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Who Places the Flowers? How BloomBridge Runners Are Vetted

A stranger will walk up to your family's grave with the flowers. Here is who that person is, what they go through before their first delivery, and what happens on the day.

By Fern2 min read

The question underneath every graveside delivery is a fair one: who exactly is going to stand at my mother's grave? A florist's van driver would not be asked to. BloomBridge deliveries are made by Runners, local people who do this on purpose, and this is what stands between signing up and placing a first arrangement.

Who Runners are

Most Runners are people with a reason to be in cemeteries anyway: retirees who tend their own family plots, genealogists and Find a Grave volunteers who already photograph headstones, nurses and hospice workers, veterans who visit national cemeteries, people who lost someone and understood immediately why a family far away would want this. They live near the cemeteries they serve. A Runner in rural Mississippi knows which church cemetery is which; that knowledge cannot be shipped in.

Before the first delivery

  • A personal interview. We speak with every applicant. It is not an online form; someone at BloomBridge talks with them about why they want to do this and what the work involves.
  • A background check. Criminal and identity screening before activation.
  • Insurance on file. Liability coverage is confirmed before a Runner is activated.
  • Training on cemetery etiquette and rules. Where flowers may be placed, what national cemeteries permit and when, how to find a grave from a section and lot, how to behave when a burial or a grieving family is nearby.
  • The photo standard. Every delivery is documented with a photo of the arrangement at the headstone, with the name legible. A delivery without a photo is not complete.

On the day

The Runner receives the order: cemetery, name on the headstone, any section and plot details, the family's notes, and the arrangement. They collect the arrangement, drive to the cemetery, and find the grave. If the plot details are missing, they use the cemetery office, Find a Grave, and the walk-the-row method our grave-finding guide describes. They place the arrangement where that cemetery allows it, seated so wind cannot move it, tidy the marker, and take the photo. The photo goes to the family the same day and onto the memorial page.

What Runners will not do

Move or remove another family's flowers. Place anything the cemetery prohibits. Leave an arrangement on the grass where it will be mowed. Guess at a grave; if a grave cannot be located, the Runner reports back and the office and the family work it out before anything is placed.

The photo is the proof of all of the above. Every family sees exactly where the flowers were placed and how they looked, the day they were placed. See how it works from the family's side in our delivery guide.

Becoming a Runner

If you tend graves already and would like to do it for families who cannot, the application is at Sign up to deliver. The interview comes first; most people who are right for it know within a minute of describing the work.

Topics How it works Runners Delivery photos Sending flowers

Placed at the grave by a local Runner

Fall Arrangement graveside arrangement Fall Arrangement White Roses & Hydrangeas graveside arrangement White Roses & Hydrangeas Red & White Roses graveside arrangement Red & White Roses Halloween Arrangement graveside arrangement Halloween Arrangement Holiday Arrangement graveside arrangement Holiday Arrangement Red, White & Blue graveside arrangement Red, White & Blue Pink Roses & Peonies graveside arrangement Pink Roses & Peonies Pastel Multicolor graveside arrangement Pastel Multicolor Hot Pink & White Roses graveside arrangement Hot Pink & White Roses Purple Arrangement graveside arrangement Purple Arrangement Yellow Arrangement graveside arrangement Yellow Arrangement Blue Arrangement graveside arrangement Blue Arrangement Birthday Arrangement graveside arrangement Birthday Arrangement Always My Valentine graveside arrangement Always My Valentine Easter Arrangement graveside arrangement Easter Arrangement Breast Cancer Awareness graveside arrangement Breast Cancer Awareness

Grave flower delivery to any cemetery in all 50 states · find yours by state

Flowers at the grave, wherever it is

A local BloomBridge Runner places a hand-crafted arrangement at any cemetery in all 50 states and sends you a photo of it in place.

Send Flowers

Frequently asked questions

Yes. Every Runner goes through a personal interview, a criminal and identity background check, and insurance verification before their first delivery.

Runners are local to the cemeteries they serve and are trained on cemetery rules, national cemetery windows, and how to find a grave from section and plot details.

They do not guess. The Runner reports back, and BloomBridge works with the cemetery office and the family to pin down the location before anything is placed.