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Building a relationship with your wedding couple during the planning process can pay off in the long run. Commit to the couple beyond the big day and become their florist for life.
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Being a bride’s wedding florist can lead to one of the strongest client relationships you have with your customers. You’re helping to beautify one of the most important days of her life and she’ll always remember the bouquet she was holding when she walked down the aisle. You also devote a lot of time and effort to this particular client – in most cases, you’ll work with the bride over a period of many months to make sure her flowers for that special day are perfect.
The good news is that after the big day is over, your business relationship doesn’t have to end. Every florist would be wise to make it a goal to become the “family florist” – the go-to source for celebrating life’s key events. Think flowers to celebrate anniversaries, a new home, the birth of a baby, floral holidays, gifting, Christmas, hosting dinners – the list goes on. There’s no better place to gain a foothold than at the nuptials. Here’s how you can commit to your bride so she’ll remain faithful to your flowers well beyond the big day.
Making inroads
As you meet with brides to start planning their wedding flowers, make sure you get their e-mail addresses. You can begin sending the couple electronic newsletters with floral tips and trends. By the time the wedding is over, you’ll be a permanent fixture in their e-mail inbox. This status will keep you top of mind as life’s events unfold and it will reinforce your floral creations as a potential part of them. By encouraging wedding clients to befriend your shop on Facebook you can befriend them back and will now have access to other life milestones. Here’s where you can truly stay top of mind.
Behind-the-scenes floral images
Brian Vogt, a Niagara-based florist, suggests florists consider taking pictures of the couple’s wedding flowers as the bouquets are being designed. “Create a small album of pictures from behind the scenes so the couple can see how much care and effort went into the flowers,” he suggests. The album will function not only as a reminder that you’re there for other floral needs but also as a way to allow the couple to have conversations with others about your designs when they show off the album. It could prove to be a great marketing tool.
Celebrating that special date
You already have the most important piece of information to help you target the couple’s anniversary occasion – you have the wedding date recorded. Use your point-of-sale system, a calendar, or manual records to create alerts for yourself 11 months after the wedding date to send gentle reminders to the groom. In years past, the young bride would come with her mother to arrange the flowers. As couples wait longer to marry, many now plan the wedding together, and so florists are able to interact with grooms directly more than ever before. Why not take a private moment to slip them a card to fill out with his own e-mail address, explaining you’ll send him a reminder as to what her favourite flowers are? This will make it easy for him to arrange the delivery and start a tradition that will hopefully continue for many anniversaries to come.
Settling in the first home
When you notice those tweets and Facebook posts announcing that the couple has purchased a new home, shift your messaging to include tips and trends around décor. Send them a housewarming bouquet. New homes are exciting and your designs will be linked once again to a happy life event. That first home will need some beautiful arrangements at Christmas so make sure you promote your holiday designs actively in October and November.
Then comes baby
Love, marriage and the baby carriage – the order may not be so linear in today’s culture but, once again, staying in touch with your brides will help you to know that a baby may be on the way. Each birth month has an associated flower – for example, daffodils symbolize March, daisies are for April. Consider sending new dads a card promoting an arrangement using the flowers from each of the birth months for both parents and baby as a lovely way to symbolize the new family unit.
Suits and snapdragons
Many brides are well established in their careers by the time they marry. A big part of their floral life story may involve the corporate side of their lives. Touch base with your brides in September and suggest some holiday corporate gifting ideas for special clients or co-workers. Real estate agents often send arrangements to their clients, so look for these professions among your bridal couples. If the bride is a marketer, or executive assistant, she may be looking for arrangements to help her corporate events sizzle. Use your time with your brides leading up to the wedding to find out more about their profession.
These are just a few of the floral opportunities that are available to you if you establish yourself as the family florist. Be the person the bride, the groom and their future children (this generation will eventually need Mother’s Day gifts, or prom and graduation flowers) turn to to celebrate life’s events. What better time to forge this relationship than at the genesis of the family? Use the months before the wedding to show bridal couples the breadth of your talent and you will likely discover a few perfect matches of your own.
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