What Should I Expect When Planning a Memorial Service?

When you’re in the unfortunate position of mourning a loved one who has passed on, you might not know quite what to do in terms of their memorial service. This is the time you need guidance more than ever, with everything from planning the event itself to choosing a memorial headstone in Phillipsburg, NJ. With this in mind, we’ve assembled a list of considerations that should help you during your time of grief:

• Focus: What kind of service do you want to have: a traditional funeral, a modern celebration of life or something else entirely? Deciding the theme can help you make the rest of your important decisions.
• Location: Will you be renting a location to hold the service? Traditionally, you might use a funeral home, a church or your own home, but local parks and gardens are also a lovely choice, depending on the weather.
• Date: Pick the date you feel comfortable with, even if that’s several weeks or months after your loved one passed. You may want to take your family’s locations and travel needs into account when selecting a date.
• Family drama: Unfortunately, deaths can bring up a lot of unresolved family tensions and controversies. Some families have excellent results by holding a family resolution session with a therapist or religious leader prior to the memorial.
• Obituary: Next, you’ll want to write the obituary and have it published, whether online, in the newspaper or emailed to family and friends. Consider publishing the memorial details at the same time.
• Notifying out-of-town loved ones: Be sure to allow your out-of-town family and friends enough time to travel to your location for the memorial.
• Service leader: Choosing the service leader can simply be a matter of asking a clergyperson to lead the memorial, or you may want to run it jointly between multiple loved ones.
• Plan the service: Planning the service is the biggest and most emotionally-fraught task on your list, but having a detailed order will help you when grief is likely to overwhelm. Consider the music, readings, religious elements, memorabilia you’d like to display, flowers, candles and anything else that would make this a fitting tribute to your loved one.
• Reception: Many funerals and memorials offer a reception afterward in an effort to make the best out of a terrible situation. Be sure to have plenty of food and drink available, and decide on a location well ahead of time. If you’re renting a place, you may need to plan well in advance.

Cemetery monuments and memorial headstones in Phillipsburg, NJ

Phillipsburg Memorial Company has been serving the Lehigh Valley area for over 75 years. Our family owned and operated business takes the wishes of every one of our valued customers very seriously. We know how important it is to you to honor the life of your loved one and to grieve in your own way, and our goal is to ensure that an attractive, well-made memorial headstone in Phillipsburg, NJ is created to help you with this process. Contact us today to learn more about our services.

Categorised in: Headstone