A Guide to Buying Funeral Flowers
A funeral tribute in the form of beautiful flowers is the final gift we can give to the deceased prior to their burial or cremation, flowers can bring great comfort at such a sad time.
Whilst there are no hard and fast rules associated with funeral flowers we are pleased to offer advice and guidance that we hope you'll find helpful when making the choice of the funeral tribute you'd like to send.
The funeral flowers you send can be hugely personal and reflect the personality and past times of the friend of family member. Your relationship with the deceased has a huge influence on the funeral piece you'll be sending.
We have created this guide to give you a clear understanding of the many types of funeral flowers there are to choose from. Whilst selecting the correct tribute may seem daunting we do hope this offers useful information, anyone of our local BFA expert florists will also be pleased to offer professional advice to you about your flowers and the orders they can send to the funeral for you.
A Word on Adding a Personal Touch
Whilst there are several designs to choose from that we'll continue to describe below, if you wish to make the design personal to the loved one that's passed away your florist will be pleased to help you achieve this.
There are many ways to represent the hobby, pastime or passion in funeral flowers and whilst a funeral is an occasion of great sadness it is also a time to celebrate the life that's been, the flowers can portray this in so many ways.
The design you choose can subtly reflect; the gardener or someone that loved walking in the woods to give just two examples. Reflecting the personality can be achieved in a number of ways. Flowers in the hands of a skilled florist have the unique ability to do this perfectly.
If you wish for an item to be included within a tribute from something larger like a favourite beer tankard, to something more intricate like a string of pearls your florist will be pleased to talk through the possibilities and help with your request.
Another option is an entire personal tribute can be created - and we'll describe this within 'Personalised Tributes' below.
Funeral Sprays
Funeral sprays are a very popular tribute. They come in both double ended (an elongated diamond or leaf type shape) or single ended (teardrop type design). It's very appropriate for anyone to send this style of tribute, and it can be made with a selection of flowers, and in many colour schemes.
Coffin Sprays
Coffin or Caskets sprays are usually chosen by the family, they are placed on the top of the coffin and adorn it beautifully. The entire top of the coffin is filled with this design, although of course the size and fullness of the tribute can be decided as you wish. There are many options available in both the flower choices and colour schemes for this tribute and you BFA florist will be pleased to discuss personal preferences to ensure this design is the perfect tailor-made tribute.
Coffin or Casket Tribute
This includes the casket spray as describe above, but there are also a range of designs that can be placed on the coffin top that are different shapes and styles, some include a modern feel that might be appropriate for the family to select.
Posies
Posy arrangements are often smaller designs, and often sent as a tribute from a child. They can be a selection of flowers either created as a traditional design, or as a contemporary posy arrangement, the design in created so it can be viewed perfectly from all angles
Posy pads
An adaptation from posies made on a base and can be larger than a standard posy arrangement. Similar to the standard posy, they can be created with different flowers. They can also be a 'based design' where a mass of closely bonded flowers are used and arranged to the frame to give a uniform look that quite special, the addition of a small arrangement over the based flowers finishes the design beautifully. (Source BFA)
Important Points to Remember:-
Most undertakers / funeral directors will be able to arrange flowers for you, in most case they then pass the order on to a florist or someone that works from home but some will keep a commission of up to 30% of the amount you spend. This will make the tribute a lot smaller than if you go direct to your local qualified high-street florist. Example:- £100 wreath less 30% commission given to the funeral director will only leave £70 for your tribute.
Always ask to see a selection of the florist work, images on a website can just be stock images and not the florist actual work, always look for Florists that are members of the Good Florist Guide and viewing the shop gallery will normally give a better overview of the florists work.
Online order takers pose as a local florist but maybe many miles away, they will then send the order through to a local florist to make. Again these order takers may take a large commission from the value you have spent. Always Google or go to the BFA website to see the Florist you are using is in or near the area you want to send flowers to.
If you need to send funeral flowers to another part of the country and don’t have internet access please always visit a local high-street florist and they will be able to sort this out for you.
Lots of people call themselves florists and work from home, these are usually non-qualified, and their work is not the best, if there is a problem there is usually no come back.
