Family members and friends never forget the love when you personalize a funeral. Losing a loved one is never easy. Whether they’ve succumbed to all long-term illnesses or health conditions or they’ve been taken unexpectedly, the grieving process is hard and all-consuming. You can leave those left behind with a lot of questions and heartache, regardless of the situation.
Personalizing a funeral isn’t always something people want to think about, but as hard as it might be, adding those personal touches can demonstrate your love for them and help you deliver the best send-off possible as you say your last goodbye. It’s not just about making the funeral unique but also about creating a meaningful experience that can help you and others cope with the loss.
Whether it is bringing something solely for your benefit or including their wider circle of friends, a touch of personalization to a funeral can make it something extra special for everyone.
The music you choose will not just set the tone for the funeral, but it will also inspire a creative and uplifting ambience for the sombre event. It can be fun and uplifting and play into creating a celebration of their life, or it can be representative of the grief and gravitas of the situation.
However, to make it more personal, you want to use their favorite music, not what you enjoy or think is appropriate. Choose songs they enjoyed listening to, and that represent who they were to make it more about them and their lives rather than your sorrow and loss. This can play an important part in helping you remember who they were and how they lived their lives as you wish them well on their final chapter on earth.
Picking themes for the funeral might seem in poor taste, but for those who had larger-than-life characters or had a passion for a certain subject in life, incorporating this into the funeral can be a great way to represent them and show them that you really cared and took an interest in their interests.
Whether it’s wearing their favorite color or having everyone wear a pattern or logo, you can choose fancy dress if you wish or incorporate elements of their life into the funeral so it’s unique for them. It can use their favorite sport to create decor to adorn the funeral, it can have a firework display live streaming it to friends and friends who cannot attend but want to pay their respects, or you can hand out gifts that mean something such as a book for avid readers, artwork for artists, etc.
Ask your funeral directors about what you can include to create a theme that presents your loved one and adds those additional personal touches.
You don’t need to have a big funeral in a church or crematorium if you don’t wish to. You can choose to pay your respects in different ways that pay homage to your loved one and present the deceased more accurately. These are often referred to as ‘alternative funerals’ and can include eco-friendly options, non-religious ceremonies, or unique ways of honoring the deceased’s life and interests.
You might find that an eco-funeral aligns more with what they might have wanted. You might prefer to scatter ashes in a woodland or at sea. You can choose to follow non-religious rituals or forgo religion altogether and create your own service and word of remembrance.
A direct cremation might be more in line with what you want, and you simply bypass the service and opt for choosing grave headstones that serve as cremation grave markers so you have a place to visit.
As mentioned, you don’t need to use the predetermined service or eulogy rules that are often present at funerals. To personalize the service itself, you can choose the right words for your eulogy to demonstrate the person you are saying goodbye to and tailor everything so it has more meaning and is representative of them.
As hard as it might be to write a eulogy, try to include stories about your time together, fun experiences, the holidays you took together, life lessons you learned, and quirks and traits that can help others learn more about them and think about their time with them.
If you prefer others to write and read eulogies for you, this could be possible. Having as many people as allowed will help everyone learn more about them from different perspectives and viewpoints and share their love and grief at their passing.
Creating a display can be a great way to showcase them and bring their life into what is likely going to be a sad event. You can create a static display of pictures and mementos of who they were. You can create a slideshow of their best moments or a video montage of them to really bring their personality into the service. Use pictures and videos from their childhood through recent items for a full walkthrough of their life.
In terms of creating a truly bespoke and personalized funeral, you can integrate their actions and skills into the service itself. Were they good at artistic endeavors, meaning you can showcase their creations or artwork work, for example? You could display their paintings or sculptures in the venue. Were they skilled photographers, meaning you can display their shots alongside pictures of them to help you create a visual representation of their life and talent? You could create a photo gallery of their best shots. It can be anything you wish to showcase their love for life.
Whether you’re holding a service and a traditional funeral or not, a celebatory event can really speak to others who want to join you in paying tribute to your loved one. You can hold a concert in lieu of or after the service; you can invite others to join you in different activities; you can host a dance or have a celebration involving different food trucks, for example, performers or anything you wish.
As long as it means something to you and your loved one and is something they would enjoy if they haven’t left wishes suggesting this the perfect if not, think of something they absolutely would have loved to do and try to incorporate it into the funeral plans for a more personalized day.
If you opt for burial over cremation, then personalizing the casket can be an extra special touch that enables you to tailor your loved one’s last resting place. Designing a casket in their favorite colors, team logo, movie franchise, i.e., Avengers or Disney, etc., can allow you to make the coffin that little bit more a part of who your loved one was and what they were about as they take their final journey to their resting place.
This could involve using their favorite flowers over standard funeral options, forgoing florist-bought options and choosing wildflowers, or having artificial bouquets you can take home as a reminder of the service. Choose a flower arrangement they would have chosen if they were still here and incorporate this into your day for a more meaningful touch.
Incorporating the people you are saying goodbye to into the funeral can help you bring their essence into the ceremony and make it as much about them as you can. This can be bringing some of their favorite things with you. from artwork to hobby items, sports kits, military medals, or clothing; it can be anything that reminds you of them regardless of what it is and shows others more about who they were.
You can use this option alongside many others in this post to create layers of personalization that are woven into the funeral to give them the send-off they deserve, and you want for them.
Creating a personalized funeral when you are grieving isn’t always easy, and it can be difficult even to contemplate making more elaborate plans at this time. But some small touches can make all the difference for you after a more personalized funeral that honors your loved ones and celebrates who they were.
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