Wedding Attendants . . . . . . . . 353 Bridesmaids . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353 Groomsmen . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355 Flower Girls and Ring Bearers . . . . 355 The Business of Wedding Floral Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356 Customer Service . . . . . . . . . . 356 Specialization. . . . . . . . . . . . . 357 Communication. . . . . . . . . . . . 357 Profitability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357 Reliable Sources . . . . . . . . . . . 358 The Initial Consultation . . . . . . 358 Focusing on the Bride . . . . . . . . 359 Organizing the Consultation . . . . . 359 Preparing and Installing the Floral Designs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363 Flowers to Wear and Carry . . . . . . 363 Site Flowers . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363 Time Management . . . . . . . . . . 374 The Wedding Ceremony . . . . . . . 374 Seating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375 Thanking the Customer . . . . . . . 375 Chapter 14 Designing for Special Occasions and Holidays . .380 Mainstay Holidays . . . . . . . . . 382 Valentine’s Day . . . . . . . . . . . . 382 Mother’s Day . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385 Christmas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386 Busy Floral Holidays . . . . . . . . 386 Easter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390 Thanksgiving . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390 Memorial Day. . . . . . . . . . . . . 394 Special Occasions . . . . . . . . . 394 Birthdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396 Anniversaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397 New Baby. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399 Graduation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401 Nontraditional Opportunities . . . . 401 New Year’s Day . . . . . . . . . . . . 401 Martin Luther King, Jr. Day . . . . . . 403 Groundhog Day. . . . . . . . . . . . 404 Chinese New Year . . . . . . . . . . 404 President’s Day . . . . . . . . . . . . 405 Mardi Gras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405 St. Patrick’s Day . . . . . . . . . . . 407 Administrative Professionals Day. . . 409 Flag Day . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409 Independence Day . . . . . . . . . . 410 Halloween . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410 Hanukkah. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412 Kwanzaa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412 New Year’s Eve . . . . . . . . . . . . 413 Chapter 15 Sympathy Flowers . . . . . . 418 Funeral Customs . . . . . . . . . . 420 Visitation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421 Private Viewing . . . . . . . . . . . . 421 Funeral Services . . . . . . . . . . . 422 Interment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422 Marketing Sympathy Flowers . . . 423 Using Selection Guides . . . . . . . 423 Funeral Home Connections . . . . . 424 Funeral Floral Consultations . . . . 424 Selling from Available Stock . . . . . 425 Ordering from Wholesale Florists . . 426 Closing the Sale . . . . . . . . . . . 426 xiii