Job skills blossom with flower arranging courses for weddings

The government's courses on flower arranging for weddings and banquets have become a big hit with wedding makeup artists, who hope to diversify their skills and so double their earnings.

Run under the Skills Upgrading Scheme since last May, 10 classes on 'wedding and banquet flower decorations' have been offered for about 130 trainees in the horticulture and floral art industry, according to the Education and Manpower Bureau (EMB).

The classes are usually full, and some of them have a waiting list of up to 20 people.

Wedding makeup artist Fanny Wong Mei-fung, who finished a flower-arranging course last month, hopes to offer a double service by providing bridal bouquets and banquet decorations and cosmetics. 'I want to offer one-stop services to my clients as every bride needs makeup as well as flower bouquets for their wedding,' said Ms Wong, who plans to run a website to attract customers. 'I can double my earnings by offering more services.'

Makeup artist Leung Siu-lin said she also took the course to sharpen her competitive edge.

'More restaurants and hotels would offer wedding ceremonies under the new [civil celebrant] scheme, which means the demand for banquet decorations will increase. The improving economy will also lead to more spending on weddings,' Ms Leung claimed.