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Bride Who Got Bad Flowers No Shrinking Violet

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By ANEMONA HARTOCOLLIS, The New York Times

Published: October 19, 2007

NEW YORK - The wedding bouquet has barely faded and already an Upper East Side bride has regrets - not because she married, but because of the flowers.

The bride, Elana Glatt, says her florist committed a series of faux pas at her wedding on Aug. 11.

In the most 'egregious,' Glatt says in a lawsuit alleging breach of contract, the florist substituted pastel pink and green hydrangeas for the dark rust and green hydrangeas she had specified for 22 centerpieces.

Not only was the color wrong, she said in the lawsuit, filed last week in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, but the hydrangeas were wilted and brown, and arranged in dusty vases without enough water.

Their pastel colors clashed with the linens, favor boxes, wedding cake and decor at Cipriani 42nd Street, the luxurious restaurant where she and her husband, David, held their reception, Glatt said.

'The use of predominantly pastel centerpieces had a significant impact on the look of the room and was entirely inconsistent with the vision the plaintiffs had bargained for,' Glatt, a lawyer who practices under the name Elana Elbogen, said in the lawsuit, which she filed on behalf of herself, her husband and her mother-in-law, Tobi Glatt, who paid for the flowers.

Elana Glatt said they had reluctantly paid for the flowers in advance, with a cashier's check for $27,435.14. She accused the florist, Posy Floral Design at 145 East 72nd Street, of a 'bait and switch' scheme, and asked for more than $400,000 in restitution and damages for, among other things, 'unjust enrichment' by the florist.

In a litany of 'distressing and embarrassing' offenses, the lawsuit says the florist substituted cheaper orchids than promised in the bridal bouquet and provided the equivalent of $5 roses from a street vendor, but charged $55 to $65 for those arrangements.

'It was a lovely wedding,' Glatt said, except for the flowers.

The owner of Posy Floral, Stamos Arakas, said Monday that he had many satisfied customers. He said that he had provided the flowers for the wedding of Glatt's sister the year before, and that he did not ask Glatt to sign a contract because he trusted her.

He said that before filing the lawsuit, Glatt sent him a series of e-mail messages demanding a $4,000 refund.

He said he and his wife, Paula, ignored the e-mail messages because 'we thought they were so insulting they didn't dignify a response' and because it 'felt like extortion.'

He said he and his wife had done their best to match the color of the hydrangeas to a picture Glatt had given them, but explained to her that because of the vagaries of nature and the lighting at Cipriani's, the colors might not look exactly the same.

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