trudy1 2 posts Aug 13, 2008 1:52 PM	Hello Everyone! I started my business in January of 2007. The first year my business did well during spring, summer and fall. Although May was very good this year, I didn't get anything for June, July,and August. I know that the brides were very satisfied with my work because most of my work came from referals. Advertising has not really increased my business as expected. Because business was good the first year, I didn't attend any of the local bridal shows. I work alone and I didn't want to get too overloaded this year, but I got nothing! I have been a floral designer for 15 years and very much enjoy doing these bouquets. I get some referals come from local florist shops. I show my work to the shops and they want to offer my services to their customers. Are the bridal shows the way to go? Do you all have web pages and do they help! I would appreciate any help!! Thanks Trudy
floralscent 10 posts Aug 13, 2008 3:10 PM	Hi Trudy- I started my business 8 years ago. I have met with countless florists in about a 30 mile radius of my business and have gotten many referrals from them over the years. In addition to leaving brochures in floral shops, a few have allowed me to leave a display in their shop as well. I have also attended at least 2 bridal shows each year since I have started. Shows have been where I get the most business from. Sometimes the business isn't even from the bride, but from her Aunt (who attended the show with her) who's daugther is getting married 4 years later. I find that many of the brides at these shows aren't getting married in the year that they are attending the show. Many are getting married the next year or even after that. I feel it is just a great way to display a good amount of your work, get feed back from many and to get to know other wedding vendors...as they may refer you as well. Bridal show promoters typically will send you bride information (name, address, date of wedding) to the vendors that attended the show. This gives you the opportunity to send mailers, emails, etc to those brides as the special day gets closer. If you feel attending these shows will possibly get you too much work, maybe it would be time at that point for a price increase. In the meantime, I feel it is very important to get your name in as many places as possible that a bride would be shopping, etc. Also, the more someone sees your name around the more they are going to remember your business. I do not have a web page either. In addition to the above,I take the time each Sunday to scour the engagement section of 2 of the largest newspapers in my area. I gather the information needed from the white pages on the internet and mail information to these brides to be, just in case we haven't crossed paths yet. You may want to consider visiting local funeral homes as well. There are a lot of people that have just lost a loved one that are searching for someone to preserve some of the funeral flowers. These clients almost always choose a frame or keepsake box and create a "memorial". I hope this helps as it works for me. Kim
trudy1 3 posts Aug 13, 2008 3:52 PM	thank you so much for the info!!
BellaRissatc 5 posts Aug 17, 2008 9:03 AM	We are new to the business too and there is one thing that has worked absolute wonders for us. We visited every single florist in our town and asked them to design a bouquet for us and we would freeze dry it and put it in an encasement of our choice if they would display it in their shops. EVERY SINGLE ONE said YES!!! So as we were preparing for our first bridal season we got some great practice in. We have also gone back to the same florists with yummy brownies and cookies to thank them for their referrals while we checked up on our business cards. We have goals in the next month to visit other floral shops in the outlying areas and to really tackle the funeral homes. We have also figured out that a lot of brides don't realize that they have the option to keep their bouquet. We have sent out postcards and mass emails to try to educate them but it still seams to come back to the florists who will refer us to their clients.

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