The Bridal Industry is very big business. "In the USA, the wedding industry is a 125 billion a year industry," says Eileen Monaghan, founder of the Association of Bridal Consultants (ABC) and a member of the group visiting Holland. "50 billion is spent on the wedding days alone each year, with a significant portion of that on flowers."   

Pertinent information
"We gave our American visitors a broad view of the Dutch floral industry," says Diana Duijvestijn, who helped organize the 2-day, Flower Council of Holland sponsored tour. "We provided them with pertinent information about all the various flowers available from Holland." To this end, the tour visited the Aalsmeer Flower Auction, Holex Flower B.V. (a cut flower export company), renowned Dutch designer Marcel Woterinck's design studio, and various retail flower shops in Amsterdam.    

Bridal bouquets
The tour started with an early morning visit to the Aalsmeer Flower Auction, where Dutch flowers are bought, sold and shipped to destinations around the world. "The amounts and varieties, quality and sizes of the Dutch flowers was overwhelming," Eileen says. "It was fascinating to see lilies on a cart that were destined for bridal bouquets in America." The freshness, speed, care and handling of the flowers duly impressed. Eileen: "How they kept pulling flower trolleys out of cold rooms and then bundling them into refrigerated trucks and off to the plane was simply amazing." 

Fussy brides
The consultants also visited Holex, a company that transports huge quantities of Dutch flowers to the USA every day. "Holex Flower B.V. specializes in the American market and is very aware of what the US buys," Eileen says. "I was especially impressed by their sensitivity to color. They understood how fussy brides can be. They understood the importance of the difference between a morning glory color and an evening primrose color!" Holex Flower B.V.  is a 24/7 operation, downloading email orders overnight for transport to US wholesalers and retailers the next day.   

International excursions
The Association of Bridal Consultants, headquartered in New Milford, Connecticut, is an international association for networking and educational purposes. "We're also active internationally in 26 countries across the globe," Eileen says. "In the US, there are some 5,000 bridal consultants working at different levels of professionalism." The association hosts meetings and events, distributes newsletters, and, as with the Holland trip, also organizes international excursions, aimed at giving consultants new ideas and fresh inspiration.    

Deep understanding
Bridal consultants are involved in all aspects of planning a wedding. They work closely with the brides, florists and designers to ensure the wedding flowers are perfect on the day. "That's why it's so valuable for us to have a deeper understanding of what the Dutch flower industry has to offer," Eileen says. She strongly advises the Dutch flower industry to develop closer relationships with US bridal consultants. "Right now, there's not yet enough direct marketing to consultants. But we need this, in order to know exactly what varieties of Dutch flowers are available and then to have our florists order them."   

Every day
The Holland trip was a successful step in this direction. The US consultants left Holland amazed and enlightened by what they had seen. "Every wedding consultant should be aware that there are Dutch flowers of this size, quality and variety flown into the USA every day from Holland!" Educating the bridal consultants is vital, Eileen says. Flowers are always a part of weddings and bridal consultants offer repeat sales opportunities - unlike brides, who usually only marry once. "If you make an effort to educate bridal consultants," Eileen says, "you're educating the steady, consistent aspect of the wedding market." 

Premium flowers
To do this, Eileen suggests increased marketing efforts for the East Coast particularly, as well as having Flower Council of Holland promotional booths at the various bridal consultant conferences and trade shows. "Seeing is believing," Eileen says. "And when US bridal consultants see beautiful, fresh Dutch flowers at a trade show that two days before were growing in a field in Amsterdam, they'll be as convinced as I am of the Dutch floral industries ability to deliver premium flowers on the wedding day."