florist what time she told you to set up. They may have been there much earlier. I had a wedding this spring that the bride told me on several occasions (the last one being the day before the wedding) that it was not possible for me to get into the building until 4pm, the wedding was supposed to start at 4pm not very far away. I was very uncomfortable with this because it had a fountain and some finish work that had to be done on site and I worried about finishing it time. I arrived at the hall at 4pm sharp and was greeted at the door by some woman I had never met saying "it's about time" and then proceded to try to grab the cake box out of my hands saying she needed to help because this should have been done by now. I calmly told her that I was told to be at the hall at 4pm, it was 4pm and no one carried in my cakes but me. She backed off a little, but still kept giving me attitude. Oh and did I mention there was at least 30 guests already there that I was putting on a show for? It turned out that they had had the building all day and apparently the bride was a dingbat! After I explained myself one more time, the lady finally apologized for being rude, but I politely told her that I requested an earlier set-up time and was told absolutely not by the bride. I was never so glad to walk out of a place in my life. Anyway, sometimes people are stupid no matter how much information you give them!! -Lori
My situation differs a bit because I am dealing with hot and cold perishable foods, but I require a certain amount of time to set up and I HAVE to have access to the building by a specific time. No negotiation. The bride has to arrange it so it works within my time frame. I can NOT set up 4 hours in advance and I can NOT set up 15 minutes before serve time. Non-negotiable.
I also am the only one that puts flowers on my cakes.
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On of all days, 7-7-07, the day I had 3 weddings, the friend-wedding-coordinator of one of them called me the morning of the wedding to find out what time we'd be arriving to set up the buffet. I told her with a serve time of 6:00, we'd be there at 5:00. She said "Oh. We've moved the serve time to 5:00." I said, "Ok, then my crew will be there at 4:00. Will the doors be unlocked?" (as I knew the reception was in the Catholic School Cafeteria, which is another building on the church campus).
She said, "No, they won't." I said, "THen you'll have to have someone there at 4:00 to unlock the doors." She said, "Well.....see.....the wedding starts at 4:00."
I said, "uh-huh...... You'll have to have someone there at 4:00 to unlock the doors."
She said, "Well.....see....we've arranged for all the other vendors to arrive between 1:00 and 2:00."
I said, "Honey, this is FOOD! You can't let FOOD sit out for 4 hours! Food isn't like a bouquet of flowers that you plop in a vase of water and they last for hours and hours! I'm not even going to have your food cooked by 2:00! YOur food is going straight from the oven to the van to your reception. You will HAVE to have someone there at 4:00 to unlock those doors."
She finally said she'd have someone there at 4:00 "....unless I call you back."
My crew gets there at 4:00 and it turns out the cake lady arrived about 4:30!! So much for "all the other vendors" getting there by 2:00!
By the way, this wedding was SO disorganized that they were running late on everything and ended up not serving until almost 6:30!!! (BIg sigh!! Hurry up and wait!)
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Had another catering (non-wedding ... it was a civic organization dinner) and when I walked in, the guy in charge said, "Oh thank god the caterer is finally here! You're late!" I said, "I told you I'd be here at 5:00 and it's 5:00." Turns out he had printed the invites wrong and had everyone expecting to eat at 5:00 instead of 6:00. I told him, "I'm not late. If you change the time, you have to TELL me that. Tell everyone to have a drink ... it will take me 30-40 minutes to get set up."
Can't really help you on the communications with the bride, though you could always call the venue to confirm earliest open time. As for the florist, like Indydebi I am the only one who places flowers on my cakes. I know a lot of people do the same, maybe that is what the florist was used to/expecting? Did you ever talk to the florist? I always call them and arrange to pick up the flowers day before (NEVER have had on site flowers go smoothly - NEVER). If they were insisting to bring them, I would at least coordinate timing with them. Truly they may tell the bride one thing and be forced to do another due to scheduling conflicts - just like us 
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