Auckland florist swept off its feet as Valentine's Day orders triple from last year

Parnell florist Blush Flowers was "slammed" with triple the amount of orders, meaning it was still delivering as late as 9pm.

A florist that was inundated with Valentine's Day orders was still delivering as late as 9pm, but for some romantics it was too late.

The Parnell flower store Blush Flowers was "slammed" on Wednesday with triple the amount of orders compared with last year.

The deluge of orders paired with Auckland's gridlock traffic made delivering, even with a dozen drivers, very difficult, Blush Flowers business manager Megan Piper said.

"Deliveries would be in the hundreds, triple what we had last year, planning for that was really difficult."

Due to delays some people elected to not have their orders delivered, she said.

"The people that didn't receive their deliveries was a small number, some people were upset which was fair enough.

"Anybody who didn't want their order was given a refund."

But for some people it was not good enough because several buyers took to the florist's Facebook page to express their unhappiness.

"Can you let me know what's going on. Flowers booked and paid for well in advance. No flowers delivered, no emails answered, no one answering the phone. It's not looking good," Mark Kessner said.

Jason Kwok and Fong Feng said they were also yet to have their orders delivered in the afternoon.

There were lessons to be learned from the day and there would be a review made as "a team" to prevent a repeat of the slip-ups in future, Piper said.

Since the store opened two years ago, Valentine's Day and Mother's Day have been its busiest days.

At peak rush hour the store pulled out all the stops, using 12 drivers, Ubers and family members.

"We hope our customers are able to forgive us," Piper said.

Staff members had finished preparing at 1am on Wednesday and arrived back for work at 6am.