Ann Arbor flower shop plays special role in 'The Five Year Engagement'
Chelsea Flower Shop employee Wakako Maeda works on an arrangement in the downtown Ann Arbor shop in February.
Melanie Maxwell | AnnArbor.com
Set decorator Sophie Neudorfer was asking if Sakoda could prepare nearly 100 different flower arrangements for about a dozen scenes in the movie, which was mostly filmed on location in Ann Arbor.
Despite her hesitation — and the fact that it was her flower shop’s busiest time of the year — Sakoda simply couldn’t turn down the request.
The Chelsea Flower Shop is located on East Liberty Street in downtown Ann Arbor near the Cloverleaf restaurant.
Lizzy Alfs | AnnArbor.com
“I was thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, I can do this, but it’s going to be a terrible amount of work,’” she recalled.
The following day, Sakoda and her other employees at the 65-year-old flower shop, located on East Liberty Street in downtown Ann Arbor, set to work preparing thousands of flowers for the movie scenes.
“(Sophie) came here with a big notebook and said, ‘I need flowers for the scene at a bar, the birth of babies, a New Years Eve scene, four funeral scenes, a barbeque scene,’” Sakoda said.
“She went on and on and on, and the time they wanted these flowers was before Administrative Professionals’ Day, the University of Michigan’s graduation and Mother’s Day,” she continued.
During the month-long operation, Sakoda and her employees would prepare arrangements for a particular scene, and then a “big Hollywood truck” would come pick the flowers up at 5:30 in the morning.
“I’d get here at 4:30 or 5:00 a.m. and there would be the truck parked right here in front of the store,” Sakoda said. “They were so efficient. They also gave us a check up front.”
Sakoda said that check — which was for an undisclosed amount of money — confirmed all the hard work was worth it.
“Business wise, this was very good for us,” she said. “And they were very generous with paying. The first proposal I made for the flowers, I thought I asked for a lot of money, but they are from Los Angeles so they are used to higher prices. They said they could pay us more, and they did.”
With this year’s graduation behind her and a slight lull before Mother’s Day, Sakoda has an assignment for herself: Get to the theater to watch the movie, which was released in theaters last weekend.
“We’re definitely going to go see the movie,” she said.
Lizzy Alfs is a business reporter for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at 734-623-2584 or email her at lizzyalfs@annarbor.com. Follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/lizzyalfs.
Comments
KathrynHahn
Sat, May 5, 2012 : 9:05 a.m.
To everyone who is tired of reading articles about this movie..just stop reading them! I enjoyed the film, and the facetime A2 got on the big screen. I'm trying to remember who owned Chelsea Flower back in the 80's when i did deliveries for them... anyone?
Kemper
Sat, May 5, 2012 : 6:09 a.m.
Nice story, but I don't want my tax dollars to cover 40% of Michigan movie production costs.
Kai Petainen
Sat, May 5, 2012 : 2:31 a.m.
Awesome. I love this place and my wife adores the flowers. What a fantastic article and congrats to a fantastic business
Mystery1727
Fri, May 4, 2012 : 5:56 p.m.
Wes Craven called Norton's Flowers in Ypsilanti (and ann arbor) for his own personal arrangment for his birthday and some for the cast party for Scream 4. It's great that they were using local businesses.
JMA2Y
Fri, May 4, 2012 : 4:12 p.m.
Chelsea was used as a location in the film or at least the outside was used for the florist scene. But Chelsea Flowers staff is excellent. They did a beautiful job for my wedding years ago. I'm glad to see the downtown establishment was chosen. And yes, there are many florists in the Washtenaw area who do a great job as well.
Lovaduck
Fri, May 4, 2012 : 3:47 p.m.
The editors of Esquire magazine used to have an "Oh, shut up!" award. I'd like to give it to any more articles about this mediocre film that makes Ann Arbor look snowbound and uncultured!
Lets Get Real
Fri, May 4, 2012 : 1:28 p.m.
A small, local merchant who benefited from the movie incentives. Yeah! Glad you could make hay while the sun was shining.
Meral
Fri, May 4, 2012 : 12:56 p.m.
It is so wonderful to see dear friend get awarded for a job they do so well with a smile always. They are the best...Sure there are other flower shops near by. Nobuko, Claire, Penny and other employees are the nicest people. Thanks for all the beautiful flowers you create.
Steve
Fri, May 4, 2012 : 12:43 p.m.
Another Five year Engagement story? Even Hollywood has stopped noticing this dog. If you read aa.com, this movie is more popular than Gone With The Wind. Apparently the rest of us who were not touched by the cast and crew of this movie are just second best.
Diane
Fri, May 4, 2012 : 12:02 p.m.
Congrats! Too bad they didn't use Maureen's Flowers in Saline. She does an outstanding job!!!!
HeimerBoodle
Fri, May 4, 2012 : 7:33 p.m.
And too bad you didn't stop at "Congrats!".
Mike D.
Fri, May 4, 2012 : 10:05 a.m.
...but this is the last time Hollywood money will stream into Michigan, thanks to Rick Snyder's elimination of film incentives so his rich friends in big business don't have to pay taxes. Womp, womp.