We found that not everything’s rosy when it comes to sending flowers. The arrangement that arrives at your sweetheart's door might not resemble the beautiful blooms you thought you bought.

For a small study, we ordered from three national florists 1800Flowers.com, FTD.com, and ProFlowers.com. We chose roses, tulips, orchids, and mixed bouquets.

When the flowers arrived, our photography department arranged the bouquets to resemble their website photo as closely as possible, and then we asked people to compare each bouquet with its corresponding photo. What mattered was not how attractive a received arrangement was but how closely it matched what the buyer intended to send.

What we found: 1800Flowers.com was best at sending what was ordered, followed by ProFlowers.com and FTD.com.

The flowers most likely to look the way they did on websites were tulips, roses, and orchids. Mixed bouquets had more substitutions than the rest.

Quick tip:
If you want to make sure your flowers prompt a smile, pick a color scheme that matches your Valentine's favorites, then steer away from mixed bouquets. If you're unhappy with what gets delivered, call customer service.

Other classic gift ideas include candy, of course, so for the best chocolates to melt your (sweet)heart, check out our latest tests of boxed chocolates, you'll find very good tasting treats at modest prices.

And for fans of the bubbly, consider a bottle that is fun and a little more daring than most, like sparkling rose, either De Bortoli Emeri Pink Moscato or Korbel Brut Rose, both for $12. Don’t despair if when shopping for these wines you can’t find the exact year, wines in this price range are fairly consistent from year to year.