Funeral Homes: A End and a Beginning

Ask Your Family To Help You Plan Your Cremation Service

Maybe you have decided that you don't want a traditional funeral at the time of your death. Instead, you have chosen to be cremated. Perhaps you did some research and you found that it might be less expensive to arrange for cremation services. Maybe you liked the fact that you can customize the service to match how much you want to spend. In addition, perhaps you are just more comfortable with the idea of being cremated rather than your body being placed in a coffin. 

​Involve Your Family In Your Cremation Service Plan - Explain to your family that you have chosen to take care of your own cremation plans partially because you don't want to leave them with that emotional burden. Then ask them to help you plan the actual service that will follow your cremation.

  • Decide together where would be the best place to hold the cremation service.
  • For instance, if you are church attenders, is a church where you want the service to be held?
  • Maybe you have a favorite spot, perhaps a beach location or a park, where your family  could meet with friends for the service
  • For instance, one of your family members might be happy to compile a group of  photographs and some of your favorite belongings for a display table. 
  • Is somebody in your family a musician, maybe a guitar player? If so, ask that person if he or she will play one of your favorite songs at the service.
  • Another family member might be happy to take care of things like prelude music and congregational hymns. 
  • Ask your closest family member, maybe your spouse or an only child, to help you pick out a cremation urn.
  • Another idea is to buy each member of the family a piece of jewelry that will hold your ashes.
  • Of course, people who attend your cremation service will want to hear about your life, including tender and humorous anecdotes.
  • Perhaps your own children or your siblings would be happy to be the speakers at your cremation service.

If you do ask your family to help you plan your cremation service, think of having a scribe to make careful notes of everything that has been planned. By doing that, there won't be any questions when the time arrives for your service. 

In addition, be sure to keep all documents, including things like payment for the cremation urn and payment for flowers. Tell two or three people where the documents are being kept.


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