Life in the Garden

Matters of Life and Death

Memorial Service Ideas

Memorial Ideas from the State of Florida

Florida is a good gauge for trends in cremation urns. Most funeral homes in the USA carry the two standards Birds in Flight Urn (I call it “Free Bird”) and the Classic Bronze Urn. Both have matching 3″ keepsake urns and are the most popular cremation urns sold in the Sunshine State for the last five years.

Speaking of memorial keepsake urns- from the 3″ brass standards to the cremation urn jewelry gold heart pendant, they all do well. Family packs of keepsake urns in quantities of 4-6 are a popular choice and we’ll mix and match if desired.Funeral Directors,  call me or call your supplier, but make it a point to stock the cremation urn styles that families prefer.

Celtic keepsake urns- we have an exclusive line that we’ve added and is popular with families.

Florida Families also purchased: Blue Swirl cremation urn and Irish Rose funeral urn .
Urn Garden blue urn

Florida families are doing  tree dedications and adding a bench or statuary as a cremation memorial.
memorial stones

Urn Garden

Bronze Cremation Urns – Strength and Beauty

Selecting a cremation urn can be overwhelming due to the nature of the purchase, as well as the many styles  now available to choose from.  Bronze is always a good choice for an urn that is not only strong and secure but can double as an art sculpture. Many of our families that buy bronze want something that blends in to the decor and doesn’t scream URN.

Bronze urns are more expensive than some of the other urns on the market.  The price of copper, molds, and the process involved to pour bronze command a higher price.  This style is not mass produced and is considered a custom order that requires a 2-4 week lead time depending on the finishing details. But the return is lasting beauty and a safe final resting place, certainly worth the wait.

bronze cremation urn

Recent developments in resin compounds have resulted in designer blends that mix bronze and marble dust into the finish that when used in a cold casting technique results in a less expensive product with the look and feel of bronze. An example is our new Lion Sleeps Tonight Urn.

lion cremation urn

Sculpted from resin blended with bronze metal, this cremation urn has all the rich details of a bronze urn but without the weight of the heavy metal and the price.

Both of the urns featured in this post are made in America.

Urn Garden

Happy Coffins and Artistic Caskets

happy coffin

This is the ‘Happy Coffin’ designed by Elsie Chua during her stay at a Hospice home in Singapore.

The Lein Foundation says the Happy Coffins project overturns the stigma of death and converts the coffin from a symbol of fear, dread and grief, into a positive and life-affirming expression of art.

See more of designer caskets.

Source: Lien Foundation

Strength and Beauty, the Benefits of a Stone Urn

  • Beauty
  • Permanence
  • Elegant
  • Durability
  • Dramatic colors
  • Prefect for burial or niche placement.

 

Marble cremation urns have the strength of stone and are highly regarded for their durability. Because of its beauty, permanence, and elegance, natural marble is a popular choice for many families. In addition, marble urns are produced with high-quality genuine marble from some of the finest quarries throughout the world. Greek and Roman sculptors and architects preferred marble for its beautiful spectrum of dramatic colors and veining patterns which distinguish onyx, alabaster, teakwood and fossil marbles; thus making this natural material very unique.

Oh Katrina, How I Hated You

The Fleur de Lis symbol has appeared on countless coats of arms, flags, architecture, and remains an enduring symbol of France and New Orleans.  The Fleur de Lis literally means “lily flower” and the symbol is a stylized interpretation of a lily.  Urn Garden has modernized the famous French icon into a piece of memorial jewelry.

Urn Garden Cremation Urns