A customer's quiet comment made me rethink my whole approach to sympathy arrangements

I was setting up a display at the Portland Flower Market last spring, arranging some very standard white lilies and roses. A woman stopped, looked at them for a long minute, and said softly, 'My husband hated lilies, said they smelled like a funeral.' She told me his favorite flower was actually the bright orange bird of paradise because it made him laugh. I used to just make what I thought was respectful and somber. Now I always ask, 'Did they have a favorite flower or color?' It's a small thing, but it matters. How do you all handle those conversations to make a tribute more personal?

3 comments

3 Comments

adam4145d ago

Honestly, it's just flowers. People are there to mark a death, not critique the bouquet. Most folks just want something simple that looks nice. Getting super personal about flower types feels like overthinking a sad moment. The gesture is what counts, not if the lilies match someone's sense of humor from ten years ago.

rowanw915d ago

But picking flowers they actually liked shows you were paying attention. It turns a generic sad thing into a real memory of them. A favorite color or bloom can mean way more than just another white lily arrangement.

vera295d ago

Totally agree with @rowanw91. My grandma loved bright orange marigolds, so we had a bunch of those instead of the usual stuff. It felt way more like her.