Dealing with the passing of a loved one is often one of, if not the hardest experience we have through in our lifetime. When dealing with the grief we are also attempting to organise every aspect of the funeral while attempting to make sure it reflects our loved one as closely to their personality as possible. Attempting to do this whilst dealing with the loss can be beyond difficult. In our professional opinion we highly recommend having some ideas for how you would like your own funeral to proceed. This will help save your family the trouble and allows you to tailor the service to suit you best. Once deciding on aspects of your funeral its always best to make sure your family are aware of the choices you have made.
The first questions we get asked when the family are not too sure of their loved one’s wishes is regarding cremation or burial. Commonly these questions are followed up by questions regarding religion, church service or not, minister or celebrant? We therefore advise starting from the basis of the funeral up. Do I want to be cremated or buried? Where would I like the service to take place? After getting the basis of the funeral organised you can then expand your questions onto more detailed questions such as music choices etc.
A very common question we get asked after a cremation is the family often are not too sure what they would like to do with the ashes. Please consider what you would like to happen with your ashes. Whether that be scattered in a special location, buried with a loved one or even have your ashes split amongst family members for them to decide, whether they would like an urn, some jewellery that can hold a token amount of your ashes or even to dedicate a shrine to you.
When it comes to the less commonly asked questions, some of these to consider are is there a particular type of minister or celebrant you would want to take the funeral service? What music would you like your friends and family to listen to during the service? Is there anything that defines you that would make sure your funeral is tailored to you. Whether this be asking the mourners to wear a different colour to black? A motorcycle hearse? Whatever you best feel would be tailored to you.
Of course, everything written here does not cover the wide variety of options available when it comes to planning your own funeral. We strongly recommend speaking to your local funeral director who will be able to answer questions you may have for your funeral. You may consider a pre-paid funeral plan, as this will allow you to tailor the service to best suit yourself and have everything in place before you have even passed while also helping with the financial side of the funeral for your family. The funeral director will be able to answer any questions you may have regarding funerals plans.
