In Sympathy: Your Guide to Purchasing Funeral Flowers

When someone passes away, knowing what to do or say is difficult. It helps to rely on time-honored traditions that can serve as a guide. Sending flowers to the family of a lost loved one is one way to give your condolences and help brighten a dark day. Here is a quick guide to purchasing funeral and sympathy flowers and how Chelsea Flowers can help you choose the right flowers during a difficult time.

Why Send Funeral Flowers

In the past, flowers were used at funerals to disguise potentially unpleasant odors. Now, flowers are still a cornerstone of funeral and celebration of life services because of their timeless beauty and vibrant colours. Flowers are commonly draped over caskets and displayed beside headstones as a symbol of remembrance and honor. When you send a floral arrangement to someone experiencing loss, it shows them you are there to support them through the challenges ahead.

What Is the Difference Between Funeral and Sympathy Flowers?

Funeral flowers and sympathy flowers are terms that are often used interchangeably with one another but refer to two different things. Funeral flowers are flowers presented to families at a funeral and are typically displayed at the funeral and at the gravesite for a period following the burial. Sympathy flowers, on the other hand, are usually sent to a family’s home after the funeral service.

How to Choose the Right Flowers for a Funeral

While it’s difficult to go wrong with any flower at a funeral, several types of flowers are seen more often at funerals than weddings, Valentine’s Day, and other floral-centric holidays. Many of these flowers have symbolic significance beyond their color or shape and can help serve as a reminder to surviving family members that their loved one is at peace.

Below, we list some of the most popular floral choices for funerals and end-of-life celebrations:

Roses. Roses are one of the most traditional choices for all occasions, and funerals are no exception. White and yellow roses are the most common, but any colour rose can be found in abundance at funerals.
Lilies. These flowers are an excellent choice for funerals because of their large size and strong floral scent. Again, white is the most common colour for a funeral lily, but orange, pink, and other shades of lilies can also be found at funeral services.
Carnations. Carnations are often used at funerals as filler flowers because they are so inexpensive. They can also be easily dyed in any colour or multiple colours to match funeral themes in the deceased’s favorite shade.
Chrysanthemums. Mums aren’t just popular fall flowers, they’re also common in funeral flower arrangements. The most common colours are white, yellow, purple, pink, and red.
Daisies. Like carnations, daisies are beautiful and affordable ways to add more depth to a funeral flower arrangement without adding too much extra cost.
Gladioli. Gladioli are often used along with snapdragons to add vertical height or sprays to arrangements. Casket sprays and memorial displays commonly use this flower.
Orchids. Orchids are another choice to add vertical height to an arrangement. However, they are a little more expensive and are often used sparingly as an accent rather than a main part of the arrangement.

The colours of your floral arrangement are also important to consider when making your selection. It’s almost always appropriate to send flowers in the favorite colour of the deceased, but you can also send certain colours of florals to send meaningful, unspoken messages.

Red. Red roses are the most common red flower seen at funerals and are a classic in every circumstance. They can also signify romantic love and passion.
Orange. Orange is a happy colour that is used to brighten funerals along with yellow, pink, and white.
Yellow. Yellow signifies happiness and friendship and is a popular colour for teen and young adult funeral flower arrangements.
Green. Green is usually reserved for the complementing foliage in a sympathy flower arrangement. It’s also appropriate to gift living plants to families of lost loved ones.
Blue. Blue symbolizes wisdom, knowledge, and excellence and is often paired with white flowers at funeral services.
Purple. Purple flowers come in a variety of shades and usually denote authority. Purple is considered a “royal” colour and pairs especially well with pink and white.
Pink. Light pink flowers are often seen at the funerals of young girls and older women. It’s generally not an appropriate colour flower for a man’s funeral arrangement.
White. White flowers are the most common and denote sympathy, innocence, purity, and loss. If you aren’t sure what colour flowers to send, white is usually the best default choice.
Black. Black flowers usually aren’t seen at funerals. However, they may be an appropriate colour for the theme of the service or a reflection of the deceased’s personality.

How to Present Flowers at a Funeral

When you order a floral arrangement, the florist will ask the occasion for which you are purchasing flowers. They will usually offer several arrangement styles designed specifically for funerals that you can choose from. Many of these are displays with photos of the deceased or ribbons denoting relationships, like “Sister” or “Father.” However, it’s also appropriate to choose a neutral arrangement that isn’t specifically for funerals. Flowers of all kinds are generally acceptable at funeral services.

Call Chelsea Flowers Today

Chelsea Flowers is your premier floral provider in London. We can help you select stunning, meaningful flowers for a funeral or other important occasion. Contact us today.