Cremation Gives You More Options When Planning Your Funeral

If you're working on your funeral pre-plan, you'll find that cremation gives you some options over a traditional full-body burial. But you don't have to miss out on any of the services offered by a traditional funeral. You can design your funeral as you wish and choose cremation for the final disposition of your body. Here is how cremation affects your pre-planning of the different stages of your funeral.

Viewings and Visitation Services

You can choose to have one of these informal services to allow people to pay their respects to you and your family. You'll work with the funeral home on the timing of the cremation services. If you choose to have a viewing with an open casket, the funeral home will prepare your body and do the cremation after the viewing. If you wish your cremains to be buried in an urn, you can rent a casket for use during the viewing.

If you have a visitation, with no viewing of the body, you can be cremated immediately after your death and your cremains placed in an urn or ornamental box for the service. You can even rent a casket and have your urn resting in it during the visitation.

Funeral Services

One advantage that cremation has over traditional burial is that your family can take their time organizing your final wishes. Once you're cremated, your family has more time to send out announcements and make arrangements with facilities and speakers. The funeral services can be delayed so that people traveling great distances to be there have time to plan their trips.

Cremation doesn't affect the content of a funeral service. Other than having your cremains resting in an urn, ornate box or full-sized casket, there is no difference from a funeral followed by a traditional burial.

Burial Services

You can be cremated and still choose to be buried in a standard casket in a cemetery. If so, then you can have a traditional grave side service after the funeral service. You can also choose to be buried in a small box in a portion set aside in the cemetery for cremains. Or, you can have your cremains stored in a columbarium. For these last two options, you can have a service during the interment. Columbariums frequently have a small chapel in which a service can be held.

With cremation, you can also choose to have the burial service at a later date. Some people prefer to have a small burial service with just family and close friends. This can be scheduled for several days after the funeral service is held and people have traveled back to their homes.

Contact funeral homes that offer both traditional funeral and cremation services, like Keith Funeral & Cremation Services, to find one that fits your personal needs.

About Me

planning for a funeral while coping with the loss

How do you go about planning a funeral for someone that you love when you are trying to cope with the loss? I have had the unfortunate experience of having to go through this twice in the matter of two short years. First, I lost my father and about 18 months later, I lost my mother. I learned a lot during the planning process for my father that helped me get through the process for my mother. Everything that I learned about planning for a funeral while coping with the loss is included here on my blog to help you get through some of the most difficult days of your life.

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