Buying Funeral Flower: Brief Guide

In life, sooner or later, situations arise when we need to say goodbye to our close people and see them on their last journey. The best way to express your sympathy and grief to them is to bring appropriate flowers for a funeral. This tradition arose long ago, and everyone who wants to express their love for the deceased should bring memorial flowers. 

When selecting flowers for a funeral, people are divided into two types: some prefer fresh flowers, and some prefer artificial wreaths. Carnations, roses, and chrysanthemums are the most common funeral flowers to express relatives' support and honor the deceased's memory.

It is believed that the bigger the bouquet you give at the funeral, the closer this person was to you. If you have not encountered such situations before and do not know which memorial flowers to choose, a type of flowers the deceased person loved during their lifetime is considered appropriate.

What Kind of Flowers to Buy for the Funeral?

To convey your grief and sympathy, you can bring flowers and wreaths for a funeral. There are also different baskets with fresh or artificial flowers. But it is better to give preference to fresh flowers because artificial ones negatively affect the environment.

• If you are the closest family member, you should choose a large bouquet or wreaths for the funeral on which you can write your condolences.
• If you are not a close family member, bringing a small bouquet or a basket of flowers is better.

However, each family may have its rules regarding funeral etiquette, so it is necessary to clarify what can be carried and what can not. Sometimes families forbid the giving of flowers for mourning and ask that it be better to make a delivery of funeral flowers to their home.

When choosing flower ensembles, relatives often have doubts. Therefore, to avoid insecurity, read the following flower options and their meanings:

Round wreaths symbolize eternal life. These wreaths can be placed directly on the ground or delivered to the house.

       2. Sprays

Sprays also mean the same thing as wreaths, but they are of a different shape. They can be bilateral and placed on the ground on special legs.

Usually, a bouquet of artificial flowers is brought after a particular time after the funeral. They are inserted into the ground, creating a mini flower bed.

       4. Bouquets

Flower arrangements for the funeral are placed in a vase at the funeral home or carried to the grave. They mean deep sympathy and respect for the deceased.

Baskets with flowers mean sympathy for relatives and respect for the deceased. You can bring such flowers both for mourning and home delivery.

Traditionally, we put flowers such as carnations, roses, or chrysanthemums on the grave but ignore their meaning. However, you have to pay attention to this, so we have prepared the top 7 flowers for funerals with their sense:

1. Roses

Roses are the most popular flowers and are considered good flowers for mourning. If it is difficult for you to choose flowers, then roses will always be appropriate.

However, before buying them, you should consider the meaning of colors. We are used to the fact that roses symbolize love, but this mainly refers to the color red.

• Yellow ones are usually given to friends as a sign of gratitude for pleasant memories.
• Red symbolizes intense sadness and attachment to a person. 
• White - innocence and peace to the deceased. 

By the way, white roses are suitable in any case, even if the person was not close to you. It is a universal color that conveys the purity of the soul.

2. Lilies

For many, lilies are associated with the buried because this particular flower is often brought to the grave. A pleasant smell and lush petals characterize a lily. Funeral lilies are brought to a person's burial because they symbolize saintliness and peaceful sleep for the deceased. These flowers mean that the deceased's soul is released from sin and will sleep peacefully.

If you do not know which color to choose, select white. Again, this is a universal color that means purity, so it is best to bring a bouquet of such flowers. 

Lilies express compassion and are suitable for both men and women. They can be interpreted differently for everyone: for men, they mean dignity, and for women, elegance.

3. Daisies

Delicate flowers that fill with care and good memories. Daisies are not the most popular flowers for funerals, but they are also considered appropriate and are often brought to funerals for young children.

Daisies express respect and mean that the deceased was a valuable person to them. They also symbolize the soul's purity and the dead's innocence. These flowers are available in many colors, but it is better to choose common white daisies.

4. Carnations

Carnations are exquisite flowers with a pleasant smell and colorful petals. This flower symbolizes memories and loyalty. Since carnations come in different colors, they also have a separate meaning. Reds represent love and affection, pinks represent innocence, and whites convey compassion and calmness.

These flowers are often used in wreaths for funerals and various baskets with flower arrangements. Since ancient times, people used to bring carnations to funerals, so they are often added to standing sprays. So, If you want to show that the deceased person was close to you, red carnations will be a good option. 

5. Chrysanthemums

These are flowers that you can choose both by size and color. Chrysanthemums are very diverse and have different types, so if you need more lush flowers, you can select lush or, on the contrary, miniature ones. These flowers symbolize pity and a deep emotional wound. They are often compared to lilies and are also quite popular for funerals.

Chrysanthemums come in many colors, and you can make a bouquet individually according to your order. But please do not mix many bright colors because it will be incorrect. It is better to take all chrysanthemums of the same color or combine two light ones.

6. Hydrangeas

Hydrangeas have wide branches of flowers. You will have a lush bouquet expressing your sincerity and pity for relatives by putting together a couple of flowers. If you need to support loved ones and convey your deepest sympathy, you can bring a hydrangea in a pot. It can then be planted, and the flowers will grow for years afterward.

These flowers come in light colors, from light blue to pink. It is not necessary to attach importance to colors, because flowers in pastel colors symbolize sincerity and frank feelings.

7. Orchids

These flowers differ from others in their uniqueness. You can bring them as a bouquet or in a pot. Such flowers have not yet gained popularity, for example, as a funeral lily, but they are also considered appropriate flowers for funerals.

Orchids express your most profound suffering and great love for the deceased. You can choose them in white and pink, which symbolize eternal memory and love. Therefore, by selecting this flower, you will not make a mistake in your choice.

As you can see, there are enough options for choosing memorial flowers. Before that, you need to consider all the nuances, such as the color, quantity, and type of flowers. Then organize the delivery of funeral flowers. If you are holding a funeral, think about where people will send you flowers and where you will hold the funeral. If you have certain restrictions on writing notes or bringing flowers, let people know about it in advance.

What Color Would Be Flowers for Funerals?

To better understand which flowers you need to buy, you should know what color every flower for a funeral symbolizes. For example:

• Red symbolizes intense suffering and love for the deceased. They are usually brought to the closest people and men who died heroically.
• Blue symbolizes emotional pain. This color is not very common, but if you find it, they will be suitable in any case.
• Yellow and orange symbolize deep sympathy. This color of flowers for mourning evokes happy memories in people.
• Pink symbolizes warm feelings. Flowers of this color are usually brought to young girls. But remember, it is inappropriate to give such color to men.
• White symbolizes purity and innocence. It is a neutral color that suits a close person and a distant relative.

Even though there are many flower options, you should choose the appropriate flowers for a funeral. The general rule for choosing flowers is to determine who the deceased person was for you:

• For men, it is usually better to give flowers contrasting in color, such as red or violet. 

• For women, choose pastel colors like pink, yellow or red.

• For children, people often buy flowers of delicate color or any other in light shades. 

If you want to stand out among others and show how important a person was to you, you can combine two different colors of flowers. For example, red and yellow roses. This contrast conveys deep emotional pain and suffering. So that the flowers do not seem too bright, wrap them with a black ribbon. 

You can read complete guide to funeral flowers in our other article.

Where Should I Send Funeral Flowers?

You need to order delivery for funeral flowers to where the funeral is held. If the funeral is at a church or graveside, you will need the address of the church or cemetery. But it happens that relatives of the deceased ask to deliver flowers either to their home or the funeral parlor. Then they take care of bringing flowers to the grave.

It would be best if you delivered flower arrangements for the funeral on the same day when this will take place. Therefore, it is better to bring flowers in advance and know the specific hours of the funeral. It is necessary so that the florist organizes everything earlier and delivers your flowers on time.

So, you should decide what kind of flowers you will order for the funeral and give the church address or graveside to the florist. If you are unsure where to send flowers, ask relatives about it to avoid unpleasant situations later.

Should I Send a Note With Funeral Flowers?

Usually, people who want to express their condolences and support to the relatives of the deceased write a note with flowers. However, when you need to say goodbye to a person, there are no words to express your pain. But you don't need to write a long note. If you write a couple of words, it will be quite enough to express your grief. Large letters, on the contrary, put even more pressure on the emotional wound. So, we advise you to write something like the following phrases:

-Rest in peace

-My deepest sympathies

-We will remember you

-Precious memories

-Forever in my heart

Sending flowers with a note is normal, but if you don't know how to express your words correctly and whether they will be relevant, you can not do it. Memorial flowers will be enough.

FAQs