The short answer, for anyone standing in front of a sympathy page at eleven at night: the immediate family chooses the casket spray and the pieces that stand beside it at the service. Close relatives, friends and organizations send a standing spray, a wreath or an arrangement to the funeral home or the church, timed to arrive before the visitation begins. Everyone else sends a sympathy arrangement or a living plant to the family’s home, and the week after the service is often when it means the most. The rest of this guide explains each choice, where the flowers go, when they have to be ordered in Naples, and what to write on the card.
Who sends what
The casket spray comes from the spouse, the children or the parents. A full-couch spray covers a closed casket; a half-couch spray sits on the lower half of an open one. Families who want the service to feel like a celebration rather than a farewell choose color: a bright casket spray in red, orange, yellow and blue reads very differently from an all-white one, and both are right for the right person.
Standing sprays, wreaths and crosses come from adult children, siblings, grandchildren, and from organizations: a firm, a club, a congregation, a union. They stand at the entrance of the chapel or beside the casket, so they are the pieces every guest sees. A white teardrop spray or a soft white and green spray is the classic choice; a full wreath of red roses is the traditional one.
Shaped tributes are for a life with a defining calling, and they are usually sent by the family or by the people who shared that calling. We build a firefighter’s helmet in flowers for a first responder, an anchor in blue hydrangea for someone whose life was on the water, red roses with a stars-and-stripes ribbon for a veteran’s service, and the classic bleeding heart, white carnations crossed by a band of red roses, most often from a spouse or the children.
Sympathy arrangements and bouquets are what friends, neighbors and colleagues send, either to the service or to the home. Living plants and orchids go to the home and stay there for months, which is why many people choose them when they cannot attend, or when the service is a cremation or a memorial with fewer formal pieces.
Where the flowers go, and when
To the funeral home. Service pieces are delivered before the visitation opens. In Naples that means Fuller Funeral Home, Hodges Funeral Home at Naples Memorial Gardens or Hodges-Josberger; in Bonita Springs and Estero, Shikany’s, Legacy Options or Gendron; in Fort Myers, Harvey-Engelhardt, A Peaceful Garden, James C. Boyd or Gallaher. We call the funeral home ourselves to confirm placement, access and timing, so the family never has to. Tell us the name of the deceased and the service time, and we take it from there.
To the church. For a funeral Mass or a memorial service, altar pieces are coordinated with the parish: St. Ann and St. John the Evangelist for Catholic services, Trinity-by-the-Cove, Vanderbilt Presbyterian, Moorings Presbyterian, First Baptist. Some sanctuaries limit what may stand near the altar, and we check before we design.
To the home. Sympathy arrangements and plants go to the family’s house, the office, or wherever the family is gathering. If you are unsure whether to send to the service or the home, send to the home: it is never wrong, and it arrives when the house has gone quiet.
Graveside, hospice and hospital. Graveside deliveries to Palm Royale Cemetery, Naples Memorial Gardens or Fort Myers Memorial Gardens are arranged by phone, because the cemetery sets the timing. For a family keeping vigil at Avow Hospice, NCH Baker, Physicians Regional or Hope Hospice in Fort Myers, flowers go to the family, not the patient room; ask the facility first, or call us and we will.
When to order. Order online by 11 AM, Monday through Friday, or by phone until 1 PM, and the arrangement is delivered the same day across Naples, Marco Island, Bonita Springs, Estero and Fort Myers. For a Saturday service, order by Friday afternoon. For a casket spray or a shaped tribute, call the moment the service time is set, so the piece is built for that day and not rushed.
When flowers are not the right gift
“In lieu of flowers.” Honor it. The family has named a cause; the gift is the donation and a handwritten note. A plant to the home two or three weeks later is still welcome, because it does not compete with the request.
Jewish funerals. Flowers are traditionally not sent to the service or to the shiva house. Food for the shiva, a donation in the person’s name, or a visit is the custom. If you are unsure how observant the family is, ask someone close to them before sending anything.
Cremations and celebrations of life. There is no casket, so there is no casket spray, and the room is usually set like a reception. One arrangement beside the urn or the photograph, in the person’s colors, does more than three formal pieces. A tropical design with ginger and birds of paradise suits a Florida life celebrated outdoors.
Choosing the design and writing the card
White and green is serene and traditional. Color says the person was loved loudly: a gardener’s own flowers, a team’s colors, the orange of a Gators family. Traditional families choose wreaths, crosses and sprays; others prefer a contemporary, sculptural piece. If you knew the person, choose what they would have liked; if you knew the family, choose what will comfort them. Either answer is correct.
The card should be short, and it must say who it is from in full, because the family will want to thank you and will not remember every name on the day. “With deepest sympathy, Tom and Ellen Harper.” “In loving memory of Frank, from his friends at the yacht club.” “Thinking of you all, the Rivera family, Bonita Springs.” One sentence is enough; the flowers say the rest.
Ordering from out of town
Many of the sympathy orders we deliver are placed from another city or state by someone who cannot be at the service. Order online through our sympathy collection or call (239) 297-0352 with the name of the deceased, the funeral home or church, and the service time. We design the piece, confirm the details with the venue and deliver it ourselves.
How Naples Picasso Flowers handles sympathy orders
Every tribute is designed by Mirela Beneš, a German-trained Florida State Master Designer who placed 2nd in the 2010s category of the AIFD Designs of the Decades international competition, a top-ten worldwide finish, and is delivered by our own team, never handed to a wire service. We coordinate directly with funeral homes, churches and cemeteries across Collier and Lee County, and families have given us 170+ five-star Google reviews. See our funeral flowers in Naples page for the full list of venues we deliver to, or browse the sympathy collection to order online.
Sympathy flowers in Naples: quick answers
Who sends the casket spray at a funeral?
The immediate family: the spouse, the children or the parents. Other relatives, friends and organizations send standing sprays, wreaths or arrangements to the service, or a sympathy arrangement or plant to the family’s home.
Should I send funeral flowers to the funeral home or to the family’s home?
Pieces meant for the service go to the funeral home or church before the visitation opens, and the florist coordinates placement with the venue. Sympathy arrangements and plants go to the home, where they are often most appreciated in the week after the service.
How late can I order funeral flowers in Naples for same-day delivery?
At Naples Picasso Flowers, orders placed online by 11 AM, Monday through Friday, or by phone until 1 PM, are delivered the same day across Naples, Marco Island, Bonita Springs, Estero and Fort Myers. For a Saturday service, order by Friday afternoon.
What should I send when the obituary says “in lieu of flowers”?
Make the donation the family named and send a handwritten note. A living plant to the home a few weeks after the service is still appropriate, because it does not compete with the family’s request.
What should a sympathy card say?
One or two sincere sentences and your full name, so the family knows who to thank: for example, “With deepest sympathy, Tom and Ellen Harper” or “In loving memory of Frank, from his friends at the club.”
Reviewed by Mirela Beneš, German-trained Florida State Master Designer.