To consider making my dad's funeral flowers?

[CellophaneFlower]

Posting in here for the traffic, hope ok.

I've been looking to get Dad and Grandad floral letters made for my dad's funeral. Having spent so much time looking at them it's began to occur to me that I could actually make them myself.

It's not a cost thing... I've researched the prices and it's probably going to work out a similar price. It just seems so much more meaningful to make them myself. I can source the letters and stand easily and have found a company who will supply the chrysanths. I'd source the accent flowers locally. I've looked up timings and what's involved. It's pretty straightforward really, nothing like proper flower arranging (which I'm rubbish at). I'm just worried as I haven't done this before that it might go horribly wrong and I'll be left with no flowers at all! I don't have time for a trial run.

Has anybody attempted this themselves before? Or are there any florists out there that would like to tell me it's not as simple as it looks and I should banish this from my mind immediately?! I do get that floristry is a skill... but the letters do look so simple with the right equipment!

Thanks for any help!

I made the flowers for my dad's funeral. His funeral wasnt until late in the day, so it gave me/us something to focus on, whco8was very welcome.

I didn't do letters though, just sprays and arrangements. He loved his garden so I used lots of foliage from there. Rather luckily he preferred the rustic, natural look!

Mine did absolutely look amateur but I was fine with that.
Hope ti goes well for you.

Hope IT goes well for you that was meant to say.

Sounds a great idea and the florist sounds really kind. You could always keep back some loose flowers that you could scatter if you really didn’t like the result.

My grandad passed away around 18 months ago from cancer, my mum bought the grandad letters from eBay and all his kids and us grandchildren took a letter each and arranged it our own way. We used artificial flowers though so that we could keep them later as a reminder of him as he was cremated. It looked really nice and he would have loved the effort that went into it

(Not sure how clear this photo is but hopefully you can see it!)

For some reason the photo didn’t post!

@Squellyolwelly

For some reason the photo didn’t post!

Oh what a lovely idea I did think about getting my little ones to make something, but they're only 6 and 4 and get bored really quickly. They'd stick 1 flower in and go "Done! Can we watch YouTube now?"

I think that the his would be a beautiful thing to do, and that it could be very therapeutic for you. I am very sorry for your loss.

If you have no experience of this kind of thing though, I can imagine that in the run-up to the funeral you might feel under a lot of pressure. I love the idea that pp has mentioned of including lots of pots of spring bulbs in a basket for mourners to take and plant in their gardens. Might that be an idea for you? I can't imagine anything lovelier than all of those people having flowers come up at this time every year to remind them of your DF.

So sorry for your loss.

I think it’s a lovely idea, much more personal, what a lovely tribute for your Dad. I am sure if you check out YouTube there will be tutorials etc.

I am very sorry for your loss.

I agree with others that, if you feel it would calm you and be meaningful, it's definitely worthwhile.

I've never done letters, but I did some of the flowers for both of my grandparents' funerals. They weren't anything fancy, just bunches of flowers in the church, but it gave me time to be quiet and think. My grandparents loved their garden and loved flowers, so I very much felt as the flowers were an important way to say goodbye.

On a purely practical note, I also did the flowers for my wedding and was pleasantly surprised how cheap flowers are from wholesalers. With Brexit I'm not sure if there'd be extra charges (so do check), but when I did it I spent about 50 quid in Holland and I literally had buckets and buckets of flowers. There were so many it also meant I didn't have to worry if I messed up some arrangements.

I hope, whatever you decide, the day goes smoothly.

My mum did the flowers for my baby DS. It’s a mixture of flowers from her own garden, donated by neighbours who had also lost a baby, flowers from bulbs that were my late grandfathers, specific single stems to represent different members of the family.
Much more meaningful than a florist doing it, and I know it helped my mum because she won’t be doing all those granny things with DS that she planned, but this was one thing she could do to show her love.
I’m sure you’ll do a beautiful job, OP

@QueenArseClangers

I used work in the funeral business. I was always shocked at the price of individual letters- £50! You’d need to buy a stand that they lean on plus the actual letter frames themselves and oasis. They’re not that hard to make and could be therapeutic?

One of the nicests flowers I ever saw was a family who brought in lots of pots of narcissus, daffodils, crocuses etc.

We put them arranged in a basket in top of the cofffin.
After the service mourners took a pot home to plant in their gardens.

So sorry for your loss.

That is lovely.

I'm sorry to hear you lost your mum recently too

@CellophaneFlower I think its a beautiful and befitting way to honour your dad and if you feel up to it I'd love to see a picture of your flowers.

Thank you everyone for being so supportive! A few people had tried to talk me out of the idea, obviously thinking of the stress, but as I said before, there can be no wake etc... so I don't have lots to organise. Well for the funeral at least!

@youseethethingis I'm so sorry for the loss of your baby What a lovely thing for your mum to do and what a beautiful result.

Prices of flowers due to Brexit, Covid and even Valentine's Day are through the roof at the moment. It's going to cost slightly less for me to diy, but not enough for it to be any kind of incentive. It really is just as it's the last thing I will ever do for him. I hope I will do him proud.

I will definitely post pics after... whatever the outcome! As I've said before I think, I'm not particularly artistic, but hopefully if they come out half decent it might inspire somebody else to try in the future, although let's hope in the very distant future.

I think this is such a lovely thing for you to do for your Dad, and given his you've spoken about how happy it will make you feel I'm really pleased you are doing it.

For me, even if they turn out not so great that is so so much nicer and more personal than an immaculate arrangement done by an anonymous florist. Not meaning any disrespect to those who for their own personal reasons choose to do this, but as someone to whom it clearlymeans a lot to do it yourself. In fact even if they turn out truly terribly (which I'm sure they won't) I think in time you'll still be pleased you tried and it will become an amusing if bittersweet memory.

I'd love to see the flowers

@charlotteUnaNatalieThompson You are totally right about this! I was at first petrified I'd mess them up, but I guess I'd always look back at them fondly and we'd chuckle at "that time you thought it would be a nice thing to do to to make your dad's flowers" I shall be sure to remind myself of this 2 letters in when I've decided it wasn't 1 of my better ideas! Thank you!

I'm sorry for your loss @CellophaneFlower, but doing the flowers yourself is a wonderful idea. Of course you won't mess it up; your tribute won't be wrong - any 'mistakes' will be quirky and meaningful design elements. Your local florist offering help is a star.

Update as promised! Flowers went well! They got delivered a week before the funeral and they'd opened up massively by then, if I was ever to do them again I'd make sure to get them just a few days before. Spray flowers were a mixture of Lidl, Tesco, M&S and Waitrose (was just after Valentine's so a bit hit and miss!). Lidl's roses were definitely best of the bunch! Also ended up with over double the amount of chrysanths needed leftover! Funeral was on 19th Feb and I still have buckets full!

I'm so glad I chose to do them. It kept my mind busy and I was so proud when I saw them in the hearse. ❤

They are beautiful @CellophaneFlower well done for making them and I hope everything went ok. I also had quite a few flowers left over and actually it was nice seeing them in the days after, it provided a link and a gradual ending to the funeral.

Well done. I think you've done an excellent job. Hope it all went well.

What a nice idea. Good for you. I'm sure they'll be lovely.

They’re lovely @CellophaneFlower. You’ve done him proud

Well done OP, they were lovely. I’m really glad you did them yourself.

Thank you! They did take almost the whole day to do and I ended up with a very sore back the next day, but it was worth it! It was actually quite enjoyable, wine helped! The only stress was as I said, the flowers had opened up a bit too much so was tricky finding smaller ones to edge with.

They brought the Dad ones into the chapel and put them in front of my dad's coffin, which was lovely and quite comforting ❤

A beautiful tribute op. They looked beautiful.

Those flowers are beautiful. Fantastic. Well done. 🌺🌺