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Current Issue - Making Arrangements: Funeral and
Sympathy Designs
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By: Rebecca
Dumais ~ Canadian Florist Magazine June/July 2005
Funeral and sympathy
arrangements can bring a sense of peace, and even a
smile, to a client’s face. During this heavyhearted
occasion, it’s important to listen to your customers to
determine what they want to say about their loved ones
with flowers, and perhaps inject some lightheartedness
and creativity into your work.
Depending on the
age group, requests vary from traditional to creative.
“We do a lot of garden-style casket sprays which contain
anything and everything and also a fair amount of
tropical designs containing bird of paradise or blue
delphinium, which I believe is attributed to the age
group of my client base,” notes Petra Janssen, owner of
Wascana Flower Shoppe in Regina, Saskatchewan. Also,
orange tiger lilies, curly willow, twigs – very modern,
natural looks, and wheat (of course) are popular in her
shop. She sees that a mix of bright, lively colours to
celebrate the life of the deceased has become more
popular, yet she continues to get requests for
monochromatic arrangements in white
tones.
Popular flowers frequently used in
everyday design are crossing over, including tulips,
hydrangeas, viburnum, twigs and grasses, according to
Patti Custaloe, co-owner of Creations by Mom & Me
Inc. in Kelowna, British Columbia. “They’re flowing over
to funeral work,” she explains, but adds that
traditional, long-lasting flowers such as carnations,
daisies and gladiolas still have their
place.
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 When it comes to colour, Custaloe
notes that older clients prefer traditional red and
white, “but we’re finding younger clients prefer modern,
earthy looks with lots of greenery - anything that gives
off a natural garden style. It’s from one extreme to the
other,” she observes. Funeral and sympathy work doesn’t
necessarily follow a seasonal colour trend, but “we do
get more calls for fall tones for services that might be
held anywhere from September to October,” she
notes.
Anne Smith, owner of Anne Smith Creations
in Fredericton, New Brunswick, utilizes lots of gerbera
daisies and other non-traditional blooms. “People are
very open and quite happy not to have the standard
arrangement and instead have a beautiful arrangement to
take home,” she says.
Colour-wise, Smith says
common requests are for monochromatic tones in white, or
perhaps the deceased’s favourite colour, such as an urn
garden she recently created for a woman who was like an
aunt to her. “She loved red,” says Smith. “I created a
monochromatic arrangement full of stunning reds. It was
a modified casket spray with the urn nestled into the
center of what looked like a garden.” She adds that
other clients, however, will opt for polychromatic
arrangements if perhaps their loved one was a colourful,
vivacious person. “We try to reflect the person’s
personality in the flowers,” she adds.
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 According to Smith, “arrangements
containing pillar candles have gained momentum, such as
an oasis wreath ring, which can be discarded but the
candle can be kept and lit in memory of the deceased
during special occasions or holidays,” she notes. “We
don’t do standard maché containers – in fact, people
don’t even ask for them any longer.”
Today
clients put much more thought into the arrangements – so
they best reflect their memory of the deceased – than
ever before. Janssen feels this is because funeral
services themselves have become more personalized – not
so generic. “I think now our work reflects this, such as
what they did, or what their personality was like,” she
explains.
Much of this involves incorporating
memorabilia of the deceased into an arrangement. “We had
one where (the client) brought in a model semi trailer
that actually contained the remains, and we built a
spray underneath it,” mentions Janssen. Her shop has
also begun adding butterflies if the deceased was young
and had young children, as butterflies symbolize the
loss of a loved one. “The children can take them home as
a remembrance,” she
explains.
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 Other types of mementoes used
include handkerchiefs, fishing rods, and other
sports-related pieces, or in Smith’s case: “We did put a
stick in the middle of one spray arrangement for an
owner’s dog, because he used to love to play
fetch.”
Custaloe cautions, however, that
accessorizing sympathy work does require a bit of
prudence – it must be tasteful. “Sometimes arrangements
can be more lighthearted, depending on the feeling of
the family,” she explains.
Spending adequate time
with your clients to find out about the family and the
deceased will help you create a tasteful arrangement
that is a visual expression of their loved one. Plus,
for many of your customers, it might be the first time
they’ve purchased flowers and it’s important to have the
right staff member dealing with their needs. “I have one
person that does the majority of our funeral consulting
work,” tells Custaloe. She advises that all florists
should have someone that can specialize in this area, as
it’s such an emotional time. “It’s more personal and
it’s also a great opportunity to build your business,
because that family will remember you,” she
adds.
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Copyright 2002 - Annex Printing & Publishing
Inc.
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