March 02, 2007 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Working as a floral designer

Flowers are common adornments at weddings and funerals. It’s the work of floral designers to arrange foliage and flora for these and other occasions.

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The work designers do with clients is similar for both memorials and weddings. They might show their customers pictures of different types of flowers or arrangements that are available to help them decide. Clients may have particular tastes or cultural concerns, and cost may be a factor.

After consulting with clients, floral designers order what they’ll need, which can require careful timing. For example, roses shipped on Friday for a Saturday wedding will still be in bud form on the day of the wedding; they need to be sent earlier so that the roses are fully open for the wedding day.

When an order arrives at the florist shop, there’s much to do. Floral designers first must "process" the flowers (that is, cut, clean, and feed the flowers). The arranging comes next. Floral designers use a number of tools and materials, including wire, tape, bows, and devices that help to hold the stems of flowers in place.

Median annual earnings of floral designers were $21,060 in May 2005; this means that half of all floral designers earned more than this amount, and half earned less. The highest earning 10 percent made more than $32,960, and the lowest earning 10 percent made less than $14,710. These data are for wage-and-salary workers only and do not include the self-employed.

These data are from the Occupational Employment Statistics program. For more information, see "Jobs in weddings and funerals: Working with the betrothed and bereaved" by Elka Maria Torpey, Occupational Outlook Quarterly, Winter 2006-07.