The rules nobody publishes in one place
Every London crematorium and cemetery has its own arrangements for flowers — when they can arrive, where they are placed, how long they stay and what happens to them afterwards. Almost none of it is written down anywhere a family can find on the morning they need it, and the questions arrive at our studio in the same order every week.
This guide sets out the conventions that hold across Greater London, and — just as importantly — marks the points where you have to ask the specific venue rather than trust a general rule. We deliver to nine London crematoria and seven cemeteries as a matter of routine, and those two pages list them with the venue detail; this one is about the rules that govern the flowers.
When tributes have to arrive
The single timing that matters:
- Tributes for the service arrive 30 to 60 minutes before it starts. Earlier is not better — at a crematorium the chapel is in use until shortly before your slot, and there is nowhere for flowers to wait indefinitely.
- Tributes going with the cortège go to the funeral director the day before, not to the venue at all. Anything riding in the hearse — the casket spray, letter tributes in the windows — has to be with the funeral director in time to be loaded.
- Flowers to the family home are a different decision entirely, and the timing is the opposite: after the service, not before.
If you are ordering late, tell us the service time and the venue rather than the delivery date. We work backwards from the service, and it is the only way to get this right.
Crematoria: the chapel slot governs everything
A crematorium chapel runs on a timetable, typically in slots of 30 to 45 minutes with services booked back to back. Every convention about flowers at a crematorium follows from that fact:
- Placement is quick and is done by the funeral director, not by the florist and not by the family. Tributes are set out before the cortège arrives.
- Scale has to suit the chapel. Crematorium chapels vary enormously across London, from intimate rooms seating thirty to halls with high ceilings that swallow a small piece entirely. If you do not know the venue, ask the funeral director before committing to a size.
- Nothing is left in the chapel. After the service, tributes are moved out to make room for the next family — usually within the hour.
The related question of what actually suits a cremation as opposed to a burial — what fits, what is returned, what is wasted — is covered in cremation versus burial flowers.
What happens to the flowers after a cremation
This is the question families ask most, and are most often distressed by the answer to, because nobody warned them.
Floral tributes are not cremated with the coffin. After the committal they are moved to a designated area — a floral tribute terrace, a garden of remembrance, a paved area beside the chapel — and laid out so the family can see them after the service. They stay there for a limited period, commonly a few days, and are then cleared and composted by the grounds staff.
Three practical consequences:
- Read the cards on the day. The tributes are laid out for exactly this purpose, and the cards go with the flowers when they are cleared.
- If you want to keep a tribute, say so before the service. The funeral director can arrange for a piece to be set aside and taken to the family home rather than left on the terrace.
- If you want the flowers to go somewhere useful, some families ask for tributes to be taken to a hospice or care home afterwards. Ask the funeral director, who will know whether the venue and the receiving home can accommodate it.
Cemeteries: the graveside and the months after
A burial has no chapel timetable pressing on it, and the flowers behave differently. Tributes are placed at the graveside during the committal, and afterwards they are normally laid on the grave itself, where they stay until the grounds staff clear them — typically after one to two weeks, once they have gone over.
What follows is where the rules genuinely diverge between London cemeteries, and where you have to check rather than assume. The variables are:
- Lawn sections versus traditional sections. Most London cemeteries maintain lawn areas mown as a single sweep, and in those sections anything left on the grave — containers, frames, ornaments — is cleared on a fixed schedule so the mowers can work. Traditional sections with kerbed graves are usually far more permissive.
- New graves. A grave that has not yet settled cannot take a memorial, and often cannot take a permanent container either. This period commonly runs six to twelve months.
- Historic and conservation cemeteries. Several of the Victorian cemeteries we serve are managed as nature reserves or conservation areas as well as burial grounds, and their rules on what may be left are stricter for ecological reasons rather than tidiness.
What most London cemeteries will not take
Broadly consistent across the boroughs, and worth knowing before you buy:
- Glass of any kind — vases, jars, candle holders. This is the most universal restriction, and it is a safety rule for grounds staff, not an aesthetic one.
- Anything that becomes litter. Ribbons, cellophane, plastic wrap and card backing all end up in the hedges; ask for a tribute to be built without them if it is going to a grave rather than a chapel.
- Artificial and silk flowers, in some lawn sections. Policies vary genuinely here — some London cemeteries permit them year-round, some only outside the mowing season, some not at all.
- Permanent fixtures — solar lights, fencing, edging, planted shrubs — without written permission from the cemetery office.
None of this applies to the tributes sent for the service itself, which are placed, seen, and cleared within days. It applies to what you bring back afterwards.
Access, parking and the practical side of delivery
A few things that decide whether a tribute arrives intact and on time in London specifically:
- Gates close. Cemetery and crematorium grounds have opening hours, and several close earlier in winter. A delivery timed for late afternoon in December can find the gates shut.
- The chapel is not always near the entrance. At the larger London sites the chapel can be a substantial walk from the gate, which is a real constraint on how large a piece one person can carry.
- The ULEZ and the Congestion Charge apply to us as they do to everyone, and are already in the flat delivery charge. There is no borough surcharge and no central-London premium.
- Give us the venue and the service time, not just an address. Several London venues share a name with a nearby cemetery or are split across two entrances — West Norwood, for one, has both a cemetery and a crematorium on the same site.
What to check before you order
Four questions, answered by the funeral director in one exchange:
- What time is the service, and is the venue the crematorium or the cemetery chapel?
- Is the tribute travelling with the cortège, or going direct to the venue?
- Is the family sending the principal piece, and is a named letter tribute already coming?
- For a burial: is the grave in a lawn section, and is it a new grave?
We ask these when we take an order, so you do not have to know them in advance. Every brief is handled in writing — by the contact form or directly by email — which has the useful side effect that the venue, the time and the wording of the card are all written down and confirmed back to you.
One last principle
The venue rules exist for grounds staff and safety, and they are almost never the thing that makes a tribute right or wrong. What makes the difference is arriving at the correct place at the correct hour, in a form that fits the room. Tell us the venue and the time, and we will handle the rest of this page on your behalf.
