Creating a Funeral or Memorial Service
When you first begin the process of designing a funeral, the decisions you'll face might seem overwhelming. We're here to help you tackle the choices one by one and make the journey about love & healing. The process can be broken down into two stages: decisions regarding how you'd like to care for your loved one's physical remains and decisions regarding the service (how you'd like to honor your loved one's life).
Choosing Traditional Burial or Cremation
Once you've chosen how you'd like to celebrate your loved one's life journey, the next decision you'll face is about how you'd like to care for their physical remains. This can be a difficult or emotional choice for you and your family, and we'll provide you with the information you need as we help you to consider your options and make the decision that is right for your loved one and for your family.
Once you've chosen between burial and cremation, there are a few additional decisions you'll face:
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For a burial, you'll need to select a casket and a cemetery, and choose between a ground burial and entombment in a mausoleum.
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For cremation, you'll need to select a cremation container, an urn, and choose whether to bury, entomb, or scatter the cremated remains, as well as where you'd like to do so.
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No matter which path you decide to take, we'll be there to support you and assist you in exploring your options and making an informed decision that feels right for you and your loved one.
Designing a Service
Whether it's formal or informal, traditional or offbeat, a service provides an opportunity for family and friends to gather and support one another in taking the first steps of their healing journey. A service can take place in any setting - at our facilities, at your home, or outdoors. It can also incorporate music, poetry, or art in the celebration of a life well-lived. There are endless possibilities for what the service can be, and we're honored to go above and beyond in our duty to meet your personalized and specific requests.
Our staff is experienced in understanding and graciously accommodating the needs of all beliefs, faiths, lifestyles, and relationships. We're here to answer your questions and guide you through the decisions you'll need to make, and will encourage you to take your time to figure out the most meaningful and fitting way to honor your loved one and incorporate the elements that you and your family find meaningful.
Celebration of Life or Traditional Service?
Most people are familiar with a traditional funeral service. A celebration of life service is a less formal, contemporary style of service.
A Celebration of Life memorial service is ceremony that embraces the special moments, accomplishments, interests, hobbies and the many unique aspects of a life well lived.
Families who choose a Celebration of Life service can include a wide range of special activities that would not be a part of a traditional memorial service.
Rather than a solemn experience, a Celebration of Life connects family, friends and acquaintences in a joyful event that creates bonds for the mourners, while allowing for the necessary grieving and healing to take place.
What can you include in a Celebration of Life service? There are few limits. But what you must know that whether you are planning your own arrangements, or for a loved one, what you choose is up to YOU.
How you want to personalize your service is always up to you!
Honor What Made Them Unique
Personalization isn't just about honoring your loved one's individuality. It also allows family and friends to feel connected to the services and the life being honored. A memorable and meaningful service can be an important part of the healing process for those who are coping with a loss. We work closely with you to get to know your loved one's life story and brainstorm ways to represent your bond and pay tribute to their unique journey.
Consider a Life Tribute Video
Are you looking for a beautiful way to share the memory of your loved one? We can create a one-of-a-kind video tribute by combining family photographs with cinematic introductions, the music of your choice, and professional effects in order to share your loved one's special life journey during their service. Life Tribute Videos also provide your family and friends with a meaningful keepsake long after the ceremony is over.
The Healing Power of Memorial Services
Coping with a loss is never easy, and services are an essential part of the recovery process. A funeral service provides those who are grieving with a supportive environment in which they can begin to find closure, say goodbye, and come to terms with the loss. Gathering with friends and family gives everyone the opportunity to connect, share memories, offer words of sympathy, and create a lasting network of comfort and support as they start the journey toward healing and peace. No matter the setting, style, or direction you choose, our professional staff are honored to assist you in creating a service that reflects your loved one's unique life journey.
Burial Service Options
There are different elements you can choose from when arranging a burial, depending upon your individual needs and preferences:
Immediate Burial
Immediate Burial means that your loved one's physical remains will be buried or entombed without a public service or gathering.
Funeral or Memorial Services
Funeral or Memorial Services can take place at a funeral home, in a church or even at your home. Whether traditional or unique, both the visitation and the funeral service can be personalized to reflect the individuality of your loved one.
Visitation
Visitation (also called a "viewing", "wake" or "calling hours") allows family and friends to gather in a room with the departed loved one (in an open or closed casket) and gives everyone the opportunity to say goodbye and offer their support and sympathy to the bereaved.
Graveside, Chapel, or Committal Services
Graveside, Chapel, or Committal Services are held at the cemetery, and allow family and friends to be present as their loved one is transferred to his or her final disposition through ground burial.
Cremation Service Options
The biggest misconception about cremation is that there can't be a funeral service or visitation. This is absolutely not the case - when you choose to care for the physical remains through cremation, we encourage you to consider holding a memorial service as well. There are many options open to you when it comes to honoring your loved one's life. After the cremation itself, there are a variety of choices for your loved one's final disposition:
Viewing
Viewing provide a chance for friends and family to say goodbye through a final viewing before the cremation, and you can also hold a formal service either before or after the cremation occurs.
Ceremonial or Scattering
Ceremonial or Scattering allows you to spread your loved one's cremated remains in a memorial garden, a cemetery, over water, or across any other meaningful site. You can also choose to scatter some of the cremated remains and retain the rest in an urn for internment or another form of disposition.
Placing Remains in Multiple Urns
Placing cremated remains in multiple urns allows family members who are separated by distance to each feel the comfort of having their loved one's final resting place in a nearby location.
Witness Cremation or Interment
Witness Cremation or Interment means that you'll bury or entomb your loved one's cremated remains. This can be in the family plot, a memorial site, a cremation niche or urn garden, or in a variety of other indoor and outdoor locations.
Graveside Services
Graveside Services are similar to those celebrated alongside a traditional ground burial, in which loved ones are present at the burial of the cremated remains and honor the deceased through memorial prayers or other meaningful tributes.
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Do you need immediate help?
Our staff of accredited funeral directors are committed to providing your family with the highest quality care and service in your time of need.
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If you are in need of immediate assistance, call us 24/7 at (509) 838-8900 or use the contact form to send us a message.