Floriculture Specialty Designs

1. Floriculture Specialty Designs Weddings

2. Floral Decorations Set the Mood • As a professional florist, whenever you sell a wedding you accept the responsibility to translate the magic of love in the bride's own personal style through the flowers you suggest and create. • Whether your bride is planning an elaborate church ceremony or a simple home gathering, the floral decorations you plan are the key element in establishing the atmosphere for theentire ceremony and reception.

3. Floral Decorations Set the Mood • This means you must sell the bride and her family on the tremendous visual difference flowers play in setting the mood and creating the appropriate romantic environment for the wedding festivities.

4. Suggestions for Selling Weddings • Be a professional. • The member of your staff who sells weddings must be a professional salesperson. • Skill in successful selling techniques is essential, as well as a thorough knowledge of all aspects of wedding sales and design. • Your wedding specialist must be thoroughly familiar with pricing, should have complete knowledge about what flowers are available and be competent to recommend substitutions when required.

5. Suggestions for Selling Weddings • Most prospective brides are interested in bouquet colors and shapes, rather than in specific flowers which might be used. • A professional salesperson can, therefore, sell flowers which are currently in season and which offer the best profit potential.

6. Suggestions for Selling Weddings • Establish a sales environment. • Ideally, a shop specializing in wedding flowers should have a bridal room where the atmosphere has been deliberately planned for the bridal customer. • If an entire room is not available for this purpose, a specific area of the shop can be reserved for bridal interviews. • It should be apart from the distractions of shop traffic and offer comfortable seating for the customer, as well as the salesperson.

7. Suggestions for Selling Weddings • The customer should be made to feel relaxed, comfortable and important. • It is poor selling practice to ask a bridal customer to stand at a sales counter, while she attempts to complete the flower details for her wedding. • When discussing wedding flowers with a prospective bride, a salesperson should concentrate his/her complete attention on this one customer. • It is impossible to sell a successful, profitable wedding while trying to design, answer the phone or wait on shoppers in the store.

8. Suggestions for Selling Weddings • The bridal customer always deserves undivided attention. • The professional salesperson will plan ahead so that interruptions are not allowed to take his total attention from the bride. • Booking appointments. • Whether a prospective bride should have an appointment before coming in to discuss flowers, is a matter that each florist must determine individually as desirable or not for his shop. • The general trend indicates, however, that most flower shops prefer to discuss wedding flowers by appointment only.

9. Suggestions for Selling Weddings • This enables the salesperson to prepare for the interview and to reserve the needed time so the customer can receive undivided attention. • Appointments often eliminate the chronic shopper. • Usually, the bride who will go to the trouble of making an appointment is a prime prospect. • Some florists arrange special appointments for brides who work and cannot come in during regular business hours.

10. Suggestions for Selling Weddings • Booking appointments can be costly. • The florist sets aside valuable work time and spends considerable effort to entice a prospective bride into ordering her wedding flowers. • However, not every appointment will be a sale. • A consultation fee of $10.00 or $20.00 can be applied to a bride's statement when she commits an order for wedding flowers. • Other professions charge for their time, and the florist should not hesitate to charge for service.

11. Suggestions for Selling Weddings • Handling the interview. • It is important to have a definite sales procedure in handling a wedding appointment. • A specially-designed order form for recording wedding details, will help the salesperson cover every important flower detail. • An efficient procedure is to obtain all information about the wedding first; names, addresses, phone number of the bride & groom, when and where the wedding will be held, as well as other bridal functions.

12. Suggestions for Selling Weddings • Next, move along to the wedding flower details. • Most brides have a color scheme in mind. • Discuss their ideas on color, and ask for a sample of the dress material for attendants, mothers and other members of the wedding party who will be wearing flowers. • Fabric samples will help you envision the gowns in relation to potential flower choices.

13. Suggestions for Selling Weddings • Discuss the style of gowns the attendants and the bride will be wearing. • If you keep latest issues of bridal magazines in the bridal sales room, your customer can refer to styles shown to indicate to you the general designs she has selected. • All of these details will enable you to have an overall feeling for the wedding scene and how flowers can best contribute to the picture.

14. Suggestions for Selling Weddings • As you talk to the bride, you should be studying her personality and appearance. • Not all brides can wear all flowers. • To be perceptive about the bride as an individual will help you suggest flowers which are best for her.

15. Suggestions for Selling Weddings • At this point in the interview, you many want to point out specific areas of a presentation book which have the feeling your bridal customer is looking for. • Many brides will want to look over all the photographic materials available. • You should allow them the time and freedom to do so. • Selection of flowers is one of the most important decisions a bride-to-be makes.

16. Suggestions for Selling Weddings • She should be given the opportunity to make her selections. Thoughtful sequences in selling bridal flowers is to consider attendant's flowers first, then the bride's bouquet, followed by corsages for the mothers, church decorations, reception decorations, rehearsal dinner decorations with minor floral details last.

17. Suggestions for Selling Weddings • An important tool in helping the bride with church decorations can be a card file. • By keeping a file on local churches, the florist can have at the tip of his fingers such information as length of aisle runner needed, restrictions the church may have on decorations or candles, equipment owned by the church such as candelabra, and much more. • This indicates to a customer that her florist is familiar with the church and can help her visualize how flowers can most effectively decorate the church to portray the proper setting.

18. Suggestions for Selling Weddings • When the bride has made her flower selections, a definite bid to book the wedding should be made. • There are many closing techniques which can be used. • Among the most successful is a to-the-point request for a deposit to hold the wedding. • Most florists figure an estimate of the wedding flowers while the bride waits. • If it is impossible to close the sale at the interview, plan to follow up by phone. • Generally speaking, if you follow up by phone after the interview, you will book 50% to 60% of the weddings you have bid on.

19. Suggestions for Selling Weddings • It is essential that staff members KNOW PRICES. • The salesperson working with a prospective bride should never have to ask someone else or guess. • Every bouquet should be available in three price ranges: good, better, best. • An excellent way to help your staff be professional in this area is review bridal presentation books and price every bouquet and decoration with a range of three prices.

20. Suggestions for Selling Weddings • Depending on your clientele and your selling policies, you may want to note prices in the book beside the pictures. • Another alternative is to put them on a separate sheet so the salesperson can conveniently refer to them during the interview.

21. Suggestions for Selling Weddings • Here is a suggested procedure for quoting prices: • Determine how much each bouquet picture in the books will sell for in your shop, exactly as shown. • Then decide if this pictured example will be your lowest, middle or highest price.

22. Suggestions for Selling Weddings • Most shops use the pictured examples as the middle price range. During the interview, you can point out to the bride that: • For example: this bouquet can be styled at: $20.00, $25.00, and $30.00. • The one pictured is in the 25.00 range. • The $30.00 bouquet is longer and more dramatic (or uses more flowers, or whatever feature you can emphasize to justify the higher price).

23. Suggestions for Pricing Wedding Bouquets • Methods of pricing wedding flowers are as many and as individual as florists themselves. • Each retailer must determine the system best for his/her shop and the one that insures a fair profit. • Many factors influence the price of a wedding bouquet or arrangement: the quality and number of flowers selected, the caliber of effort required and the personal service given.

24. Suggestions for Pricing Wedding Bouquets • When pricing wedding work, a florist must not only provide for his/her own profit, but also be competitive in the market. • Some shops use a standard mark-up system for weddings, charging from 4 to 1 to a 10 to 1 mark-up. • When a shop has no definite formula, but follows the policy that designers should use as many flowers and materials as needed to make a bouquet look right, a fair profit is seldom returned.

25. Suggestions for Pricing Wedding Bouquets • There are three important elements in every wedding bouquet: labor, the flowers and accessories. • It is important to make a study of how long it takes to sell, plan, design and service a wedding. • This is the basis for a determination of bouquet costs.

26. Suggestions for Pricing Wedding Bouquets • Many florists use a formula based on the selling price of the bouquet. • This deals with a percentage of selling price being assigned to each of the three elements of a bouquet. • This system must be altered depending upon the design and type of flowers used in the bouquet. • A bouquet of phalenopsis orchids requires a high labor cost and a low material cost.

27. Suggestions for Pricing Wedding Bouquets • These factors should be taken into account and the pricing formula adjusted accordingly. • A typical adjustment formula to cover the three design categories follows: • Labor ..... 30% of the selling price. • Flowers ... 50% of the selling price. • Supplies .. 20% of the selling price. • Bouquets requiring high labor, low material cost such as glamellias, composite flowers, etc.) • Labor ..... 50% of the selling price. • Flowers ... 75% of the selling price. • Supplies .. 20% of the selling price.

28. Suggestions for Pricing Wedding Bouquets • Bouquets requiring high material costs, low labor costs (such as lilies, orchids, gardenias, etc.) • Labor ..... 15% of the selling price. • Flowers ... 75% of the selling price. • Supplies .. 10% of the selling price. • Recent studies indicate that the most profitable way for a flower shop to price wedding work is by using a percentage of the selling price for the labor and a general mark-up on the flowers and supplies. The formula works as follows: • Labor ..... 35% of the selling price. • Flowers ... Retail selling price.* • Supplies .. Retail selling price.**

29. Suggestions for Pricing Wedding Bouquets • * Selling price for flowers was determined to be most profitable when a 3.5 times mark-up on the cost of flowers was used. • ** Selling price for supplies was determined to be most profitable when a double mark-up on the cost of supplies was used. • The 35% labor charge was arrived through the following information. • The average designer is paid $6.50 per hour. • The hourly rate increases by 25% for payroll taxes and benefits paid by the employer. • When these factors are considered, the "real" design labor cost to a floral shop becomes $10.56 per hour.

30. Suggestions for Pricing Wedding Bouquets • This must be doubled to be profitable, resulting in a $20.00 per hour labor charge. • Most shops cannot charge for design labor based on an hourly rate. • It is too hard to control and monitor and is neither practical or reliable. • A 20% labor rate is more satisfactory. • A 20% labor rate would be the rate for an average design. • Because of the additional skill and time required for wedding work, the labor rate should be 35%.

31. Suggestions for Pricing Wedding Bouquets • Examples of various pricing formulas are below: • Standard Mark-up (4 to 1) Examples: • Flowers: • 24 marguerite Daisies @ .08 each wholesale cost ......$1.92. • 1 stem Baby's Breath @.43 stem wholesale cost .........$.42. • 2 stems Baker Fern @ .08 stem wholesale ...........$.16. • Supplies: • 50 pieces wire and tape @ .015 wholesale cost • 2 yards ribbon @ $.21 per yard wholesale cost • Labor: • 1/2 hour @ $6.50 per hour.$3.25 (actual wage paid employees)

32. Suggestions for Pricing Wedding Bouquets • Percentage Mark-up (30-50-20). • Flowers (50% of selling price): • 24 Marguerite Daises @ .30 each ............. $ 7.20 (.08 each wholesale price x 3.5 mark-up) • 1 stem Baby's Breath @ 1.50 stem ........... $ 1.50 (.43 each wholesale price x 3.5 mark-up) • 2 stems Baker Fern @ .30 stem ................$ .60 (.08 stem wholesale price x 3.5 mark-up). • SELLING PRICE $28.00 • Supplies (20% of selling price): • Wire, tape and ribbon..........$ 3.70 • Labor (30% of selling price): • 30% of selling price ..........$ 5.60 • SELLING PRICE..$18.60

33. Suggestions for Pricing Wedding Bouquets • Percentage and standard mark-up (35% labor charge): • Flowers (3.5 mark-up): • 24 Marguerite Daises @ .30 each .............. $7.20 (.08 each wholesale price x 3.5 mark-up) • 1 stem Baby's Breath @ 1.50 stem ............ $1.50 (.43 each wholesale price x 3.5 mark-up) • 2 stems Baker Fern @ .30 stem (.08 stem wholesale price x 3.5 mark-up). • Supplies (2.0 mark-up). • 50 pieces wire and tape @ .03 each ......... $ 1.50 (.015 each wholesale price x 2.0 mark-up) • 2 yards ribbon @ .42 per yard ................... $ .64 (.21 per yard wholesale price x 2.0 mark-up).

34. Suggestions for Pricing Wedding Bouquets • Labor (35% of selling price) • 35% of selling price ........$ 6.36 • SELLING PRICE $18.00

35. Wedding Etiquette • Many brides are unsure of themselves concerning wedding etiquette. • As their professional floral consultant, you may be consulted for information on etiquette. • You should be prepared to answer questions accurately and helpfully to make the bride more at ease with the many decisions she will be making. • You may wish to pass the information along to your customers as part of your normal sales presentation.

36. Wedding Etiquette • Wedding expenses • There are no absolute rules on who pays for specific wedding expenses. • Financial obligations must often give way to everyday realities and compromise. • Bridal couples should sit down with both sets of parents and settle the financial responsibilities quickly so there will be no disappointments later on in the planning.

37. Wedding Etiquette • Traditionally, the expenses noted below are shared by the bride and groom and their families. • The Bride and her family. • Wedding gown. • Trousseau. • Invitations and announcements. • Flowers for the ceremony, reception and bridesmaids. • Decorations for the church. • Entire reception. • Soloist and organist. • Photographer. • Transportation for the bridal party. • Corsages for those assisting.

38. Wedding Etiquette • The groom and his family. • Bride's rings. • Marriage license. • Bride's bouquet. • Gifts and boutonnieres for best man and ushers. • Flowers for mothers and grandmothers. • Rehearsal dinner. • Transportation for himself and best man to the wedding. • Clergyman's fee. • All wedding trip expenses.

39. Wedding Etiquette • Floral Etiquette. • If a bride is not knowledgeable about her options concerning flowers at the church, flowers as part of the ceremony and flowers as thank-you gifts and remembrances, you can steer her towards some of these customs and add extra sales to your wedding order. • "Thank you's" and remembrances: • Suggest to brides that flowers can be ordered for delivery on their wedding day to grandparents and other special friends or relatives who are unable to attend the ceremony. • This thoughtful gesture allows these people to share in the happiness of the occasion.

40. Wedding Etiquette • Flowers should also be sent to the hosts and/or hostesses of the parties given for the bridal couple. • These should arrive several days after the wedding as a "thank you" for their kindness. • Suggest that the groom send flowers to his new in-laws thanking them for providing such a beautiful wedding.

41. Etiquette for Second Marriages • Almost 45% of all marriages performed in the past several years were remarriages for one or both of the people involved.  • Many of these remarriage couples are unsure of how to deal with etiquette for their wedding. • Today's trend places importance on sharing a joyful, new beginning rather than a concern for traditional rules and attitudes towards a second or third marriage.

42. Etiquette for Second Marriages • Remarriages are as private or as public as the bridal couple would like. • Many couples prefer small ceremonies in a home or secular ceremonies conducted in a chapel. • Large religious ceremonies are appropriate if this is the couple's wish. • The couple should check with officiating clergy to see how they and the church hierarchy stand on remarriages.

43. Etiquette for Second Marriages • Both the bride and the groom should pay for the wedding. • If one of the partners has never been married, the parents may want to help with financial assistance which is perfectly acceptable. • The latest trend is to use children from previous marriages in the wedding party. • If the children are agreeable to the situation, by all means they should be included. • However, legal witnesses to the wedding must be over 18. • A best man and/or maid of honor could stand along with the children but the number of persons in the wedding should be limited in accordance with the ceremony. • In a remarriage for the bride, no one "gives" her away.

44. Etiquette for Second Marriages • Fashion and color trends have changed for remarriages. • White is a valid fashion choice for the bride. • If the bride feels that white is not her best color, she may choose whatever color she prefers. • However, a pastel gown presents the bride in a more glowing light than a bold color. • There are many styles of gowns to choose from; many can be worn for other occasions. • The dress should be appropriate for the type of ceremony planned.

45. Etiquette for Second Marriages • Planning a reception should be no different than giving a party. • Couple should rely on restaurants, hotels, caterers or even good friends to prepare food and serve at a reception. • Gifts are optional for remarriages; however, most people want to give the couple reminders of the day and will probably be sensitive to the couple's life-style. • Brides should take advantage of the bridal gift registry to specify their preferences.

46. 10 Key Factors that Establish a Distinct Reputation for your Shop • Selection of materials. • A professional floral designer knows how to select and combine materials to achieve ideal visual value. • Creating an exciting and unique bouquet does not require out-of-the ordinary materials. • Everyday flowers designed with a flair for professional treatment make distinctive bouquets. • Working effectively with color. • Weddings are planned around color themes. • A professional floral artist knows how to use color effectively to add life, drama and impact to wedding flowers. 

47. 10 Key Factors that Establish a Distinct Reputation for your Shop • Creating various bouquet styles. • A professional floral artist uses his own flair for materials, color, texture and proportion to add fresh excitement to traditional bouquet styles. •  Professional design skills. • Professional design skills allow a florist to communicate personal artistry and style in flowers. • Without professional design skills, a floral artist cannot communicate his unique style with distinction. • All designs must have a focal area. • The focal point can be created by the size, shape, color or direction of the flowers.

48. 10 Key Factors that Establish a Distinct Reputation for your Shop • Rhythm is another professional technique. • Line is one of the most fundamental elements of professional design. • Clustering builds visual impact for each type of flower used. • All bouquets use positive and negative space. • Positive space is filled with material. • Negative space is completely open. • Unity is the all-important design consideration that combines material, color and form into oneness so the total composition is pleasing to the eye.

49. 10 Key Factors that Establish a Distinct Reputation for your Shop • Unity is the process of bringing together all the design principles and elements expressed in a bouquet to achieve visual agreement. • Understanding how to use foliage. • Foliages are often used as filler or to hide design mechanics. • However, foliages can create impressive bouquets when they are used as primary or secondary materials. • Foliages emphasize flowers and lines when they are used as a secondary material.

50. 10 Key Factors that Establish a Distinct Reputation for your Shop • Using ribbon effectively. • Ribbon is an important and often requested bouquet accessory. • To enhance a design, ribbon must be an integral part of a bouquet. • It should never be hooked on as a last minute addition or to hide sloppy mechanics.