Cheap funeral flowers?
Posted by: scentandviolet May 29th, 2017
Looking for cheap funeral flowers?
Looking for cheap funeral flowers? While we understand that everyone has budget and means, adding word cheap to a word funeral does not sound appropriate. We can look for affordable and/or inexpensive flowers. And as much as everyone in floral industry will disagree with me, sometimes you are better off not sending flowers at all than buying "cheap flowers"
Let us explain why funeral flowers are so expensive? The reason funeral flowers are more expensive is because they’re large and they require significant quantity of blooms. Take per example your rose half-casket spray: It takes between 50 to 60 roses of AAA quality to make this casket spray, close to 2 hours of skilled labor and, some pretty significant (and pricey) amount of premium foliage. Or what about our Beautiful Condolences standing spray: Did you know that this standing spray has over 50 different blooms in it and that it takes over an hour of skilled labor to make it?
Most of the funeral arrangements will have large amount of flowers and large size simply because they need to be visible in church, cemetery or funeral chapel during visitation.
As a florist, we often go to funeral homes and we have seen our share of “cheap flowers”. “Cheap flowers” are usually sold by resellers and end up on Reddit's Expectation Vs. Reality. These are the type of businesses who invented "fine print".
Speaking of fine print: If it says “comes delivered in a box” it means it is a bunch of flowers tied with rubber band, non-arranged. And, believe us when we say, funeral directors are not floral designers. Their expertise is in arranging funeral, not flowers.
If no one told you before, it is highly inappropriate and contrary to any funeral etiquette to send a box of non-arranged flowers to the funeral home or even the bereaved family’ home.
Having said all that, lets talk about options that can help you save money on funeral flowers. When it comes to the family of the deceased: the best option is to consult the real florist. Professional, educated and, trained florist will know how to help you save money on funeral or sympathy arrangement. Funeral flowers can be affordable and sympathy gifts even more.
Let us lay out few options where family of the deceased can save money on funeral flowers :
Professional florist will know how to create a design that will appear larger and more visible by utilizing different design styles. Professional florist can point you out toward flowers that will give you more buck for your money and offer you multiple options and price levels for the same look and feel. Flowers, like any other commodity comes in variety of classes (and price options).
Another great option for the family of the deceased is to pool funds with friends and family. We have done this many times in our shop. Immediate family of the deceased would select flowers for the funeral and, their relatives, friends and, colleagues would call and pay what they could afford. We had people pay in as little as $20 and as much as $500. It happened more than once that friends and family raised more funds than what the family expected. Those funds were used at discretion of the immediate family: donation to the favorite charity of the deceased, more funeral flowers, funds toward gravestone were some of the options. The best part about this type of pooling funds is that family does not know how much money you can (or are willing to) give. This stays between you and the florist.
Next opportunity to save money on funeral flowers for the family is what I like to call “Lovely Church Ladies”. You can buy bulk flowers and have your friends sit down and make funeral arrangements for you. This usually works well with members of the gardening club or church flower volunteers. DIY flowers come in a box of large quantity of blooms and it can help you not only save some money, but also show some community spirit.
Lets talk now about how a sender of sympathy flowers can save money.
Great opportunity of saving money when it comes to funeral flowers is utilizing plants. Sympathy plants have always been a popular choice in corporate world, but it is becoming a fast growing option for condolences and funerals. Sometimes, family will request plants to be sent to funeral service if they plan to create memorial garden in memory of their loved one. Sometimes, people send plants to the funeral, because often they want family to have a lasting memory on their loved one, and sometimes we send sympathy plants because they’re inexpensive for the volume they provide.
Next money saving option when it comes to affordable sympathy flowers is sending arrangement to the home of the deceased or their office. By sending sympathy flowers to the home or office you’re saving on the volume of the arrangement. Generally speaking, you can send small flower arrangement or small plant to the home or office and thereby save a lot of money. It is perfectly acceptable to send a very small arrangement or small plant and it is going to be visible and memorable once it is in someone’s home or on the top of their work desk.
What are some other inexpensive options of expressing sympathy?
Planting a tree in memory of the deceased costs well under $20.
Sending a nice sympathy card costs under $5 if you do it online, and under $3 if you mail it via USPS.
Sending a personal email or even text message expressing your condolences costs you no additional money to what you already pay your ISP or phone provider.
Options to expressing your sympathy and offering condolences are multiple and they certainly don’t have to be cheap.
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Scent & Violet, flowers and gifts is a full service florist in Houston, TX located at 12811 Westheimer Rd. We aim to create fuss-free, everyday shopping source for flowers, plants, and gifts. It is our belief that we can create better relationships through gifting, better environments through plants, and better state of mind through flowers.