Beauty in the heart of sadness....

Just last year the daughter of a woman in our ward passed away at the young age of 30. I had the opportunity to give of my services in helping with the funeral flowers. The family didn't have a large budget for the funeral last year and so the daughter was cremated. They requested that I make a wreath of silk flowers to go around the urn. I was pleased to help where I could and gave of my services for free.

Although the family is inactive, I hope that because of the love and service given by members in our ward they will someday feel comfortable enough to start coming to church again. This year I was called again by the Relief Society president to help with the mother's funeral flowers. I, again, was glad to help. Though I feel it was unfortunate that the same family who mourned a death last year for a daughter & niece is now mourning for a sister & mother.... it was somehow easier for me to work with the family. I felt much more comfortable offering words of kindness to them.

I think the flowers turned out nicely... they were exactly what they requested, a wreath for the urn and a long low arrangement to sit in front of a large picture of the woman who died.
This is a birds eye picture of the low arrangement:

And this was how the wreath for the urn turned out:

There are some things I like and don't like about being a floral designer. One thing I don't enjoy the most about my line of work is having to deal with mourning families. But the thing that makes funeral work easier on them and myself is knowing that I can give ugly circumstances a beautiful piece of art to remember their loved ones by.

I hope that all of you can show love to the ones you love most today!