Dawn Kelly never intended to start her own business, much less one in the floral industry. Prior to opening floral and event design studio Soirée Floral six years ago, she was simply seeking a creative outlet to balance her more analytical career on Wall Street. “I worked in the financial markets, and I started taking classes at Parsons School of Design as a stress reliever, not thinking that I would ever own my own flower business,” she relates. “I met a lot of people through the two-year program. Some of the teachers were designers in New York City, so I was able to have mentors through them and freelance for them, and it kind of grew from that.”

     staffing strategies.  Today, this award-winning florist, whose work has appeared in a host of consumer bridal magazines, has a regular staff of four to five people who help design and set up wedding and event décor during Soirée Floral’s busy season, which runs from April through October in the popular destination wedding city of Nantucket, Mass. During the rest of the year, Ms. Kelly works from Rowayton, Conn., where she resides, but she often travels to handle weddings and events in Rhode Island, Maine, New York and other surrounding areas.

     Ms. Kelly hires contract employees to help with large events, particularly during the busy season in Nantucket. “Depending on how busy we are for the week, we can have up to 15 people working,” she relates.

     The business has a strong list of designers and other workers to call as the need for extra help arises, and Ms. Kelly says most of them have come from people contacting her. “We’re constantly getting resumés, and we let people know that as we have needs, we’ll give them a call,” she explains. “We also put things on Craigslist, Facebook and Twitter. We’ve met some wonderful designers that way.”

     marketing on the web.   Social media and other computer technology also has been a great way for Soirée Floral to connect with brides. Ms. Kelly says most of her bridal clients are career oriented and computer savvy. With links to the business’s videos, portfolios, blog, and Facebook and Twitter pages, www.soireefloral.com is a wedding destination in itself.

     “Our Web site is a huge marketing tool for us,” Ms. Kelly says. “If we do a wedding on a Saturday, by Monday I can be blogging about it.” The Web site’s “Tickled Pink” button is an important feature as well, leading viewers to dozens of testimonials from satisfied customers.

     secrets to successful consultations.   Approximately half of Soirée Floral’s initial consultations take place at the studio, where clients can see the business’s full range of rental items and glassware, and the other half take place either at the reception venue or via free video calls through Internet communications company Skype. In fact, Ms. Kelly says Skype has become quite popular for brides planning destination weddings.

     When meeting in person, Ms. Kelly strives to offer her brides as many visual references as possible. If the meeting is at the reception venue, linens, place settings and containers are brought along to help provide an overview of the look.

     Inspiration boards, which Ms. Kelly creates for each bridal client, are among the business’s most valuable sales tools. The boards include ribbon samples, photos from magazines, dress material swatches provided by the bride and other visuals that assist in creating the bride’s desired look. Ms. Kelly shares that the boards serve to inspire not only the bride and her floral designer but also potential clients who are meeting with Ms. Kelly for the first time. “When they walk in, they see a wall of boards that we’ve designed for our clients. Sometimes they’ll look at those to get ideas. It’s pulling all of those little elements together that gets them excited, and once we do that, the selling part comes a lot easier.”

     Last year, Soirée Floral handled approximately 50 weddings. Weddings account for approximately 60 percent of Soirée Floral’s annual sales; corporate events, cocktail parties, birthday parties and the like account for the other 40 percent.