HOW SAMANTHA MADE A REAL SUCCESS BY RENTING FAKE FLOWERS FOR FUNERALS
Venture inspired by heartache over dad
A GRIEVING daughter who rents out fake flowers for funerals to families struggling to afford real ones says business is booming.
Samantha Quereshi was devastated when her beloved father Shaun, below, died suddenly in August 2021 aged just 52 after contracting sepsis.
As she was his only child, the funeral responsibilities were left to Sam who was shocked at the price of floral arrangements for her dad’s send-off.
Determined to not let others grieving go through the same experience, the mum-of-three started a business renting fake flowers for funerals at a far more affordable price.
And since The Sentinel shared her story this year, the business has gone from strength to strength.
Forget Me Nots founder Sam, aged 25, who lives with her three children and her boyfriend Samuel O’neill in Meir, said: “I just wanted to help other people not feel like I felt. We’ve had a really good response. It’s been really heart-warming and amazing for me because it’s helped me deal with what I went through by helping others not have to go through it too. The response has been overwhelming.”
For her dad’s funeral last year, Sam originally wanted flowers arranged into the words ‘Grandad’ and ‘Dad’ in the colours of Liverpool Football Club – her father’s favourite – but was heartbroken to find she couldn’t afford them.
Sam says many funeral directors offer payment plans to help those grieving to pay for the day over several months but most florists require upfront payments. Quoted £240 for ‘Grandad’ and £90 for ‘Dad’, Sam was left with no option but to opt for roses from a supermarket instead and felt like she had ‘failed’ her father. Her tributes cost around £50 to hire.
She said: “He was my everything, my whole world, my entire support network. He was my only family, really, I don’t have any other close family so he was so much to me.
“When he passed away, I found that really difficult. All the responsibilities were on me and I just couldn’t afford it. When I was in the funeral director’s planning the funeral and they asked about flowers, I wanted so many things, and they had to kindly remind me of the prices. “That was it for me, I felt like I’d failed him. I know if my dad was there, he’d tell me not to worry about it, but with how much he’d done for me throughout my life, I just wanted to give him that final send-off he deserved. Not being able to do that broke my heart.”
Six months after her dad died at his home in Conway Street, Shelton, Sam started Forget Me Nots from her living room in February, arranging fine silk to look like flowers as floral tributes for funerals. Customers can request words and colours and Sam’s boyfriend delivers them to the funeral director the day before the funeral.
The tributes can be kept for the entire day, used in the hearses, funerals and wakes, then returned to the funeral director for self-employed plasterer Samuel to collect.
Sam said: “I shocked myself to be honest, I’d never put my hand to a flower in my life. I watched a few tutorials on Youtube and they ended up looking just as good as real. I’ve had comments from customers afterwards who have thanked me and said they looked as good as real, nobody could tell they were fake.”