Funeral Pre-Planning Is About Anticipating Your Family's Needs
While doing your funeral pre-planning, it may seem that you are specifying what you want to have happen. Your plan is actually a guide to cover what your family needs to do for you when you're gone. This will be helpful to them because they will be dealing with their own grief from their loss while making the funeral arrangements. As you make your funeral plans, consider what decisions your family will have to make and include those in the plan.
What Funeral Home Will Handle The Arrangements
Most cities have multiple funeral homes to serve the population. Do some research to find the right place to work with your family. A compassionate, patient and understanding staff and funeral director, such as at Ahlgrim & Sons Funeral And Cremation Services LTD, will make the task of laying you to rest easier for your family.
The Choice of Burial or Cremation
Don't force your family to make this choice for you. Indicate whether you want to be cremated or have a full-body burial. This choice is the basis for other parts of your plan, which is why it's important to include this in your instruction to your family.
Casket or Urn?
If you choose a full-body burial, indicate the type of casket you wish. They can range from heavy hardwood caskets with ornate designs to eco-friendly seagrass caskets with little ornamentation.
If you wish to be cremated, you can have your cremains returned to your family in an ornate metal urn or a simple fiberboard box. Even with cremation, you can choose to be buried in a casket, so make sure you specify how you want the cremains returned and the type of casket you desire.
Funeral Service Choices
There are a number of types of services you can choose with either cremation or full-body burial, such as:
Viewing - This is an informal service that allows people to pay their respects to you after your passing. It is often held in the funeral home chapel, but can be held in a church or other religious facility. With a viewing, your body is present. This means that your body needs to be embalmed, and if you chose cremation, you'll defer being cremated until after the service.
Visitation - This is similar to the viewing but without a body.
Funeral Service - This is the primary service performed in the funeral home or church to mark your passing.
Burial Service - This is a short service held at the grave site as you are buried. This can also be held at a columbarium where your cremains are placed into the ground or in a vault.
Funeral Service Options
This is the most complicated portion of your plan to complete, but it is the most helpful to your family, when the time comes to make the arrangements. Include the following choices in your plan so your family won't have to struggle with these decisions:
- Where will the service be held?
- Who will officiate the service?
- Who will speak at the service?
- Who will sing at the service?
- What music will be played at the service?
- What flowers will be available at the service?
- Should the service follow a particular theme?
Document as many of these choices as you can in your pre-planning documents to help your family get through this difficult time in their lives.