Windmill Florist & Gifts — Local services in Fitchburg

I live in Boston but have family and friends who live in the Fitchburg area. Over the last two years I have used Windmill Florists three separate times to send funeral arrangements. The arrangements have averaged $75-100 and I paid in full by telephone. Since I have never frequented the shop in person , I requested that a photo of the arrangements be sent to me prior to delivery and each time the request was fulfilled. I was pleased with the arrangements in hopes they gave some solace to the parties receiving them. Today, I contacted Windmill Florist by phone to order a funeral arrangement for a very dear friend who's mother recently passed. As a matter of fact, it was that dear friend who originally referred me to this florist. Once again I made a request to send a photo of the arrangement prior to delivery and this time the self identified owner denied my request. After some discussion; stating who I was and that it was done in the past the owner first claimed "the woman wasn't there to do it" then that explanation digressed into citing " problems of stalking with other people and telephone numbers " I listened to his concern and I asked if he could take a picture and email it. He still refused. In exchange for his refusal, He didn't even offer to post a picture on his website so I could view it. He made no effort to find a compromise or solution beyond saying that I was free to use another florist! Which I will. Windmill Florist may be talented with their arrangements but it's owner lacks empathy, compassion and loyalty to repeat business, especially in time of sorrow. I will not utilize a business where the owner displays such ugly characteristics, no matter how pretty the flowers may be. I will heed his final advice. There are many other Florists in the Fitchburg area, where the owners' temperaments are as beautiful as the flowers they...

I unfortunately am one of the brides affected by Covid19. and I do NOT RECOMMEND WindMill Florist.

My husband and I had our original reception planned in March and it was canceled. We then booked a new date with a new venue (Old Mill) and we found out 2 weeks ago that the Old Mill advised us to cancel the event because they could not accommodate the amount of guests we were hoping for, or even half that number. I called the Windmill Florist to let them know the situation and they first told me they could not find my original deposit paper. They then called me back later to let me know that my deposit is non-refundable and accused me of what felt like lying as they sounded shocked that the Old Mill told me no wedding seeing that they were "surprised they told you to cancel seeing we are servicing a wedding there this coming weekend". I was very offended by this claim as again I did tell them that yes, it was us who made the final decision but that was after THEY advised us to.

ALSO, when I first sat down with one of the employees to pick my flowers I told her my past experience of how I did not get many deposits back (including the original florist) she was very sympathetic and told us how the owner here is very sympathetic of this situation and he refunded his previous brides. Which made me confident that if I did have to cancel our wedding a SECOND time that we at least would get our money back.

The best they could offer me is use my deposit on a future event which "I saw and acknowledged to by signing the deposit slip originally."

Again VERY disappointed in this situation and how it was handled and we are out more money than our first...

My fiancé and I were not going to book a florist for our wedding. After reaching out to over a dozen and getting quotes back in the 10k range- we gave up. But then, we met Ernie and Windmill Florist at an event at our venue, the Colonial Hotel. Ernie’s staff was warm and thoughtful, and assured us they could do something beautiful that would stay in our price range.

I texted Ernie pictures of bouquets we liked, told him a little about our wedding decor, and that was it. He gave us a quote back and we mailed in a deposit. A few months later, when we had some updates to what we wanted, Ernie was able to accommodate those with ease.

And then the actual wedding day- oh my gosh were we blown away. The flowers really made it feel like a wedding- they were even more beautiful than the pictures we sent in. Ernie threw in some surprises for us too- like a floral ring around our wedding cake and rainbow ribbons coming off the flower girls’ crowns (this was a two bride wedding so that felt extra special and thoughtful) I cried when I saw them!

I ended up scrambling the next morning to find a company to quickly book to press and preserve our bridal bouquets in a frame - I wanted to remember them forever! The rest of the flowers we brought to a local nursing home and a few to the cemetery for our deceased loved ones. No flowers went to waste.

If you’re on the fence, let this be your sign. Get the flowers. It’s your wedding day! And book Ernie! You...