Florist A - I have not officially met her yet, but we have talked on the phone. She gave me a quote for the flowers and candy bar, but she is currently pricing out how much it would cost for her to purchase the arch with drapery and the signs. Her standard package included chalkboard signs that really don't go with the style of wedding we want. We would have three large signs (welcome, hashtag, and pick a seat not a side) and a few smaller signs (gifts & cards, favors, & candy bar). The larger signs she has easels we could rent from her, but she would need to purchase frames for the smaller signs. She gave us two options 1. either she could make the signs herself or look for similar signs online or 2. we could look online ourselves and order all of the signs and she wouldn't be involved with the signs at all. I don't like option two because we are traveling four ours to our venue and I don't want to be responsible for transporting a bunch of signs. I would prefer that she provide the signs. She sent us a contract which I haven't signed yet, but it states she would handle the signs, but she said she included that based on using chalkboard signs.
Florist B - My mom and I met with her over the weekend since my fiance was working. She is so sweet and I absolutely loved her. She spent a ton of time with us going over everything and she even gave amazing suggestions I never would've thought of on my own. She provided photos of candy bars she has done before and they look amazing. She also has all of the signs we would need except for the welcome sign and hashtag since those would be custom, but she could get them for us and that would be included in her price. She also already has an arch with drapery like we want. The downside is that she is $1,000 over our budget. My mom said if she was over budget she would have no problem paying the cost difference. My fiance has said before he doesn't want anyone's help. He thinks help would come with strings. I know my mom wouldn't ever expect anything in return because she just wants us to have everything we want.
I'm not sure what to do. Any advice?
