Arranging a Funeral before death has occurred...

This information is intended to assist people in making arrangements for their own funeral or for those with the future responsibility of arranging a funeral.

As ideas and conventions linked to the type of funeral people want change, so too have many people's attitudes to the type of funeral or memorial service they want.  One of the fundamental aspects of many of the rites associated with world religions is the celebration of the person's life and more and more people want a service that reflects this and helps create a lasting memory.

People are beginning to request services that are more personal and that adequately reflect the person and the sort of life they led.  Favourite music, both classical and contemporary is increasingly common, particularly at crematorium and people now often incorporate photographs or mementoes. It seems that we plan for so many things in life, some of which may never happen, such as taking out travel, accident or terminal illness insurance cover, so it must strike us as absurd not to plan for the one thing guaranteed to happen to us all.

There will be various decisions to be made concerning aspects of a funeral such as:

• Where the body should rest before the funeral
• Where the funeral should be held
• When the funeral should be held
• What type of service (religious or otherwise)
• Who will conduct the funeral and who will take part in it
• What costs are appropriate
• Sending of invitations
• Notices in newspapers
• Whether to have flowers or instead request that mourners donate money to a charity
• Where to donate any flowers following the funeral
• Contacting anyone who needs to know of the death