Queen Bee Flowers

I chose this florist for my wedding, and the owner was very friendly and I met with her and showed her examples bouquets of what I had in mind for my wedding, it was pretty simple I mainly wanted sunflowers and baby’s breath since I was on a budget for all of the table centerpieces and a few other more exotic flowers in my main bouquet. After she emailed me a quote it was 50 per mason jar with sunflowers and babies breath and she had quoted me for a bouquet at the sign in table as 20 so I asked if I could have all the centerpieces the size of the sign in table one to reduce the price and she responded with a quote where she RAISED the price of the sign in table arrangement to 50 and reduced the table centerpieces to 40 which did not help out at all. I finally decided I wouldn’t be able to afford flowers for the dinner tables and only went with bride and bridesmaid bouquets all based on sunflowers as the main flower. She had told me that there were so many sunflowers that year that some farms would occasionally give them to her for free because there were so many which is why I was so confused by how much they were to put them in mason jars and she would not let me buy them in bulk to put them in myself. All this correspondence was EXTREMELY difficult because as soon as I was asking to cut things out of the bid she stopped responding. While many of the vendors for my wedding were very busy with all their customers they took about a week to respond, but they did respond, Michelle just straight up didn’t respond to most of my messages. If she did respond it was clear she didn’t read the whole messages which were at max 5 sentences. Only after I had tried calling for days, I finally went there in person and was able to talk to someone else running the store because I wanted to make sure that the bid was accurate did she email me and ask me some questions about what I wanted which I had already explained in multiple emails that she had still not read and I had actually edited the bid myself because she was so unresponsive. My main color was yellow so we had agreed that sunflower petals would be used for the flower girl, this is all in written emails where she confirmed, however on the day of the wedding she was late to finish all the bouquets, and she had given my dad a bag of pink rose petals. While I’m pretty flexible I really don’t like pink, and I was pretty disappointed because they were supposed to be sprinkled on the table tops as well. The hair pieces that she made were big and floppy and the hair dresser said they were unusable. The bouquets were PINK and they didn’t have a single sunflower in them and they were very expensive, I was so disappointed. I threw them in a corner immediately after the ceremony and never took pictures of them. They also contained some type of really weak flower where the stems couldn’t hold up the weight so they were all floppy and hanging down below the main bouquet. I had ordered a bunch of sunflowers, dahlias, and feverfew for $ 60 from a wholesale shop and those were beautiful and way better than anything prepared by this florist. While they weren’t perfect bouquets they were what I had asked for so I loved them and was really upset about all the money I had wasted on the bouquets that were also wrapped in the WRONG COLOR fabric. The ONLY thing that did turn out great was the boutonnieres which were succulents wrapped in burlap which were pretty cute. I see that she has good reviews so perhaps this was a fluke, but I just couldn’t get her to ever respond or confirm that she knew what I wanted and even though I saw her write down the flowers I wanted and colors it was all VERY WRONG and so expensive. Perhaps if you can afford to spend thousands of dollars there she will pay more attention to you but if your budget is under 10 000 and it is wedding season then definitely go somewhere else because it isn’t worth her time and isn’t worth the your heartache and frustration.

Michelle was highly recommended by other local event florists. I had a pleasant conversation with her regarding what types of flowers my mother would like as a gift for her 70^th birthday. I gave her a financial cap to not exceed and she delivered a gift my mother LOVED right on time.

Queen Bee was on my radar when I came into town. I had been planning on making my own bridal bouquet for my wedding the next day and was just looking for fillers and stems a la carte. I walked into the shop, and nothing was out! I feared that she was going to come out and say that she was closed, but luckily — she was really nice and let me into her fridge! She allowed me to search through her stock of various blooms and greens. She mentioned that she was thinking about closing early, and was nervous because she thought I wanted HER to make the bouquet. «No way girl, I got this!», I told her.
Her greens were phenomenal — queen anne’s lace that was PURPLE. I have never seen that before. I was ecstatic as she gathered the bunches and wrapped them up for me. Michele, thank you for helping me last minute!

I was married this past weekend and used Michele as my florist. Working with Michele was wonderful (as were the flowers)! I had little opinion as to how I wanted my flowers to be, other than beautiful. I only had a quick consult and she worked her magic from there. She was always easy to get a hold of and extremely affordable (especially when you compare florists that do weddings in the area)! I ended up renting a birch chuppah and purchasing bouquets/​bouts and many centerpieces, and these were delivered to the venue without a hitch. The colors and arrangements were gorgeous and ethereal — I highly recommend that you check out the shop’s instagram (@queenbeeflowers) to get a feel for the quality and range of her work. One extra plus is that my venue was able to donate a lot of the centerpieces to a convalescent hospital– so the joy of my beautiful flowers were able to last longer than my wedding and reception.

I was looking for flowers to give a friend for her birthday and this place was perfect! I just told one of the lovely employees what color flowers my friend liked and she quickly put together a beautiful bouquet. It was a really good price too, $ 21 for enough flowers to make two cute arrangements. I’m sure if I had brought the vases with me they would have made them in there for me too.

Where did flower mill go? The service and choices there were fantastic, this place is lacking in comparison honestly. We walked in and it barely looked like a flower shop at all. Only the back has flowers and they were kind of just set all over the place on counters for the workers to make bouquets out of.
I didn’t see a section with all the flowers separated to choose from like flower mill used to have. The vast majority of the store is weird little local artist stuff that I didn’t come to a flower shop for: cards, ear rings, photos, paintings, etc. Oh and a little section with wedding ideas and such. Where are the flowers in this flower shop?
So we walk in and there’s nobody else in there. The employee asks us what we’d like and I explain I just want a simple and small bouquet to bring to someone, for between $ 10-​$ 20. She says OK she will start when she’s done with a current order she’s working on. Of course that’s not a problem so we start waiting.
Well two minutes turned into five, into ten, into 15 – 20 mins of waiting while she worked on an order and answered the phone. Hey, you have a paying customer in the store who has been waiting, why is the phone getting priority? I was honestly in the process of walking out the door when she finally finished up and called us over.
She put together a nice little bouquet then it came out to a little over $ 20. It was a small arrangement and she knew I wanted something cheaper, but instead used the highest part of the range after making us wait way longer than was acceptable just to pick up some flowers. I thought it was a bit rude and the whole experience just rubbed me the wrong way.
She was very nice and there was a store dog there to pet and distract us so they get a few stars, but it should only take a few minutes to run in and grab a bouquet. 15 – 20 mins for a $ 20 is a bit much. The great reviews lead me to believe that it’s a freak occurance and I’m the ¹⁄₁₀₀ who caught them on a bad day, so take this experience as you will.
Maybe they need more staff. Maybe they need to stop selling knick knacks that their friends make that have nothing to do with flowers. Maybe a place with a name like queen bee flowers should put more focus on the flowers themselves. Maybe the people in the store should get helped before people calling. Maybe maybe maybe.

Queen Bee Flowers is Truly the place to go for wedding flowers.
I was completely shocked and amazed to see how beautiful my wedding bouquet and my husbands boutonnière turned out to look. I have no words to express how much i loved my flowers and the table arrangements were just SOOO BEAUTIFUL.
HIGHLY RECOMMEND this place.
Thanks so much Michelle, you are truly talented.

Michele worked with me to pick the flowers for my son and daughter-in-law’s wedding celebration. I was told that she knew the venue and the flowers would be on the tables when we arrived. When we got there, the flowers were in a cardboard box. We figured out where they should go and then they started to look kind of droopy and limp. It was not until we got them home that night, looking kind of spent, that we realized that they had not had water put into the vases after their trip. I was disappointed that we had spent a fair amount for what could have been very nice arrangements, but the details were not taken care of. I called Michelle to let her know, and never heard back from her.

Queen Bee Flowers did my flowers for the wedding. Michele works with you to meet your budget and the flowers she delivers are absolutely beautiful. I was so happy when I saw everything and all the flowers. The flowers tied everything together and looked so beautiful. She does an amazing job, and I highly recommend her. I’m still so happy with the outcome, and it makes me smile to go back and look at all the photos. Use Queen Bee Flowers!

This is the BEST florists in the world!!! I live in Orange County and use this shop for my flowers in Soquel. Most beautiful arrangements. I wish she was here, I’d use her ever week!!! Will not be disappointed, best flowers!!!

Michele at Queen Bee created all the flower arrangements for my daughter’s wedding, and we were really happy with them — bridal and bridesmaids’ bouquets, table centerpieces, boutonnieres, and vases of flowers for the hall. She took some vague ideas of ours, and turned them into gorgeous bouquets that suggested wildflowers, but also luxury and the voluptuousness of summer. Her suggestion to thrift the vases saved us a small fortune (and incidentally made the months of planning go by faster!) She was flexible with all our changes, as well as reliable, and arrived right on time, working with the wedding venue to coordinate deliveries. She used her flower arrangements along with our other materials (fabric, framed poems, driftwood, stones, candles) to set up each table beautifully on the wedding day. The flowers were super fresh — some of the lisianthus are still going strong after two weeks! I’d work with Michele again in a heartbeat, and highly recommend her for wedding flowers. I’m also planning to send everyone who buys flowers to her shop first — it’s an adorable sunny corner shop in Soquel, with perfect little plants & arrangements that anyone would appreciate.

I had Michele of Queen Bee Flowers do my flowers for my July wedding. I initially had planned to do flowers myself and only came in to purchase a flower crown for my wedding, but after seeing her shop and talking with her, I wanted her to do all my flowers! I just loved her aesthetic and her shop is so beautiful and she was so friendly and helpful. She was easy to work with and the cost was very fair and a lot less than other places we got quotes from. I especially loved that she gets all her flowers locally and seems to have great relationships with her growers. My floral arrangements turned out just how I imagined even if she had to use a different flower than planned on a few. She delivered all the flowers to my wedding venue at Highlands Park. I would 100% recommend her for any of your flower needs.

Queen Bee did our flowers for our wedding last weekend. I am so pleased with the full experience. Michele was great to work with throughout the whole process. The consultation was super professional and she took as long as we needed to formulate a plan for the big day. She also helped us to work within our budget while still having a gorgeous result. The flowers were so awesome! Super unique and beautiful. I got so many compliments on them. The bouquets were everything that I had imagined and more! She did simple bud vases for the tables, ivy for the arch (which we also rented from her), and lovely corsages/​boutonnieres. highly recommend you use Queen Bee for your wedding!

Michelle has an amazing way with flowers. She’s in undoubtedly talented in making beautiful arrangements, bouquets, boutonnieres. She has a vast knowledge of types of flowers and what works well together. I would absolutely recommend using Queen Bee Flowers for any of your flower needs.

I hired Queen Bee Flowers as my florist for my September wedding. I had a vague goal of not spending more than $ 1500 on my wedding flowers, a goal that many of the florists I spoke to — including my wedding coordinator — found unrealistic. I was beginning to feel discouraged about having to spend an arm and a leg on flowers when I found Michele. I don’t know how she manages it, but her prices are EXTREMELY competitive — almost half of the going rate with other florists!
I decided to set up an in-​person meeting with Michele in her store, and showed up with a few pictures of what I was looking for. I was not particularly picky about my flowers; I had a few types of flowers and colors that I definitely wanted in my bouquet, but otherwise was open to having whatever flowers would be in season and most cost-​effective. Michele has an encyclopedic knowledge of flowers and was so helpful in helping me fill in the gaps with some alternative and less conventional options. She was also totally flexible in helping me figure out different ways to repurpose some of the flowers between the ceremony and reception so I wouldn’t end up spending more than I needed to.
The day of the wedding, Michele came to the venue and set everything up for me. I did not actually see any of the flowers until I came out with my dad to walk down the aisle, and was blown away at how beautiful everything turned out. Michele’s work was far more beautiful than any of the photos I had originally shown her. For example, I had ordered centerpieces in small hobnail jars, and thought the floral arrangements would look pretty small and minimalistic. Michele somehow managed to make the arrangements look really full and lush despite the small size of the vases! I had so many guests come up to me throughout the day to compliment me on my flowers and remark on how unusual and beautiful they were.
If you are looking for a florist in the Santa Cruz area, I highly highly recommend Michele. She is super talented with flowers — just check out her Instagram feed, her work speaks for itself — and is a lovely person to boot. Oh, and she has a super cute shop puppy named Fern, if her talents weren’t reason enough :)

MIchele made me a flower crown for my wedding day at a very last minute and indecisive moment! It was absolutely beautiful and perfect and held up all day and night and I received SO many compliments on it! Thank you!

Michele at Queen Bee Flowers turned our vision for a medieval wedding into a reality with her amazing bouquet, centerpiece and boutonnieres. Beautiful craftsmanship and attention to detail. Very reasonably priced, too. So grateful for her services.

Had a wonderful experience with the owner Michele who made an amazing arrangement for me while staying in Santa Cruz this spring. She had a great selection of flowers and such a whimsical and meticulous style to each of the arrangements I saw. My mother loved her bouquet and I just wish so much that this was my flower shop around the corner here in D.C. To everyone in Santa Cruz, give this new business a try and you will not be disappointed.

This shop is so beautifully curated! All the flowers are super fresh and locally sourced. It’s the best florist to find unique cut flowers and an incredible selection of house plants. I’m always surprised by such special finds! There are also things like handmade jewelry, jams and antiques so you can be sure to find the perfect gift.
Everything is reasonably priced and there are always pre made bouquets and arrangements that are absolutely stunning. They are so talented, I would have them do my wedding in a second. So glad they moved in!

Over the past year, Soquel Village has been experiencing a sort of mini-​renaissance. New businesses are popping up, replacing the dilapidated store fronts of the past with new hopeful offerings.
Queen Bee flowers is a perfect case in point. Those familiar with the previous flower shop on the corner of Soquel and Daubenbiss will be hard-​pressed to find any similarities between the new and old tenants (thank goodness). The new shop is sunny and inviting, and the giant creepy fridge has been hidden away in favor of open-​air displays that showcase a variety of beautiful blooms.
I bought a bouquet for a little over $ 20 that was absolutely stunning, and my girlfriend loved it. The level of service and attention to detail that was placed on a relatively small order made me confident that when I am in need of something larger, this will be the place to call.