12 



The Florists^ Review 



May 31, 1917. 



tion or a doubt that window dis- 

 ])lays hel]i tlie llorist to a j^ood l)it of 

 tlio special work. This sort of business 

 is valuable, not only because there is 

 usually a considerable suni involved in 

 the one transaction, but because the 

 work, if well done, adds a new customer 

 to the retailer's list. A wedding means 

 another family and in the years to come 

 the bride of today will always have a 

 warm spot in hqr heart for the florist 

 who provided the decorations for her 

 wedding and the wedding bouquets. 

 That is, of course, he will stick in her 

 memory if his work pleased her. 



There is a whole lot of truth in that 

 old phrase, "A satisfied customer is our 

 best advertisement." Can you not 

 imagine the bride at her first "at 

 home," telling her friends, as they go 

 over the glories of the wedding and dis- 

 cuss the floral decorations, that "Flora 

 & Co." supplied the flowers and were 

 they not beautiful? That is convincing 

 publicity — the kind that gets custom- 

 ers and makes them confident that your 

 .judgment in selecting and skill in ar- 

 ranging flowers can be relied upon. 



Gives Creative Genius Sway. 



The feature of wedding work which 

 is the most interesting to the florist who 

 is really an artist, is the designing of 

 the decorations and bouquets. Here he 

 has an opportunity to give his creative 

 genius full sway. True, there are not 

 many ways by which the general effect 

 can be altered, but liere and there little 



in advance of their use. Thus only the 

 best stock should be used, so that there 

 will be no danger of the flowers looking 

 anything but at their best. One faded 

 bloom is more noticeable than a hun- 

 dred jjcrfect ones. 



Helps Sales in Slack Time. 



There is another phase of the subject 

 of spring weddings which makes it all 

 tlie more important for the retailer to 

 bend his efforts to educating his cus- 

 tomers and prospective customers to 

 come to him for work of this character. 

 Weddings, especially June weddings, 

 come at a time when sales of cut stock 

 are slow and one or two of them will put 

 the balance for the month on the right 

 side of the ledger. Flowers are plenti- 

 ful. Indeed, in the smaller towns the 

 abundance of blooms leads to a tempta- 

 tion to amateur decorating. 



But the florist can supply what the 

 layman lacks — experience in handling 

 and selecting flowers, knowledge of 

 color combinations and the ability to 

 work up the different blooms into a 

 harmonious whole. Besides, he has ar- 

 tistic baskets, pretty vases and bowls 

 and t4ie other accessories which are nec- 

 essary to make complete to the last de- 

 tail the decorations for elaborate wed- 

 dings. Thus is the handicap of a pro- 

 fusion of flowers offset. 



As the scale of social functions has 

 advanced during the last quarter of a 

 century, hosts, and hostesses especially, 

 have learned that the florist's services 



The New Background Effect in Cfiurch Wedding Decorations. 



touches may be added which have the 

 charm of novelty. The accessories that 

 have been devised to aid the florist on 

 such occasions as weddings often add 

 just the feature that lifts the decora- 

 tion from the commonplace. 



Careful selection of stock, too, will 

 save embarrassment many times. The 

 modiste may have until the last minute 

 to finish the wedding gown, but not so 

 with the florist and his work. The dec- 

 orations he installs, if they be at all 

 elaborate, require time. They nml the 

 bouquets must be prepared considerably 



are invaluable. More and more are they 

 calling on him to provide the decora- 

 tive features. He has responded and 

 in the natural course of things has de- 

 veloped a wonderful artistry in this 

 direction. 



Where a few years ago his efforts 

 were directed by the customer, who had 

 planned what he or she wanted, now the 

 customer looks to the florist for advice 

 and suggestions and in a majority of 

 cases accepts his ideas of what and how 

 the decorations should bo. That this is 

 so speaks vohnnes for the progressive- 



ness of the trade and the development 

 of its members. 



People Have Plenty of Money. 



Despite the high cost of living aui^ 

 the war, there will be just as much, ii 

 not more, wedding work this year. Thi 

 more prosperous class of people has beei 

 the class which has profited most by th. 

 great commercial and industrial pros 

 perity of the co.untry during the las: 

 two years. Besides, there are many wh( 

 have suddenly acquired wealth and 

 much of this wealth is being put inti; 

 circulation by its* owners. People, too, 

 have been educated to spend, which i> 

 not difficult knowledge to acquire. They 

 have the money and will let go of it 

 It is up to the individual florist to pro 

 vide value received and the work will 

 come to him. 



So let us in the trade go after busi 

 ness instead of waiting for business t( 

 come to us. Profit by the experience 

 of other members of the trade with 

 window displays; adopt their ideas and 

 at the same time keep your brains work 

 ing and go them one better by adding 

 an original touch. Be not backward 

 about keeping your business in the 

 minds of the people in your town. Then 

 you will be so busy you will not have 

 time to hear the jarring note of the 

 chronic pessimist, who lit" bound, once 

 in a while, to break in on the big chorus 

 of optimists, made so by a record sea- 

 son in our business. Costs are higher, 

 but so are prices and the number of 

 flower-buyers is increasing all the time. 



A TIP FROM GOTHAM. 



Like the fashions — and the cost of 

 food — decorations change. People have 

 not the ideas about house and church 

 decorations they had a few years back. 

 For instance, the accompanying illus- 

 tration typifies a new treatment of the 

 embellishments for a church wedding. 

 It will be noticed — but here is Max 

 Schling's description of his work: 



' ' Church decorations are not as they 

 used to be — just a bower and a lot of 

 palms, with a heavy, set background; 

 ribbons drawn along the aisle, a big 

 bunch of Easter lilies on each aisle post 

 or each pew, and a fancy tree-form 

 shape above the aisle, just like an arbor 

 behind our grandfather's farmhouse, 



"No, you will find it entirely differ- 

 ent. The church is free and clear. 

 Nothing obstructs our view. From the 

 farthest corner we can see clear over 

 the whole festive place. A delicate cur- 

 tain of green is falling from the walls. 

 Two large candelabra with wax lights 

 on each side of the candelabra; roses 

 fastened just as if climbing up;"^and, 

 instead of the bower, two nice, high, 

 standard trees of beautiful tea roses, 

 just to set off the curtain of green," 



Mr. Schling points out that the darker 

 the background, the more prominent the 

 bride in her white gown. 



BETTER PLEASE THE BRIDE! 



Make the Newlyweds Remember. 



' ' The purchasing power of the dollar 

 has' so shifted and diminished that 

 many industries will not receive their 

 customary patronage during the war,'" 

 says an expert. "The necessaries will 

 have to come first, and the storekeeper 

 who deals in luxuries is going to have 

 a tight squeeze." Of course, the ex- 

 pert includes flowers in his list of lux- 



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