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Including Creative Funeral Ideas in a ceremony is a wonderful way to create a truly meaningful funeral or memorial service. There is no specific format for memorial services. In fact, they should be as unique as the individual they are planned for. Many people today are moving away from the preconceived notions of traditional Funeral Services and are creating more personalized services that focus on the life of the deceased rather than their death.

There are many creative funeral Ideas that can be used to personalize a funeral or memorial service.

Think about:

~A unique location that meant something to the deceased.

~Music that truly reflects the on the individual.

~Creating a true celebration of the life of your loved one.

~Using unique ethnic rituals in the ceremony.

~Providing meaningful mementos of the deceased to those attending the ceremony.

Remember that:

~The only rule about a memorial service is that it should provide a loving and positive remembrance of the deceased.

~Using humor or even lively music can add wonderful moments to the service if they reflect the individual you are trying to memorialize.

~A funeral or memorial service need not be costly – there are dozens of ways to keep cost down and still provide a perfect tribute of your loved one.

The best gift you can give yourself and your loved one at the time of their death is a funeral or memorial service that truly represents that individual and the feelings you have for them. Create a unique and meaningful tribute that focuses not on their death, but rather on their life.

Submitted by Jeffrey Smith, D.D.

… and where are we headed.

We have been busy here at Memorial Funeral Homes over the last several months exploring many of the new choices available in funeral service.  What is it that a family would choose? There are many families in our community that have a connection with their local church, and adhere to their church’s practices for funeral ceremonies.  What we have also learned is there are many families out there who are creating their own, new, traditions.  We have heard many different requests, and we want to be able to help every family, with every request.

Our peers in funeral service have shared this experience, and we are hearing about many different ideas, including

Green funerals, can be too broad, but to think of it as- how the choices we make as a funeral home and a family for certain  funeral services may impact the environment. New choices are becoming available with green cemeteries, new embalming techniques, and biodegradable materials for burial and cremation scattering

Cremation, and the many options it can provide

Memorialization, or memorial tributes. It’s no longer just picking out a headstone or monument, but keepsake jewelry, engraved picture frames, garden monuments, and even gems made from the cremated remains

Technology, webcasting funeral services, online memorials, and creating a community online for grief support

We hope in the coming months, we will explore many of these ideas in greater detail, to learn together with the families we serve, which ideas are fads, and which will become integral to the funeral services of tommorrow. Look for future posts in the About… category of this blog for more.

Kurt

More than ever people are researching everything on the internet before they make a choice.  That could be why you are reading this now. Funeral Homes and making funeral arrangements will be no exception.  That is why we have tried to include as many pages of information and insight as we could in our new website.  Yet it is through conversations, comments, and communication between each of you that will help all of us understand what it takes to plan a funeral, survive grief, and handle the myriad of responsibilities associated with death of a loved one.

I want to take this chance to point out the comment section beneath this post, and a new one will appear beneath each post for any of you, the readers, can  comment and provide feedback on your own experiences relative to the topic.  As our “About…” series grows, we hope to touch on many different aspects of funeral service.  If there is something you would like to hear more about, send us an email.

Kurt