Beautiful By Nature Florist

Joan did such a beautiful job at me and my husbands wedding, it was breath taking and everyone is still talking about how beautiful everything was, joan is such a sweetheart and takes time to get to know you and what you really want! We just got married sept 18, 2015 and we already told her on our renewals of our vows I want her to do our flowers! Thank you joan!!!

Joan was amazing to work with! She is professional and a true artist. She hand-​selected the most beautiful arrangements for our wedding in May. She listened to our vision and made it a reality. Her prices are very competitive and she works with any type of budget. The quality of the flowers are top-​notch. I would recommend BBN to anyone who is looking for a florist.

I had a consultation with Joan today and I was very IMPRESSED:0) Joan traveled 2 hours to meet with me in Santa Cruz and I felt like I have known her for years! Just a fun, friendly lady that treats you like family. Joan was very attentive to my likes and dislikes and documented them into the contract she wrote up today. I am very meticulous about details and I used to arrange flowers, so its hard for me to let go and have someone else take over. After meeting Joan I feel a millions times better about letting go of the reins. I am so excited to work with you Joan & cannot wait to see how beautiful you are going to make my wedding!!!
Nicole C.

Joan did our flowers for our recent wedding. The flowers were more beautiful then I could have ever imagined she really did go above and beyond. When I saw the decorations, bouquets, and boutonnière my eyes watered I was in shock how she took what I said and made this wedding as beautiful as it could be. I literally couldn’t have been happier. She was also very friendly and sweet. This florist is one you want to make sure and book for your wedding. I would also like to add that the reviews below with one star are crazy. Joan was absolutely amazing She was a huge part in making my wedding so beautiful! I do highly recommend her she is so good at what she does. maybe the people who gave one star weren’t specific on what they wanted or maybe they didn’t have time to meet with her I do not know why they were not happy because If I could I would give her 100 stars she was that good at my wedding.

Joan did great at my wedding… #gatesvargaswedding2013
She’s now and forever more our family florist! I could not have been any happier!

Upon reading this review, Joann emailed me the following email:
— — — - Forwarded message — — — -
From:
Date: Tue, Mar 12, 2013 at 10:50 AM
Subject: Re: Photos of Flowers
To: Anna
Dear Anna: Just a little information for you. I have decided to take
legal action against you and your new Husband for, Loss of business ‚
Deformation of character, posting true lies on the internet, you are
going to be held liable for loosing one contract already. This terrible
slanderous letter you have written has done quite a bit of damage. I will
not be slandered or black mailed by you. I have been in business in the
Sacramento area for over 15years. This is a attempt to ask you to place a
new letter or just pull the statement down from Unilocal immediately. You
know for a fact I have you texting statements with the picture below of
Quote I Love it ! Hugs on the way out the door … You also know I have
done over 1500 successful weddings and events in my carrier. I will take
you to court !!! Sincerely Joan Pennebaker Proud owner of Beautiful By
Nature florist… How dare you !!! and many more
pctures from your photographers and, statements from several venders.

Joan was the florist for my wedding at Whitney Oaks in September 2012. She is fabulous! Joan is such an upbeat and positive person, it is amazing planning a wedding with her. I would suggest checking in with her every now and then. I’m a hands on bride so I liked to constantly e-​mail her or call her to reiterate what I wanted and double check that the invoice she had was correct. My favorite part about working with Joan is her creativity! I told her what I wanted and she did exactly that and added more! I asked for the arch to have white linen draped over it and she added flowers around it. I asked for petals to be swirled in designs down the aisle and she made a heart at the end. It’s the little things that make such a dramatic difference. Joan was also able to work within my budget and discount certain things that I really wanted but couldn’t afford. When it came to the wedding day, I was blown away and she even delivered the bridesmaid bouquets to our hotel after delivering the other flowers to the venue! I would definitely recommend Joan– you just need to know how to communicate effectively with her :)

I was just getting ready to send flowers to my MIL and saw Joan’s Unilocal reviews, and had to add mine. I got married in 2001, and she was my florist as well. Holy hell, she was AWFUL!!! She had forgot my wedding, ALTOGETHER. I was at the Sterling Hotel waiting for my flowers because my photographer was there, and I called her shop to say, «hello? where are you? my photographer is here we need to take pictures.» she said «oh, I thought your wedding was tomorrow.» WTF. You have got to be kidding me. Yes, that’s exactly how it went down with this florist. The week before my wedding, I showed up at her shop and said I want to review everything with you and make sure we are clear on everything. She had to search her shop for my contract and email exchanges. Took her like 15 minutes to find anything (my wedding was her next wedding) you’d think it would be accessible since it should have been her next project. i think she found it under her leftover Burger King take out boxes and wrappers. No joke.
Her business practices are pathetic. I’m shocked that she’s still in business at all. Save yourself the question of whether or not you should use this florist for your wedding. It’s not worth the risk. Period. She is the one negative memory I have of my wedding. Horrible.

Joan was so great to work with for our wedding at the Vizcaya Mansion on May 12^th! I know nothing about flowers and was really nervous about the florist part of wedding planning. Usually I dont do well with really outgoing people, but Joan’s exuberant personality really helped reassure me that she knew what she was doing and actually make me excited about my flowers. After meeting with a couple other very expensive, snooty florist it was so nice to meet with someone who could do things in our budget and not threaten that it may not look good as the other florists had. Joan ran with our budget and through in a lot of extra things complimentary. On the wedding day the flowers looked amazing and I think she did a great job setting everything up. Definitely would recommend Joan if you are looking to work with someone who is okay with a budget and passionate about their work.

Joan did my wedding at Arden Hills on Sept 9^th. I was AMAZED with the outcome and extremely happy with how beautiful she made everything. She really went above and beyond :)
We even had a miscommunication about some things that I thought was included in the price I had already paid for, our first meeting. However, I guess we had decided not to. I honestly don’t remember that. The second meeting the week of the wedding we were going over everything and because I thought it was already included I brought it up and went over what I wanted it to look like. Then found out later after she had already done it that it wasn’t included and we owed her more money. I informed her we were already thousands over budget and had no more money. And if I would of known it was not included I would of told her no to. It could have been a real negative experience however Joan handled it very sweetly and simply gave it to me as a gift. I really appreciate her being so understanding and I apologized for the confusion. I do wish however that she would of informed me at our meeting that it wasn’t included in what we had already paid her like I thought. But like I said simple miscommunication that she could not of handled better.
I could not be happier with the gorgeous arrangements she did for my wedding. I highly recommend her, she knows what she is doing and has many wonderful ideas for you.
Thanks again Joan for everything!
–Megan

Joan and Sue handled my wedding Sept. 3^rd and it was wonderful!!! First I have to start by saying that we knew after our first intial meeting with Joan that she would be our florist. She was amazing throughout the whole process and all of our flowers were absolutely stunning!!! The centerpieces on each table were all different and unique, but everything flowed wonderfully. The bouquets were all fabulous and my girls loved them. The bout’s for the guys were also gorgeous, as were the corsages. I could not have asked for more from a florist, Joan was very personable and listened to every thing we wanted and she gave us exactly what we asked for, I honestly couldn’t be happier.
Another exceptional plus, is her second business The Final Wrap. She took care of taking all the left over alcohol and ect. from the venue to my husbands mom house after the reception. Brides, this service is well worth the extra cost. I would highly recommend Beautiful by Nature to anyone who asks me for a good florist. =)

I am SO glad I read all of Joan’s reviews. It definitely encouraged me to seek for another florist!
I had given Joan my deposit 7 months ago. My wedding is coming up in a few months. Back in April, I had emailed Joan to ask how much it would be for more centerpieces because my guest list had increased from the time I began all of my wedding planning.
Joan replies back to my email by asking who I was, when my wedding is, where my wedding is, and if I had already given her a deposit. Shocked as I was that she appears to have NO idea who I was, I emailed her back the answers she was seeking, then I asked why she doesn’t have that information when it’s clearly stated on my contract. She writes me back to tell me that she had computer problems and lost all of my info.
I had told her that I have NO problem with her computer crashing. Come on, that’s pretty common these days. However, I told her it’s the fact that she failed to inform me that she lost my info on her own, is what is disappointing me. After reading her latest negative reviews and having gone through my own negative experience with her, I told her I will no longer need her service. She emails me back and calls me «unreasonable». She doesn’t seem to understand that communication is a big important factor in the wedding industry.
I strongly urge all of you to read a vendor’s reviews before making such a big decision. Even though I pretty much lost my deposit money because she is refusing to give it back, I’d rather lose that money than to experience what you other brides have experienced with her.

I am not that opinionated, but for how much tears and sorrow my wife and mother-​n-​law experienced, I give them a rating of «awful».

I would absolutely steer every bride FAR FAR AWAY from Joan and Beautiful By Nature Florist. She (or her assistant, as she claims, either way I don’t care, my flowers were screwed up) did not deliver ANYTHING we agreed upon or paid for.
I got into the bridal chamber at the church the day of my wedding and actually had to ask my wedding coordinator if the flowers sitting on the table were mine. They looked NOTHING like what I had ordered and communicated very explicitly what I wanted and what I had paid a pretty penny for.
I should’ve known something was wrong when I found out she works out of her HOUSE, but since she was on a few preferred vendor lists for prestigious venues around Sacramento, I overlooked it. RED FLAG!
I specifically asked for the following flowers: white and pale pink peonies in the bridal bouquet, pale blue hydrangea, NO roses, NO lilies, and a predominantly blue and white bouquet with very little pink. I wanted a sort of round bouquet with very little teardrop hanging down. My bouquet was all white with roses and lilies, two tiny peonies and it was a GIANT TEARDROP. Strikes one, two, three, four and five.
I specifically asked for a hanging ball flower arrangement for my flower girl… absolutely NO basket under any circumstances, with blue and white flowers. I got an ugly basket with white and pink flowers with a touch of blue. Strikes six and seven.
I wanted stephanotis throughout all the bouquets and specifically asked not to have pearls put in the middle because I absolutely hate that. There were pearls in the middle of all of my stephanotis. Strike eight.
Mothers of the bride and groom were supposed to receive gardenia corsages, but received roses instead. Strike nine.
I specifically asked that my flowers not have any sort of asian or pacific rim theme (lilies, etc.) and all of the vases were filled with ti leaves. Strike ten.
I paid extra for a toss bouquet so I could keep my own, but the members of the Vizcaya team could not find it, so I was not able to throw a bouquet at my reception. Who doesn’t throw a bouquet? They ended up finding it at 10:30pm that night. Strike eleven for Joan not delineating where it was, and strike twelve that I wasn’t able to throw it.
We ordered a boutonnière for my nephew although he wasn’t in the wedding party, but it was also missing. Strike thirteen.
I also ordered pale blue delphinium and larkspur throughout all flower arrangements, and there was NONE. All my flowers were white except for a few bits of blue in one or two of the table arrangements. Strike fourteen.
We also had negotiated and paid for Joan to transport the flowers from the church to the reception, as we had very large altar arrangements we wanted everyone to enjoy. She did not transport them, and they remained at the church for two days after our wedding, then my mom had to go pick them up. Strike fifteen.
We also provided Joan with 8 matching vases, so that all my table arrangements would match. They were not used for my flowers, and Joan claims she has no idea what they were, or where they went. Strike sixteen.
WORST OF ALL, after ALL these issues, we tried contacting her multiple times the day of the wedding to talk about it, and she didn’t answer her phone! We never saw her, we never even communicated the day of my event! That’s absolutely ridiculous, unprofessional and downright irresponsible of any business owner in the wedding business. My wedding coordinator tried calling, my mom tried calling, the Vizcaya Pavilion tried calling all to no avail.
I had to leave a nastygram on her voicemail the day AFTER my wedding saying I was disappointed and angry, then she called my mom, using the excuse that she hurt herself or some BS, and that her assistant had completed the entire order, so it wasn’t really her fault. IT’S YOUR BUSINESS, LADY! Your assistant can’t read? My order form (that I have a copy of) was intensely specific. A baby could’ve filled my flower order, no problem, that’s how specific it was.
Bottom line is my flowers were completely disappointing. I still cry about them when I think about how off they were. The stress it caused me, my mother and my wedding coordinator is totally not worth it. I will have to look at my wedding pictures for the rest of my life and HATE the flowers. I didn’t even want to preserve my bouquet. Don’t make the same mistake I did! DO NOT use Beautiful By Nature, no matter how many preferred vendor lists she’s on!

Joan did my wedding on May 29^th and she did an AMAZING job. All of the flowers and centerpieces for the ceremony and wedding were absolutely beautiful and nothing at all like I could have ever imagined.
I’ll just say this for you brides out there. I sent her a picture of a bouquet I loved and she replicated it EXACTLY. I couldn’t believe it. It was probably one of my favorite things at the wedding and it killed me to throw it away. But really, what am I going to do with a dead bouquet of flowers? At any rate, she listens to you and does what you want. She showed up on time and I didn’t have to tell her anything. Thank you, Joan!

Joan did my flowers for my wedding on ⁵⁄₂₉ and did a fabulous job! I couldn’t be happier. Everything was fresh and beautiful. Better than I had imagined. I’m so glad my venue recommended her :)

I hired Joan at Beautiful By Nature as my wedding florist and was very unhappy with the results. At first, Joan seemed very friendly and helpful, and she had many ideas and suggestions to offer. At times though, I felt like she was pushing «extra» things that I was not interested in, after I had communicated my wish for very simple arrangements. My price was raised significantly after the initial deposit and just before I paid the final amount, even after I changed to what I felt was a less elaborate and expensive flower arrangement than we had previously discussed. I believe she was very unprofessional in her communication and in addressing some of my concerns throughout our business together.
On my wedding day, I discovered many things that were done differently than what we had agreed upon. Surprise! A few were minor details, like the shape of the vases for our centerpieces, but others were more important features, such as including pink daisies along with my mostly white daisy arrangement. On my wedding day, I discovered there was no pink present in ANY of my flowers, whether it was my bouquet or the centerpieces. (Keep in mind that I had ONLY chosen pink and white flowers, so no pink made quite a difference.) The flowers still looked nice, but were not what I had asked (and paid!) for. I feel like I am pretty easygoing and can overlook small changes, but when a primary color was missing and I had no idea, that is completely unacceptable. Other details (some were suggestions she had made, at that!) were not included, changed, or less than adequate as well. While I realize that sometimes last minute changes must be made, I felt that many of these changes could have been communicated to me in advance and an alternative could have been decided upon.
Though I was not looking for any sort of refund, I communicated my disappointment to Joan about her services, and she did not even apologize; in fact, she made excuses for every aspect I was frustrated with, some of which were downright lies.
I would definitely not recommend using Beautiful By Nature for any of your flower needs.

So far, so good!
I met with Joan the other day to talk about flowers for my wedding. She showed me the flowers she was working on for weddings that weekend and and then brought me inside her home to look at tons of pictures of her work.
Joan offered me anything and everything that would make our day into our perfect vision and she was able to fit it all into my budget. I knew this was my last stop for a florist, all the other shops I went to just sat me down in front of books and walked away… what?! How would anyone know what I wanted or be able to personalize it that way?
Joan is going to make our wedding the most beautiful event ever! I am so sure of that because she made lots of wonderful suggestions but also listened very carefully to my thoughts also. I’m so excited!
I will be sure to follow up after the wedding to let everyone know how it turns out!