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  • Writer's pictureJames Selders

A Guideline to Pre-Planning Your Funeral

Planning for a funeral is taxing and more often than none is marked with an emotional toll. Not only your loved ones have to mourn and suffer your loss, but they also have to go through financial and logistical stress of organising a funeral while going through all the condolence messages that will pour through for you. That is indeed a strenuous time for them. So, if you want to help them out after your death, you can do so by simply pre-planning your funeral. As unconventional as it may sound, more and more people are nowadays stepping it up to either help out their friends and family members or to make sure that their own funeral goes just the way they have envisioned it. So, let us help you pre-plan your own funeral.


Pre-Planning Your Funeral

Taking a systematic approach towards pre-planning your funeral helps ensure everything goes smoothly and efficiently. The following steps should serve as the base for your funeral.


· Decide What You Want to Do With Your Body Post-Death


The first thing that you need to decide is how you want your body to be treated. Do you want it to be buried or cremated or donated? If you want it to be buried, you need to buy a burial spot in a cemetery or mausoleum. If you want it to be cremated, you need to decide whether you want the cremated remains to be buried, scattered or stored in an urn and given to someone. If you want your body to be donated, decide whether you want your whole body or just the organs to be donated. Whatever you decide, you need to let your family know about it. Even if you don’t care what happens to your body after death, let your family know that too.


· Find a Funeral Director


Hire a funeral director who will take over the memorial service. He or she will help you purchase whatever you need for the funeral service. They will handle all the major tasks while your loved ones can attend to the numerous condolence messages that will be showered in your memory.


· Having a Financial Safety Net


It is always a great idea to pre-pay for all or at least some of the products and services that you are organising for your funeral. Dealing with finances is stressful immediately after death and you definitely don’t want to see your family members stress about it.


· Maintaining a Chronological Order


Try to make a list of the events that you would want to be followed before and after your funeral in a chronological manner. These can be wakes, visitations, viewings that usually takes place before a funeral or gatherings, receptions, reading of sympathy messages, etc., that takes place usually after the funeral.


· Personalise Your Funeral


Your funeral will be attended by all the people that were important to you. They will be there to witness the last of you. Therefore, it is essential that your funeral should reflect your personality and life. Decide on who you want to serve as pallbearers, what songs you want to be played in the background, whom do you want to read the condolence messages, whom do you want to officiate the funeral services, who should be on your guest-list and what kind of décor and flowers you would want. Personalise your funeral as much as you can without going overboard.


Try to keep a written document of all your funeral plans since it would serve as a referral for your loved ones when they actually have to carry out the services. It is of course not mandatory to pre-plan your funeral. In fact, for some, the thought of it is melancholic. So, do not feel pressurised to do so. But having a pre-plan for your funeral will allow your loved ones to mourn you without the stress of the funeral service. As stated above, they can read the condolence messages with ease and in leisure, experiencing the heartfelt emotions that they


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