A Sydney couple have been left devastated after one of the companies playing a huge part in their wedding went into liquidation, leaving them thousands of dollars in the red.
On Wednesday, news.com.au reported that Surry-Hills based flower shop Eden and Bell had collapsed owing $530,000 to 85 creditors.
It provided fresh flowers to customers, including at events like weddings, and some brides and grooms were among the unsecured creditors owed money.
Ms G and Mr Bennett, who did not want to share their full names, have been planning their wedding for more than a year, with November slated for their big day.
The soon-to-be bride and groom had walked past the shop front of Eden and Bell multiple times because they lived in the area and at the beginning of last year, they became customers.
They had planned to pay $10,000 for their floral arrangements and styling, which was the second biggest expense besides the wedding venue itself.
As part of the terms of agreement with Eden and Bell, they paid a 25 per cent deposit, which was $2500.
But Ms G, 29, started to feel worried when her emails went unanswered earlier this month despite staff usually responding quickly and then when she sent follow-ups, her emails bounced back. After trying the phone line, she learned it had been disconnected.
Last Tuesday, she received an email from the florist informing her that the company had shut down, as she had feared.
“I’m pretty angry,” she told news.com.au. “It’s caused a massive amount of stress. Having something as massive as this happen, only seven months out, was devastating.”
The appointed liquidator, Richard Albarran of insolvency firm Hall Chadwick, has already indicated to news.com.au that unsecured creditors like this couple probably won’t get any of their cash back.
“It is unlikely that creditors will receive any return in the liquidation of the company,” he said.
He also revealed 11 staff members lost their jobs due to the voluntary liquidation.
Covid-19, rising costs of living and reduced sales were blamed on the company’s demise.
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In an email shared with customers, the founders of Eden and Bell, husband and wife duo Sophie and Dom Geisser, apologised for the firm’s closure.
They said they had “deep regret” about the way things had gone and that they were “truly sorry”, adding that it was a “heartbreaking decision”.
“We have been so stressed and lost more sleep than you could know trying to come up with a solution to keep the business going,” they wrote.
“We are grieving the loss of our family business, our livelihood, and the heartbreak of not being able to bring your wedding to life.”
Ms G is still not impressed and believes Eden and Bell shouldn’t have taken her money if the company had been struggling.
“We’ve been saving for a long time, we’ve been allocating a lot of funds to savings for the wedding,” she said.
“With interest rates, our mortgage being affected, it’s tight.
“It’s not like that ($2500) is a throwaway amount of money, it will probably impact our ability to go on a honeymoon. It’s a big loss.“
Ms G and her fiance Mr Bennett have been in a relationship for the past decade. They got engaged at the Botanic Gardens at the end of 2021.
She started to grow alarmed when the email to her main point of contact at Eden and Bell bounced back.
“I have left my position at Eden and Bell and moved onto new and exciting opportunities,” the automatic reply read.
When they emailed another staff member the couple had conferred with, the same thing happened.
Shortly after, she learned the company had collapsed.
“The fear that that’s going to happen to me again is so real, the anxiety it induces is awful,” she added.
Mr and Mrs Geisser founded Eden and Bell in 2018.
The company derived its name from Mrs Geisser, with Bell being her maiden name.
Originally the couple helped out with friends’ weddings in the shed of Sophie’s grandma before realising they could make a business out of it.
Prior to the business ceasing to operate, they reportedly visited Sydney’s flower markets three times a week for fresh products.
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Eden and Bell was founded on the principle of making “flowers approachable and affordable for everyone”, Ms Geisser told Broadsheet two years ago.
Urban List described the business as “the kind of stuff that never goes out of style” several years before it went bust while Timeout Sydney ranked it among the city’s best 12 florists.
News.com.au contacted the company’s directors for further comment.
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