The Ultimate Guide to Organising a Funeral

Posted on 02/04/2020

What Should You Know When Organising a Funeral

We hope you never need to, but it is inevitable that at some point, you are going to have a hand in arranging a funeral. Whether it is someone close to you that passes or a member of your extended family, arranging a funeral and organising a good send off can be tricky. You are dealing with grief, but at the same time, you want to get the funeral right, organise one befitting the deceased and make sure it is a good final send-off.

So, you have a hand in organising a funeral, but how do you get started? There is so much to do and not a lot of time to do it in. It is a good idea to create a checklist. See to the important aspects first, and then go through your list one by one, ticking things off as you go.

One of the first things you need to do is decide if you are going to take charge of the majority of the tasks yourself, or if you are going to put your faith in a funeral director. After a set of guidelines and instructions from yourself, a funeral director will be able to take care of all of the arrangements, under your supervision, of course. It can free up your time and will enable you to take care of other things.

The first thing you need to do is to get an idea of the cost. You need a price in mind before you start, otherwise, costs could very quickly spiral out of control. You may want a certain casket, a certain place to conduct the ceremony, and maybe certain types of funeral flowers, and all of this can add up. You must manage your costs from the get-go.

After notifying the funeral director regarding your preferences and arranging the service, you need to book a date. Once the date’s pencilled in, it is a matter of notifying people. This can either be done directly, or some people will choose to put a notice in the paper.

You will need to book a venue or get your home in order if that is where you wish to hold the wake.

Selecting individuals to carry the coffin is an important task. You need to select them, then ask them if they wish to be pallbearers.

Ask around and find out who wishes to speak at the ceremony. Then it is a matter of arranging time slots with the funeral director and the speaker leading the ceremony.

Arranging funeral tributes is an important part of a funeral. If you are organising the funeral with a director, the company may suggest florists that do flowers for funerals. Otherwise, set aside time to do some research, purchase letter tributes, funeral wreaths, etc. Guests may like to have funeral flowers delivered too, so have a theme in mind so that they know what is acceptable to send.

If you are holding a little get together before or after the funeral, you should sort out caterers. It may be worth getting friends and family to pitch in, asking them to bring some food.

Keep a loved one close to you, by your side, and run through the details with them. After all, you are in the grieving stages too, so if it all becomes too much for you, you will have someone on hand who will be able to keep things ticking over.

Lastly, go through everything and finalise the details. Make sure you are happy with everything, that all the relevant people have been contacted, that the funeral director has met your requirements, and then send out copies detailing the order of the service.