Are you in the process of planning a funeral? You will probably require the services of a funeral home to ease your planning. Even then, you need to figure out the funeral services you want. The following questions can help you in deciding what kind of funeral service you want.
What Is the Location of the Funeral Service?
The location for the funeral service will have a great impact on your planning processes. Typically, you can decide to have the funeral home host the funeral service. In such a case, it makes sense to select a funeral home near your home. In this way, the funeral home will be easily accessible to participants for time and cost-efficiency. Conversely, you can select a church, social hall, or home as the funeral service venue. This decision will also depend on the availability of space and religious, personal, and cultural inclinations.
Will You Have Ceremonies Before and After the Funeral?
You may decide to have a memorial, wake, or visitation before or after the funeral and disposition. Typically, a memorial service is a remembrance event to eulogize and pay tribute to the deceased. In comparison, a wake is a ceremony to view the body before the funeral service. During the wake, the body is on display in an open or closed casket. This occasion takes place at the funeral home, your home, hall, or church. Lastly, you may organize a visitation with or without the body as an opportunity for family and friends to offer condolences.
Do You Need Burial or Cremation Services?
There are two main methods of disposing of the body, namely burial or cremation. In a burial service, the body is put in the ground in a cemetery. Thus, you will need a funeral home with an on-site cemetery or get a different cemetery. Whichever the case, you need to budget for a cemetery plot. In contrast, the body is exposed to high furnace temperatures and reduced to ashes through cremation. As such, you will require a funeral home with a crematory. In both cases, you can select direct burial or cremation or combine them with a funeral service.
What Is the Budget for the Funeral?
The funeral services depend on the budget available. Thus, it is important to determine how much you are willing to spend on the funeral. The major funeral budget items include embalming and body preparation, casket, obituary, cremation or burial plot, transportation, and chapel, décor, catering, and reception fees.
When you approach a funeral home, discuss this budget with the director to explore the services you can get with your budget. It is also important to review whether the deceased person had an existing funeral insurance cover. If you are pre-arranging a funeral, it will help if you signed up for a pre-paid funeral plan.
These questions act as a guideline when planning for funeral services. In addition to close friends and relatives, engage the funeral home's assistance for rational decisions during an emotional period.
Funerals and death make many people uncomfortable, and asking questions about funerals can seem like a faux pas. You may find yourself wondering why bodies are embalmed, or what the advantages of cremation are — but where do you find answers?
You can find them here. We are not afraid to talk about death and dying, and we seek to offer the information everyone needs to know when planning or attending a funeral. You're going to feel a deep sense of loss whenever you lose someone close to you, but being able to prepare for and attend their funeral with confidence will at least make things a little easier in your period of grief.