The honest answer, in numbers
Funeral flowers are priced with unusual opacity. Many websites quote a "from" figure that survives only until you pick a size, and grief is not a state in which anyone wants to comparison-shop. So here are the real numbers, taken from our own London catalogue as of mid-2026 — not industry averages, but what these pieces actually cost when a real florist composes them for a real service.
- Sympathy baskets, posies and sheaves: £61–£101, with most pieces between £66 and £83. The entry point of respectful funeral floristry.
- Funeral wreaths: £87–£134, typically £98–£108 for a classic ring in white and green. The most-sent tribute at British funerals.
- Floral hearts: £250–£340. Solid or open hearts, usually from close family, often placed against the casket.
- Casket sprays and letter tributes: £217–£397. The principal pieces of a service — the spray that dresses the coffin, or a name spelled in flowers beside the hearse.
Delivery across Greater London is a flat hand-delivery charge on top, the same for Croydon as for Mayfair, and the same on the day of the service as a week ahead.
What actually drives the price
Four things set the cost of a funeral tribute, and knowing them helps you read any florist's pricing honestly.
- Labour, above all. A wreath is two to three hours of a florist's hands; a full casket spray or a three-letter tribute can be a full day. Tribute work is wired stem by stem onto a frame — it is closer to millinery than to bunching a bouquet.
- The flowers themselves. Roses and lilies cost more than chrysanthemums and carnations; garden roses more than standard roses; out-of-season peonies more than anything sensible. A white chrysanthemum base with rose detailing is the classic way to achieve presence without extravagance.
- Size and structure. A 16-inch wreath and a 20-inch wreath differ by a third in flowers and time. Casket sprays scale with the coffin: a half spray uses roughly half the material of a full one.
- Season and timing. Flower prices rise around Valentine's Day and Mother's Day and dip in high summer. Bespoke work ordered 48 hours ahead lets the florist buy precisely; miracles on two hours' notice narrow the palette to what is in the studio.
How much funeral flowers cost per letter
Named tributes — MUM, DAD, NAN, a full first name — are the one category priced by the letter rather than by the piece, and it is the question we are asked most often about them. Each letter is a separate wired frame, built and flowered individually, then joined on the stand. Three letters is three pieces of work.
From our own catalogue, so you can do the arithmetic yourself:
- Three letters in white and mixed florals: £217–£227, which is roughly £72–£76 a letter. This is the standard NAN, MUM or DAD tribute.
- Three letters in red roses: £397, or about £132 a letter. Roses are the single largest cost variable in tribute work.
- Longer words — GRANDAD, NANNA, a full first name — scale from those figures and are quoted individually, because a six or seven-letter piece needs a wider stand and has to be measured against the hearse before it is confirmed.
Two things worth knowing before you order one. First, the price is per letter, so GRANDAD is materially more than NAN — this catches families out when siblings are splitting the cost of two different tributes. Second, the piece has to fit: how letter tributes are made and how they travel covers the measurements, and it is the reason we ask for the funeral director's details when a named tribute is ordered.
What to spend, by relationship
British convention scales the tribute to the closeness of the bond, and nobody at a funeral is auditing receipts. As working bands:
- Colleague, neighbour, acquaintance: £60–£90. A basket, posy or modest sheaf, with a card that says who you are.
- Friend, extended family: £90–£150. A wreath or a fuller basket — the heartland of funeral floristry.
- Close family: £150–£400. A heart, a half or full casket spray, or a letter tribute. These are the pieces that stand nearest the coffin and appear in the photographs.
- Group tributes: a workplace or a team club together at £100–£250, signed collectively. One considered piece from ten colleagues reads better than ten small ones.
If the person who died was your own parent or grandparent, the choice is less about budget than about which piece the family has already committed to — what to send for a mum, dad, nan or grandad works through it relationship by relationship.
Where not to economise — and where you can
You can economise intelligently on size, on flower choice, and on structure: a smaller wreath in chrysanthemum and carnation, well composed, is a dignified tribute at under £100. What you should not economise on is the florist's understanding of funeral work. A £45 supermarket-style bouquet arrives without wiring, without a stand, without coordination with the funeral director — and someone at the venue has to work out what to do with it during the hardest morning of their week.
Beware, too, of "cheap funeral flowers" listings that are courier-delivered gift bouquets with a sombre photograph. A tribute that travels boxed by van, rather than hand-carried by the florist who made it, tends to arrive looking exactly like what it is. If the price seems too good for wired tribute work, it is not tribute work.
How prices work when you order
With us the price you see on the catalogue is the price you pay: composition, the card hand-written from your message, coordination with the funeral director, timed hand-delivery, and a photograph of the piece in place at the venue. VAT is included. There is no same-day premium and no surcharge by borough — the same flat delivery applies across all 33 London boroughs, inside the M25.
For bespoke commissions — specific palettes, favourite flowers, unusual sizes — we quote before we cut a single stem, and twenty-four to forty-eight hours' notice is enough for most pieces.
One last principle
The right budget is the one that lets you sign the card without either wincing or performing. Funeral flowers are a gesture of presence, not a transaction; a £70 basket with three honest lines on the card outweighs a £300 spray sent to impress. Decide what the relationship was worth in words, and let the flowers simply agree with you.
