Urban Culture and Society

Important Tips and Information about Sending Flowers to Moscow

By Kenneth Elliott

Online floral delivery services have made it a very easy thing to send flowers for that special person in Moscow! But this was not always the case. There was a time during the cold war that if you were not part of the elite class it would have been impossible to send flowers anywhere. This was either inside or outside the country. It would have been far easier to deliver a bouquet in person, provided of course that as a foreigner you were allowed into the country in the first place! With such poor service there was a possibility of hand delivered flowers going to the wrong address or being delivered at the wrong time or not at all.

Now all you have to do is go to the website of your preferred international-delivery florist, choose the flower(s) and or bouquet(s) of your choice, click on a few options and hey presto, your message of love, peace, goodwill, thanks, rectitude or whatever will be delivered to a (hopefully) grateful and surprised recipient.

Now to the small print:

Delivery inside Moscow city limits would be charged as per list price, however anything beyond would entail additional charges which can be quite hefty if the place is even somewhat remote.

An advance online order would mean your credit / debit card would be charged immediately, much before the actual delivery; so a 2 day advance booking would be more prudent.

Additional services, like verifying recipient's address and / or phone details prior to the actual delivery involve extra costs.

Requests for "surprise" deliveries are not advisable as it may require repeat visits or special activity, thereby incurring further charges. Normally a call is made prior to the delivery to ensure the recipient will be available. Flowers and gifts like cakes are perishable items and need to be delivered within the shortest possible time.

Most florists deliver during "normal" business hours, which is usually between 900 hours to 1900 hours, though this can be stretched either way if required.

Additional services like a special note or a gift not listed or available with that particular florist but available locally, can also be arranged for.

Delivery confirmation is usually provided within 24 hours in a place like Moscow.

It is normal in Russia to send odd number flowers except in the case of sympathy or funeral messages. This is followed more strictly whenever a single flower arrangement is being sent, less so in a mixed flower bouquet. The main holidays when flowers are exchanged in Moscow are Valentine's Day (February 14th), Women's / Mother's Day (March 8th) and of course Christmas (both Catholic and Orthodox) as well as the New Year.

There is not much difference in the meaning of the color or type of flower(s) that are being sent with the message for a Muscovite from that accepted universally; so roses denote love, lilies sympathy and a multicolor arrangement to wish someone a speedy recovery. There are a number of international as well as local online as well as offline florists who will gladly provide their services at an appropriate price! Sendflowers.ru and Cityflora.com would be happy to deliver a bunch of feelings to that special someone in Moscow!

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