Saying Goodbye to a Cowboy

Funerals are far and away my preference, as far as what I like to do with flowers goes. I have found that you can bring a lot of comfort to a family by customizing the pieces to fit that exact person. Everyone has things about them that makes them unique and there is no reason why those traits can't be celebrated in the floral work.

I had the opportunity to do the flowers for the funeral for this handsome cowboy. It was such a treat to use his hat, lariat, and other small trinkets that aren't as visible in this picture in the Casket Saddle. When people see the flowers with these personal touches they are especially moved.

The matching easel arrangement looked like a huge bundle of wild flowers bound together with straw string. Small wood pieces that represented things he loved were painted brown and placed throughout the arrangement. The big wooden letters spelling DAD look WAY better than those HORRID gold or silver letters stapled on paper ribbon. (Whose brilliant idea were those pieces of junk anyway? They look terrible!)

When you are planning and executing a funeral, everything you can do to personalize it will only be that much more comforting. When I hear about people going into a florist and picking something out of a book, ("I think F-145 looks nice.") I just want to cringe! Truly personalization brings peace in a time of sorrow!