Planning a funeral is never easy and can be a stressful process for the family of the deceased. Here is a simple list of questions you need to ask when planning a funeral service or making arrangements for your funeral in advance.
Do You Want a Viewing of the Body?
If you plan to have the body show so that friends and family can say their last goodbye that will impact every decision after that. If you want the body to be shown then you will need to pay for the body to be embalmed before it can be show. The embalming fluid is put into the body to slow down the decomposing process so that the body can be cleaned up to look as closely as friends and family members remember the deceased to look.
Will the Deceased Be Buried at the Cemetery?
If you want the deceased to be buried in a cemetery you will need to pay for a casket, cemetery plot and a headstone (from companies like An Thiel Monuments). These are often done in advance, but in the event that the person has died abruptly then a funeral director can walk you through the process and put you in touch with a cemetery. You will also need to make arrangements for the body to be transported to the cemetery by the funeral home. You may require pallbearers, who are typically family members or friends, who will list the casket out of the funeral home and into the hearse and then from the Hearst to the final resting place.
Do You Want to Publish an Obituary?
When someone passes away you need to alert friends and acquaintances of the passing, which is usually done by publishing an obituary in the local newspaper. This notice will give a quick overview of the deceased's life and usually mention the person's next of kin in the article. If the funeral is open to the public then the obituary will also let people know the date, time and location of the funeral so that they know when to come and pay their respects to the deceased.
Following the tips outlined above will help give you a good starting place to start preparing for a funeral service. You should always sit down with a professional funeral director to go over the arrangements that you may have missed. A professional funeral director will have the experience in handling all types of funeral services for all types of people and religious specifications.
Share31 March 2015
A couple of weeks ago, one of my dear family friend’s suffered the loss of her husband. After a brief illness, he passed away at a local hospital. Immediately after his passing, she started planning the funeral arrangements. She didn’t want his funeral to be a sad occasion. Instead, she wanted the service to celebrate his amazing life. She worked tirelessly with the professional staff at a local funeral home in order to plan the order and type of service for the funeral. On this blog, you will discover tips for planning a funeral service that will celebrate the life of your deceased loved one.