The type of arrangement you choose will most likely be dictated by where the arrangement will be. For the holidays, arrangements generally fall into four categories: low profile, garlands, tall focal, and short focal.

Types of Arrangements

Low profile are perfect for centerpieces and are low to allow guests to talk to each other across the table. Depending on the table shape and length, they can be round or long. Candles and/or lanterns can also be incorporated into these types of arrangements.

Garlands are a great option if you have a very long table or are working within a budget. If you need most of your table space for dishes, you might want to choose a thinner garland that just adds a line of texture down the middle of your table. Garlands can be all or mostly greenery such as ruscus, eucalyptus, pine, or cedar. From there, you can add woodier herbs such as rosemary and thyme, pine cones, or flowers to pick up the colors in your room or add seasonal festivity.

A tall focal arrangement is perfect on a table in a large foyer to welcome guests or in the corner of the buffet table. You could go with appropriate holiday colors or choose a palette that compliments the home or room that the arrangement is in. These type of arrangements can be three-sided so the flat side backs up against a wall or all-the-way-around. The all-the-way-around variety, when tall enough, can be used as a centerpiece as it allows people to see under the arrangement while talking to other guests.

A small focal arrangement is a good choice for smaller entryways, a guest room, a powder room, or anywhere that you would like to add a pop of color and a festive spirit. These can also be used as centerpieces for smaller/round tables, or several can be used for longer tables.

Thanksgiving Flowers

I love Thanksgiving arrangements because of all the fun textural items that can be added. Mango calla lilies, red roses, orange gerbera daisies, bronze mums, and burgundy dahlias, bring gorgeous fall tones. Add a combination of cat tails, chocolate queen ann’s lace, wheat, dried lotus pods, hypericum berries, salidago, or bupleurum, and you have a unique arrangement from fall’s bounty.

Christmas Flowers

Of course red and green reign supreme in Christmas Arrangements, and mother nature has no shortage of offerings. Almost every flower comes in red such as roses, gerbera daisies, lilies, mums, and carnations. The winter season adds another layer of dark greenery that look and smell like Christmas–pine, cedar, spruce, fir, and juniper. Put these together in unique and whimsical ways. Maybe add beautiful white calla lilies for a more romantic contrast or sparkly ornaments and “ting ting” for playful festivity, and you’ve got a special arrangement to grace your home for the holiday!

Hanukkah Flowers

Mother nature doesn’t have a lot of flowers that are naturally blue, but what she does have are beautiful! Blue delphinium bring a bright royal blue that lends height and dimension to arrangements. Hydrangea come in dark and light blue hues, offer a lot of bang for the buck, and lend an elegant garden-style touch. Blue thistle is long lasting and adds fun texture, or you could try white anemones with their gorgeous blue centers. Whether you’re looking for a tall focal arrangement or a shorter centerpiece, there are plenty of holiday flowers to choose from!

Of course we are here to help! Just give us a call, and we’ll help you come up with the perfect holiday flowers!

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Before you give us a call, you’ll want to gather some information, and then the corsage or boutonniere designs itself!

Wrist or Pin-on Corsage?

Most people prefer wrist corsages, but you’ll sometimes find your grandmother prefers a pin-on corsage because that is what she is used to. Wrist corsages are nice because they go with any kind of dress or material. If the dress is strapless or has spaghetti straps, a wrist corsage is perfect because you don’t have to worry about where to pin the corsage. If the dress is made out of a fabric that isn’t sturdy enough to support the weight of a pin-on corsage, then a wrist corsage is perfect.

We have several different wristlet options to accommodate different sized wrists. Just let us know if your wrist is particular petite. You can even come in to try on the wristlets.

Color Palate

Are you trying to match a dress or a suit? Is this for a wedding so you want to coordinate with the wedding flowers? Are there school colors you want to include? For the most part, each element of the corsage or boutonniere can be the color of your choosing from the flowers, to the smaller supporting flowers, to the greenery, and finally the ribbon.

What kind of flower?

Roses are the most popular. For a corsage, we use several spray roses instead of the larger full-size rose in order to accommodate a woman’s smaller wrist size. Roses come in a variety of colors including the standard white, red, and light pink. But they also come in yellow, peach, lavender, burgundy, and orange. If you’re interested in one of the specialty colors, just call us about a week in advance so we are able to order the flowers for you.

If you want something a little more unusual, there are many other flowers that make beautiful corsages and boutonnieres. Orchids lend an exotic look and come in unusual colors such as the larger cymbidium orchid…

…or the smaller dendrobium orchid. Ranunculus offers a delicate look with gradations of color that are unpredictable and whimsical.

Calla lilies bring a classic sophisticated look and come in white, yellow, mango, pink/light purple, and a dark eggplant purple.

Additions

A traditional corsage and boutonniere is comprised of roses, baby’s breath, bakers fern, and a ribbon. We love requests for original designs. Some fun small flower additions are wax flower, solidago, astilbe, and statice.

Greenery comes in lots of different tones and textures including eucalyptus, myrtle, ruscus, variegated pittosporum, or even hypericum berries.

Ribbon

Most people include ribbon, but you don’t have to. Ribbon has so many characteristics including width, sheer or solid, matte or sparkly, or you can even choose two different ribbons.

You can certainly place your order over the phone. But if you’d like something more unique, you might consider visiting the shop. We have a huge selection of ribbon if you want to match fabric or just see the different colors and textures that are available. You’d be surprised at how many shades of blue there are! We can also pull various elements together like flowers, greenery, and ribbon so you get a feel for what the finished product will look like.

Whatever your needs are for corsages and boutonnieres, we’re here to help!

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The wreath also contains: spray roses, freesias, button chrysanthemums, dried heather, spray eryngium, foliage, rosemary, hebe, and pittosporum.

She must have loved her gardens at Balmoral. The Queen’s family will be escorting her from Balmoral to London, and then to her final resting place. It’s wonderful to know she is surrounded by all that she loves—including Balmoral and the flowers that grow there.

Most of the flowers in the wreath are ones that Americans have easy access to. But I had never heard of eryngium or hebe. It turns out eryngium is what we call blue thistle. Hebe is a shrub that is native to New Zealand. It looks like a cross between bee balm and veronica to me. Sweet pea and heather are flowers that we have access to but are not ones that we tend to use, at least on the east coast.

Poet Laureate, Simon Armitage, wrote a poem in memory of Her Majesty The Queen. The poem accompanied photos of the many flowers left in honor of The Queen.

Floral Tribute

Evening will come, however determined the late afternoon,

Limes and oaks in their last green flush, pearled in September mist.

I have conjured a lily to light these hours, a token of thanks,

Zone and auras of soft glare, orbing the sprays and globes

A promise made and kept for life—that was your gift—

Because of which, here is a gift in return, glovewort to some,

Each shining bonnet guarded by stern lance-like leaves,

The country loaded its whole self into your slender hands,

Hands that can rest, now, relieved of a century’s weight.

Evening has come. Rain on the black lochs and dark Munros.

Lily of the Valley, a namesake almost, a favourite flower

Interlaced with your famous bouquets, the restrained

Zeal and forceful grace of its lanterns, each inflorescence

A silent bell disguising a singular voice. A blurred new day

Breaks uncrowned on remote peaks and public parks, and

Everything turns on these luminous petals and deep roots.

This lily that thrives between spires and trees, whose brightness

Holds and glows beyond the life and border of its blooms.

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Standard Arrangements

For sympathy flowers, many people opt for a standard flower arrangement in a vase or basket. When ordering these arrangements, it’s important to specify whether the flowers are going to a home or a funeral service. For a funeral service, our designers recommend a three-sided design so that the flowers are facing the attendees. If they’re going to a home, an all-around design can be put pretty much anywhere!

Color Palettes

Depending on the feeling you want the arrangement to evoke, there are several different color palettes you can choose from. You can never go wrong with an all white arrangement like the one on the left above. If you’d like to stay with a more sedate arrangement that has a bit of color, a mixture of white and soft pastel colors is a nice option. Sometimes the most appropriate arrangement is one that is vibrant and colorful to celebrate a life well lived and loved. The two arrangements on the right are great examples!

Funeral Service Flowers 

At Fantasy Floral, we have many options for funeral services. If you would like flowers in front of a podium or book-ending a stage, a three-sided arrangement like the one pictured on the left above is a nice option. For easel arrangements, we have sprays, wreaths, crosses, and open and closed hearts. These arrangements typically start at around $200. We can also do both half and full casket sprays, starting at $200 and $300 respectively. The price depends on the size of the arrangement and the kinds of flowers that you would like to use. 

Honoring Your Loved One

While we specialize in cut flower arrangements, we are sometimes able to add custom pieces to an arrangement in honor of your loved one. Two such arrangements are pictured above. On the left is an arrangement that we delivered to the family of a gentleman who was known for wearing bowties. We added a ribbon in the shape of a bowtie to the arrangement. On the right is an arrangement our customer ordered for her friend who had just lost her beloved dog. The customer asked us to do something spectacular and increased her budget to allow us to purchase dog toys to include in the arrangement.

We have photos on our website to give you ideas on shapes and color palettes. Just give us a call or come into the shop to discuss how you would like to customize your sympathy flowers.

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Length

When I was in college, my Creative Writing teacher told me that “the quality of the words you use is more important than their quantity”. A card message doesn’t have to be long to be meaningful! One of my favorite examples of this is a recent message for Valentine’s Day: “A flower for my lady, a bouquet for my queen; let us always set time aside to dream.” 

While short messages always work, it’s important to consider more than just the standard “I love you” or “Happy Birthday/Anniversary/Holiday.” A message that means something to the recipient, even if it’s long, will be remembered long after the vase is empty. For example, there’s a pair of sisters who frequently order flowers for each other. Their card messages are always lyrics to a rock song. The messages can get lengthy, but it’s their sister thing!

Tone

The tone of the message is also important to consider, and that depends on the occasion for sending flowers. A sympathy message will have a very different tone than a birthday message. Being specific about the tone you’d like to use–for example, letting us know whether to include exclamation points or not. This ensures your message contains the intended enthusiasm or serenity as needed. 

Content

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, honesty and sincerity make the best card messages. There’s a time and a place for stock-standard well-wishes, but in my experience, the messages that stick are the personal ones. Perhaps there’s an inside joke you could include, or a phrase that has special meaning for you and the recipient. Here are some of our favorites:

“I love you today, more than the day I met you, and tomorrow I will love you even more. Happy Valentine’s Day, my beautiful wife! I love you!” It reminds me of one of my favorite quotes from Lemony Snicket, author of A Series of Unfortunate Events: “I will love you if I never see you again, and I will love you if I see you every Tuesday.”

Surprisingly, something few people consider using is humor in their message! One recent sender referenced The Simpson’s scene, “To a whale of a wife.” (He promised us his wife would laugh!)

Anything that shows that you put thought and care into the card message you send will make the recipient smile!

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When the pandemic first started, the number of sympathy arrangement orders we were getting was fairly normal. Usually we are not aware of the cause of someone’s passing. The first order I took for a COVID-19 related death pulled me up short. The virus was real, and it was here.

I remember talking to a friend that night and said, “So tomorrow we should get a ‘new baby’ order because that’s just how things go.” Sure enough, the next day I took an order for a white and pink arrangement going to new parents of a precious baby girl. The circle of life.

The last couple of weeks have been different though. I finally ran a report comparing the number of sympathy arrangements last year to this year. The numbers started doubling this year at the beginning of June. By the beginning of August, the numbers started tripling over last year’s numbers. Of course my first thought was that the increase must be COVID-19 related. I remembered a segment I had seen on the Today Show about staying happy and healthy during the pandemic.

The segment was an interview with “The Blue Zones,” author, Dan Buettner. He has met and studied the oldest, healthiest, and happiest people around the world. According to Buettner, “”We know that loneliness is as bad for you as smoking so if you’re chronically lonely, which is to say you don’t have at least two friends you can count on a bad day, it shaves about eight years off of your life expectancy.” Do you know the busiest time of year for sympathy arrangements? Between Thanksgiving and New Years. If our business is any indication, it would appear that loneliness certainly does impact life longevity. The pandemic is having an effect. And probably in more ways than one.

That just means we need to reach out more and love more fiercely to counteract the isolation all of us are experiencing!

After feeling emotionally overwhelmed by the number of sympathy orders I had taken, I made the last delivery of the day on Saturday. It was a bright and sunny green and yellow arrangement. Trevor had taken the order so I didn’t know what it was for. As I drove up to the house, I passed a handwritten sign that said, “Baby Bump Ahead.” It made me smile. The circle of life. Yes, there had been quite a few deaths last week, but life and love were in full bloom. That provides the balance.

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