How to Personalize a Funeral Service

Are you afraid that your funeral will be too cookie-cutter? Click here to learn how to beautifully personalize a funeral service to honor your loved one.

A funeral can be a somber occasion. But, it’s also the chance to celebrate the life of your loved one after they’ve passed.

By personalizing your funeral service, you can turn your memorial into a celebration of life. But, planning a funeral can still be difficult, especially in a time of mourning.

From the food to the music, there are many ways to customize your service to create a unique celebration of life. Personalizing your service can allow the memory of your departed loved one to remain close to you in a time of great difficulty.

Because planning an event in this difficult time is no easy task, we’ve gathered some useful tips and ideas to help you plan a memorial service your dearly departed would have loved.

Choose a Unique Theme for Your Funeral Service

A good place to start when it comes time to plan a funeral service is to decide if you would like a custom theme. Choosing a specific theme for your funeral service can help make sure all the elements of your funeral go together.

An event theme doesn’t need to be anything super specific or in-depth. Some examples of potential themes include:

Including your departed loved one’s favorite color
Honoring your loved one’s career or career path
Celebrating your loved one’s favorite hobby

What theme you choose will be a personal decision based on the interests and passions of your departed loved one. Some people may choose an animal, color, or interest that was specifically important to their loved one.

No matter what you choose, having a theme can help organize your funeral planning, while celebrating the incredible life your loved one lived.

Find the Perfect Location

Another good way to honor what made your loved one special is by choosing a location that was important to them. Perhaps there was a park, church, or other location that was particularly special to your loved one.

Deciding on your location early on in the planning process can help save you some serious hassles later on. This is because your particular location will impact the rest of the funeral service.

A few locations to you might consider include:

A nature reserve where your loved one went to recharge
A family home or property
A church where your loved one worshipped

The location may also be related to or enhance your theme. No matter what, the location should be somewhere where the memory of your loved one is strongest.

Celebrate With a Particular Dress Code

Most funeral services include lots of black attire. However, if you want to personalize a funeral service, a good way is by asking everyone to wear a particular color or clothing item.

Special colors or clothing items can help enhance the theme or encapsulate an important facet of your loved one’s life. For example, you could:

Wear an item of clothing your loved one was known for, such as funky socks or special hats
Have everyone wear your loved one’s favorite color
Celebrate their hobby by wearing knitted or crocheted items
If they made clothes, have people wear the items they were given by them

All of these can be beautiful celebrations of your loved one’s passions and interests. They can also help turn your funeral into a personalized celebration.

Play Music Your Loved One Would Enjoy

Music can help lighten up any occasion, even a funeral service. It is also a great way to celebrate your departed loved one. In any case, music helps set the mood of your life celebration.

For many of us, music is incredibly important to our day-to-day life. Your loved one was likely no exception. By playing the music they enjoyed at their memorial service, you can help it feel as if they are still with you.

A few tips for selecting the perfect music includes:

Choose top songs from your loved one’s favorite genre
Play selections from their favorite artist or band
Invite a local band to perform, especially if your loved one was fond of live music or a particular group

The right music can help lighten everyone’s spirits in a time of grief, as well as help you feel the memory and presence of those you have lost.

Create a Beautiful Memorial Display

A memorial display is a perfect way to honor the life of your loved one. While many think of memorial displays as a collection of physical objects, digital memorial displays have also become increasingly popular. Some people even choose to do a combination of both.

Memorial displays are usually collections of photos, videos, or important objects that help encapsulate the beautiful spirit of your departed loved one. Some ideas include:

Creating a table to display your loved one’s prized possessions or awards
Placing photo albums or scrapbooks out for guests to explore
Creating a video tribute featuring photos and videos of your loved one’s life

All of these are great ways to share and celebrate the life your loved one lived. There are also services that will help you prepare these touching tributes.

Select Special Flower Arrangements

Flowers have been a part of funeral services as far back as 62,000 BC, or even longer. Since the early days of humanity, we’ve been using flowers to celebrate and remember the lives of those we have lost.

There are so many floral arrangements to choose from. With all these options, it is important to remember your loved one.

Was there a particular flower that they were fond of? Or is there a special arrangement that would compliment your theme?

These are good questions to ask when choosing an arrangement, as they can help narrow down your search.

Serve Up Your Loved One’s Favorite Dishes

Food is the ultimate source of comfort when it comes to dealing with grief. It can make us feel warm or remind us of treasured memories. It is also an important part of many funeral services.

While not all services choose to offer food afterward, those that do may find inspiration from the personal taste of their departed loved one. Serving up some of their favorite dishes can help remind you of those special memories you have shared.

Some ideas of foods you might serve include:

Catering from your loved one’s favorite restaurant
Special recipes they invented or enjoyed making
Making your own versions of their favorite dishes

Certain funeral locations may also offer catering of their own. If this would make things easier for you, that is also a great option.

Draft Speeches of Celebration

Speeches and readings are usually a large part of funeral services. These are opportunities to speak on the impact your loved one had, and remember those fond memories you shared.

Any speeches and readings are also a great opportunity to reflect your loved one’s personality. For example, perhaps your loved one had a sparkling sense of humor that would best be honored with personalized jokes.

Or, maybe your loved one was religious and would appreciate selections from their book of worship. Perhaps, a celebration of their empathy would be best.

Either way, any spoken pieces should be the perfect encapsulation of your loved one’s life and personality.

Present Guests With Special Gifts or Tokens

The memory of your loved one’s amazing life should last long after their funeral service has ended. A great way to memorialize them is to provide funeral guests with special gifts or tokens they can take with them.

These tokens don’t need to be large, expensive, or elaborate. In fact, smaller, more personalized gifts, can carry even larger meaning.

Some ideas of gifts include:

Bookmarks engraved with your loved one’s name
Prayer cards featuring their picture and favorite quotes or prayers
Pens engraved with their name or favorite quote
A printed recipe or recipe book that was invented by or important to your loved one
Your loved one’s favorite candy, personalized with their name or initials
Flowers from the funeral service

These gifts will allow those who cared for your loved one to carry their memory with them long after the service has ended.

Create an Online Memorial Page

Another way to keep the memory of your loved one alive is to create an online memorial page. These pages can create a space where those who cared for your loved one may post memories, photos, or thoughts about the departed.

Especially in these times, memorial pages can let your loved one’s community feel connected to them, even from far away places. These pages also last forever, so you’ll never have to forget the joy your loved one brought.

Special Services Help Us Remember Special People

Your loved one was a beloved and important person with interests and passions that likely touched a community of people. A personalized funeral service is a perfect way to honor all the light they brought into the world.

Contact us today to learn more about how to honor your dearly departed loved ones. Our personalized cremation services can help you honor and carry their memory forever.