Will they love it or hate it?

Nov 22, 2009
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West Saint Paul
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A funeral director called me and ordered "The Urn Garden Whatever-You-Call-It".

I do the flowers for another chapel this director owns, his cousin orders from me. Recently, this other director has called me a few times to do flowers for the chapel in my town and also at a nursing facility not too far away.

This service is going to be at their main chapel, the original, and I have never been called upon by the director to do family work.

My usual "Urn Garden" is a colorful mixture of "garden flowers" and I do it much like I imagine a garden would look like.

I am sure (almost) the "regular one" is what he is expecting. But when he ordered it, he said "The box is black and gray, about 11" long and 5 or 6" high. It's for a young man so maybe some appropriate flowers......" I did mention that I thought red and orange would be a nice look and he basically said "whatever".

Will he be shocked? This in no way resembles what I usually do.

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I like the design very much.

I hope the FD likes it. It's risky sending something you know darn good and well they are not expecting. But I do like the design. The FD may have a very 'whatever' attitude- but who you really need to worry about is the family. If they are expecting red, yellow and blue and get orange, you might have a problem.
 
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I should have mentioned. These directors refuse to have books for people to look at, they have found that there is a great deal more satisfaction for the family when they have a very vague description of what they will be getting. They certainly do ask for specific colors or flowers and even then the directors make no promises. It is a delight.
 
If you know the name of the deceased..........see if there is a family member you can contact or perhaps the family has ordered additional pieces.....In this case, I would see if there was any way you could contact the decedent's family to ascertain what their desires might be......barring that, I might would incorporate the orange and red with other colors and flowers so that you have a greater chance of including flowers and colors the decedent's family might like.
 
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Well, I went with my gut and sent it as is. The driver loved it. He delivers to a lot of funeral homes so he keeps up on the obits. Told me the young man is 24.

I've either won over the FD or totally screwed my foot in the door. Ah well, what is life if not taking risks?
 
Well, I went with my gut and sent it as is. The driver loved it. He delivers to a lot of funeral homes so he keeps up on the obits. Told me the young man is 24.

I've either won over the FD or totally screwed my foot in the door. Ah well, what is life if not taking risks?

well I liked it!
 
It's gorgeous! But I'll tell you if I had sold something with the word urn in it (or been sold) I would be shocked it wasn't in an urn or something urn-ish.

but i read it to mean Urn garden as the URN goes in the flowers... and i might steal that phase if you don't mind.. I call mine a "last embrase".
 
It's gorgeous! But I'll tell you if I had sold something with the word urn in it (or been sold) I would be shocked it wasn't in an urn or something urn-ish.

lol

Yeah, that could get confusing. I actually gave him that name, he and his cousin would call for a horseshoe but I use the ring so that's the name I came up with for a "standard".

Just an update, I called there to "make sure it arrived" and the gal who answered the phone said she loved it and was sure he would too. I told her to have him call me immediately if he wanted me to come and make any changes. That was an hour ago. No news is good news?
 
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I really like your design. knowing only that the deceased was a 24 year old man, I think you nailed it!

this is NOT a design to "urinate" over.....I think you hit it well with your word decorum!!
By the way, I am somewhat mystified that you have a funeral director that "trusts you" enough NOT to be "specific" about what EXACTLY is being ordered...I find that very refreshing!!
This "urn garden" comes from a very talented floral artist!
 
this is NOT a design to "urinate" over.....I think you hit it well with your word decorum!!
By the way, I am somewhat mystified that you have a funeral director that "trusts you" enough NOT to be "specific" about what EXACTLY is being ordered...I find that very refreshing!!
This "urn garden" comes from a very talented floral artist!

I love you too, Mikey!