Sympathy Wreath for a Funeral

Video Transcription 

At Floral Design Institute, we teach sympathy work and design. It's so important. Today, I want to share with you a contemporary wreath for a funeral. 

The base is built on a 15-inch Oasis wreath ring. It's been pre-soaked with flower food and water, the whole thing, so that it's ready to go. Then, before I start flowering, I pre-green everything. That way it'll take less flowers to cover the mechanics, less effort. I wrapped it with aspidistra leaves and plumosa, and Italian ruscus. I find the three together give you wonderful texture. I did the outer edges, I did the inner, and I did a bit across the top. To hold it in place, greening pins, that will lock it. You just take, fasten it straight down in, and then you're ready to flower. 

The flowers I'm going to start with are the fabulous Magnum chrysanthemums. They're white, but look at that green center. Isn't it grand? Chrysanthemums shatter, so each of them has been treated already with Petal Proofer, just spraying it on the back. That way I don't have to worry about it. That's already done. Then all I need to do is give each bloom a cut down to the very tiniest, about a two-inch insertion, and place it in. This will hold the top foliage down so that it doesn't come up too high, blocking the beautiful visual of the blooms. 

With the Magnum chrysanthemums evenly spaced throughout, I could stop there and do a very simple inexpensive wreath because the foliage covers the mechanics, but to make it a little more special, going back and paving carnations, adding them in too. Again, cutting them short, just a couple of inches, and then feeding them down into the foam between the blooms, but tucking them very low so that the chrysanthemums stay as the star.

For a fun accenting detail, just using a few of the soft, soft, natural green carnations, and tucking them in just randomly. It will spotlight the green that's already in the chrysanthemums making it all seem just a little bit prettier, a little bit of contrast. Just finding the perfect little hole. 

Then once you have everything in place, take a moment and spray it down with Crowning Glory, that will lock the moisture in, keeping it alive as long as possible, and using Floralock, the spray adhesive for stems, just feed it in close, not into the foam, but to the surface of the foam and spray and spray and spray. What you're doing is creating a glued net that locks everything in place. 

The recipe, a 15-inch wreath base, then I started with half a bunch each of the Italian ruscus, the plumosa, and the aspidistra. Then, as you can see, there are seven of the Magnum chrysanthemums, I used six of the light green carnations, and then 25 of the white carnations. 

Sympathy floral design is such an important aspect of the floral industry. Understanding mechanics, understanding the materials, making sure you've got stability, longevity, it's all so important. You'll find more information and education at the website, Flower School .com. If you have questions, you can reach us through there. Now it's your turn. Be sure to practice, make sure you understand all the mechanics, and do something you love.