Strange Funeral Design Request

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lisa greene

lisa greene

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Mar 24, 2006
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Georgetown
www.nunans.com
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MA
Sometimes you have to wonder why people order some of the things they do:
We just got off the phone with a customer who wanted a sympathy design. "She loved Zinnias do you have them? Actually, do you have a plant we can put in the ground after the service?" I checked with the greenhouse staff and yes we have 6" pink zinnia, perfect. I explained that we could do a basket with a few zinnia plants and I would use oasis in other 6" liners and we would design cut flowers to be appropriate for the services. "That sounds beautiful, now can you get 3 large toadstools (mushrooms) and work them in?" O.K. Depending on my dog walk this afternoon she will either get wild mushrooms or some Portebellas from whole foods!
What is the most interesting funeral request you have received.
 
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lisa greene said:
Sometimes you have to wonder why people order some of the things they do:
We just got off the phone with a customer who wanted a sympathy design. "She loved Zinnias do you have them? Actually, do you have a plant we can put in the ground after the service?" I checked with the greenhouse staff and yes we have 6" pink zinnia, perfect. I explained that we could do a basket with a few zinnia plants and I would use oasis in other 6" liners and we would design cut flowers to be appropriate for the services. "That sounds beautiful, now can you get 3 large toadstools (mushrooms) and work them in?" O.K. Depending on my dog walk this afternoon she will either get wild mushrooms or some Portebellas from whole foods!
What is the most interesting funeral request you have received.
Click to expand...


The most interesting was a happy birthday mylar attached to a funeral basket....I declined to do it and told them I would be happy to attach regular latex balloons, citing the fact that not everyone would appreciate the term "happy" on the birthday balloon...

The other most interesting was a all black rose casket cover....The girl it was for committed suicide and had written in her note that she wanted black roses on her casket...
 
Mine was last week. The wanted to include two professional spray guns, a small toy quad, a fishing pole, Steeler flag, Steeler mug, a shot glass, and some red roses, mixed with other flowers. In Pa, these sprays hang over the open casket. Everything needed to be well anchored and it was heavy. We did it. Customer asks and customer shall receive. ;)
 
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Several years ago, lady asked to add an enema kit to something. I don't remember what the something was but I sure remember the request.

Maybe it was a "get that corncob out of your..." bouquet. :kloguck:
 
last year I put an animal trap in a casket spray, along with a lariat and spurs and horseshoes.

earlier this year I put 2 home depot aprons with signatures from the home depot staff on a wreath.

I have put golf clubs in casket spray and easle sprays.

I had to do a casket spray that would be put inside a horse saddle and then the saddle sat on the casket.

oh if I thought long enough I could really come up with some doozies!
 
We've done caskets with tractors and combines, golf accessories, a pair of boots, fishing things, a locksmith died and we put a bunch of antique padlocks in it...the list goes on and on. Actually had to make an arrangement inside a pair of biker boots. We did it but it was tough getting those to stand right. The one that had the boots in it also had about 30 guitar picks that the family had written the names of the grandchildren on. We had to glue those to card caddies and put in the piece as well. What ever the customer wants...
 
It's hard to find the line between wierd and 'just what people want'

Lisa I think you know we do lots of funeral work, and quite frankly we love it. I really love when people add stuff it's fun, why do funeral have to be stuffy.

We did have one where the FD went insane but you know what I didn't blame him. The family asked for tree's in the obit (huge fam) and they got a local nursery to agree to one massive delivery to the funeral home.

All these trees showed up! in the burlap, with the dirt (freshly watered) Afterward the funeral home was a disaster like you can not imagine. I honestly would not have blamed the FD if he went back and charged the family for carpet cleaning. Even his ceilings were scraped up!

BTW- They did not clear it with the FD first

Pre-funeral the FD called us and asked if our driver that went over with the casket piece could "have the day off' from us and work with him. We asked to speak with the driver he said he was OK with it, so he worked like 2 hours in the am for us and then never came back. He said he worked really late but got paid well.

Don't know who all he got to clean up that huge mess.
 
I have a funeral director that suggests to families (and loves it too) to personalize casket sprays with different items. Just last week I put a tonka truck that had dirt all over it into a spray. The gentleman was a contractor that moved dirt.
 

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I did a casket spray with a Horse collar. The bugger was heavy! I bought a rubber bath mat to put under the thing to make sure it stayed. The family still talks about it.

I also did an easel arrangement with a water ski. I had to borrow a ski as the gentleman was quite elderly and the skiing was from days gone by.
 
I've done several unique items over the years. - Some of the things I have done I have old photographs of......I still need to get them scanned and converted to computer images.

One was for an employee of Coca-Cola and I did a coke drink bottle representation. I have used balloons for sympathy many times. Some of the mylars are suitable for combining with flowers to make some wonderful wreaths and sprays.

The strangest request for me was an earth mover/ road scraper recreated out of flowers......

As of late, the attached pictures were done for a funeral.....one of them was flowers accenting an art peice that featured a picture of the racer Dale Earnhardt Jr. surrounded by an actual tire.

The other one was for the same funeral and it is a small resin sculpture of cowboy boots.
 

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One of the most favorite was a casket spray made out of 13 live plants, one for each grandchild to take home. Grandparent was an avid gardener. It was very heavy.

Another was in a 4 foot boat all in color of blue to signify the water with fishing rod and fake fish. The widow loved it so much she brought it home and had it on the porch for 3 weeks.:scooter:
 
THis thread also reminded me of something else. This was many years ago in Charleston, SC. The shop was EXTREMELY low on flowers. We had basically emptied the cooler in anticipation of a shop vacation ( the shop closed for a week )

A last minute funeral basket order came in. All I had was 4 white carnation, 3 peach gerbera, 6 white snapdragon in flowers, In greens, I had 1/2 bunch baker, and 6 stems jade/emerald.

I took peach #40 ribbon - braided the handle, tied 2 bows, created a line of greens and used all the listed flowers.

After that, the cooler literally was bare.....there was NOTHING left.

I got so many compliments from the family on that basket.
 
Here is a picture of the one where the daughter brought in horse shoes her father had forged.... It was one heavy piece and I used 2 wire stands to hold it up. Please don't laught at it...I see things I could have done much better, but I was still learning. All that matters is the family loved it!

The other fun one was the Wife brought in his collection of logging trucks and his last name that someone had made for him... we incorporated the trucks in the casket piece and a dish garden of trees and different plants for his daughter.
Love it when the family lets you create with their things!!!
 

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Karen - that is nothing to laugh at. You did a beautiful job. What matters most is the family loved it.
 
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Back in my retail days, over the years we made a guitar, a boat, a slot machine, TV, Royal Flush, and a Glider plane, all for funerals. Also made a golf ball on a tee, a golf hole and a golf flag for a woman who was building a 9 hole course on her property. She would finish one hole a year, and have a party to celebrate, so each year she asked us to create something golf themed. I also remember a rooster once. I'm sure there were others, we used to have a book with Polaroid snapshots of each one. (That was before digital cameras were everywhere.....)
 
I had a family stop by the shop one day to order funeral flowers, the wife of the deceased said "I know what I want, but I don't know if you can do it", of coursed I told her ask away, if it's possible, I can do it! It seems the deceased was an avid vegatable gardener and his wife wanted a casket spray that looked like you picked it from his garden. I said no problem, here's the finished product.

On another note, my most unusal request was for an Casket spray with a shoe box added, size 8 to be exact! It seems the Funeral Director and the Deceased always had a running joke. The Funeral Director always told the deceased that when he died, he would give him an enima and all that would be left he would bury in a shoe box. So I made a casket spray with the shoebox top center! I'll have to search for that photo
 
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