One of the most loving things that someone can do is to pre-arrange or pre-plan his or her own funeral, relieving the burden from family members. If you feel it’s hard to discuss funeral arrangements at this time, just think how difficult it would be for your loved ones at a time of loss.

Advantages of Planning Your Funeral Arrangements:

Expresses your wishes.

Relieves your family from the stress of having to make decisions at a difficult and emotional time.

Gives you and your family the security and satisfaction of knowing that all the arrangements have been planned.

Planning your own funeral or memorial service can provide peace-of-mind to you and your family.

By planning your service in advance you can design and specify the exact type of service you’d like, so that your friends and family celebrate you as you wish. And by letting your family know how you'd like your funeral or memorial service to be, they'll have less difficult and complicated decisions to make during a difficult emotional time.

How To Personalize Your Funeral Or Memorial Service

Virtually every element of your funeral or memorial service can personalized as much as you like, though you don't need to personalize every possible element in order to have the service be special. When planning the details of your service, think about the way you’d like the service to look, flow, and feel. Many people want their funerals to be celebrations of life rather than sad affairs, and to that end decide to have uplifting music and songs, colorful flowers, and inspirational readings. Other people want their funerals to highlight certain personal interests and achievements, and so ask eulogists to speak on specific topics or choose readings that focus on personal philosophies.

There are many personal elements of your funeral or memorial service that you can plan yourself, with the help of family and friends. You can also work with a funeral home to create the type of event that feels most special to you.

Elements Of Your Funeral Or Memorial Service You Can Plan In Advance

Many elements of a funeral or memorial service can be planned in advance. Some of the things you make decisions about in advance include:

• Having a viewing, visitation, or wake before your service
• The type of service (funeral service, graveside service, or memorial service)
• The service location
• Who you’d like to officiate your service
• Who you’d like to serve as pallbearers
• People to deliver eulogies and other speeches
• Readings, prayers, or poems for people to read
• Music, hymns, or songs
• The type of flowers or decorations you’d like to have
• Having a post-service reception or gathering, and planning that event
• The guest list for your service
• If you want guests to donate to a charity in your name, and coordinating with the charity or setting up a foundation

Religious Traditions

If you will be following any religious or cultural traditions, many core aspects of your service may be dictated by your customs. To learn more about the traditions and customs of a particular religion speak with your local religious leader.

Communicating With Your Family

One of the benefits of planning your service ahead of time is the relief that pre-planning can bring to your family. By planning some or all of the features of the service, or even by simply talking with your family about the kind of service you'd like to have, you can help take some of the pressure off of those who would otherwise have to plan the service during a difficult emotional time—and you can provide them with the information they need in order to honor and remember you in the ways you want.

Once you have finished pre-planning your funeral, put those details in an Pre-Burial Plan Book  where you can share them with trusted Deputies who will carry out your wishes.

Call Us at AMAZING GRACE TOMBSTONES and lets discuss your funeral plans and wants. 

Remember that purchasing a pre-burial plan locks prices in on a funeral that eliminates the stress of inflation drastically increasing the total of your funeral costs. You are buying your burial service at todays prices, not inflated prices 5 or 20 years from now!

Pre-Planning can be funded with different payment options and so your not rushed and can get the best prices for your funeral and make sure that you receive all your wishes and services you want.

Have the Talk of a Lifetime

( facts about the headline video above ) 

Have the Talk of a Lifetime, a program created by The Funeral and Memorial Information Council, was designed to help families have meaningful conversations about the things that matter most in their lives. These discussions can give important insights to the people they left behind — insights that can be used to honor and remember the lives of their loved ones.

Why is having the talk of a lifetime important?

Although we might have daily conversations with our loved ones, the most meaningful and deep ones don’t always happen. Having this kind of conversation can make a huge difference — it can help us see our loved ones in a different and more positive light, it can teach us valuable lessons, it can give us a clearer picture of the things they love, it can bring us closer together, and it can help us reaffirm to them how much we love them.

Who should have the talk?
We could have the talk of a lifetime with anyone we value, cherish, and love. It could be our grandparents, our parents, our siblings, our uncles and aunts, our cousins, our spouse, our children, our grandparents, or our friends. It also doesn’t have to be done only when we feel we are or someone we love is at the end of their life. We’ll never really know what the future holds, so let us take the opportunities we still have with them while we still can.

How do we start the talk?

We shouldn’t really wait for a special moment to start having these kinds of talks. We can do it anytime and anywhere, when we and our loved ones are comfortable — at home while we’re having meals together,out for a walk, gathered as a family, or playing games.

We could also sometimes start with visual prompts, like a photo or an entire photo album, a memento, or a souvenir. We can open up about past experiences while we’re at memorable place, such as  a church, a favorite restaurant, or an old park. These can be great ways to start a story.

May we always treasure every moment of our lives and have meaningful conversations with the ones we love.

Once you’ve decided to plan ahead, you’ll want to avoid the most common pitfalls and mistakes people make. Here are the 9 most common mistakes to avoid as you put together a funeral plan.

Mistake #1 – Making a decision based solely on price

Price is important, but the old adage “you get what you pay for,” is also true. When you are comparing packages, make sure that you know what’s included and what’s not. In other words, make sure you are comparing apples to apples as you search for the best value. Understand that cemetery costs and third-party costs like flowers, obituaries, and police escorts are often not included in a funeral home’s package pricing. It is also good to remember that the best offer should include a reasonably-priced funeral in addition to caring, knowledgeable, professional staff. If you can, take time to tour the funeral home facility and meet the staff. While this isn’t always possible, you can thoroughly explore the funeral home’s website and give them a call to ask questions. Doing these things will help you understand some of the differences between your funeral home options. If you need a little guidance on what to look for in a funeral home, Call Us at Amazing Grace Tombstones. We work with a number of local, professional funeral homes that are embedded in our preplanning packages.

Mistake #2 – Making a decision without enough information

Preplanning doesn’t have to be complicated. But without a funeral professional to walk you through the process, you may miss an important step. After all, you don’t know what you don’t know! To make the best preplanning decisions, you need to know about ALL the options available to you. This is why choosing a reputable funeral home and asking a funeral professional all your questions is so important. Another bonus to preplanning is that you can ask questions and explore options on your own time, without grief or stress. This way, you can have confidence that you’ve made the best choices for your particular needs.

Mistake #3 – Forgetting to balance everyone’s needs

A funeral service is more for the survivors than for the one who has died. It’s a time to reflect, to remember, to honor, to grieve, and to say goodbye. For this reason, when possible, it’s important to seriously consider what kind of funeral service to plan. While the wishes of the deceased are important, it is crucial to take the needs of family and friends into account as well. When only one group is considered, a funeral service may feel lacking rather than provide a meaningful and healing experience. To learn more about the 7 elements of a healing service, click here.

Mistake #4 – Procrastinating

Sometimes people wait too long. The best time to make decisions about preplanning is when you are healthy and can make decisions with a clear, rational mind. When illness comes, we often avoid anything related to death or do not have the energy or time to make plans. On top of that, sadness shrouds the entire planning process. When you are still young and strong, you can make your decisions without a cloud over you because you have continued life and enjoyment ahead of you. None of us knows what the future holds, so no matter your age or stage in life, it’s good to preplan now.

Mistake #5 – Not communicating your wishes to family

Some have missed the critical step of making their wishes known. For instance, some people put their funeral wishes in their will. However, no one reads the will until long after the funeral. Because of this, family members may miss any information that it contains about funeral wishes. Also, verbally sharing your funeral wishes with only a few people isn’t the best route either. Later, the people may disagree about what they each heard and create confusion. Be clear about your wishes and ensure that your immediate family knows what you want by writing it down. If you complete a funeral prearrangement, give them the name of the funeral home. This way, they know who to contact when the time comes.

Mistake #6 – Paying the wrong way

If you decide to pay in advance, you have to make sure that you pay the right way: with a prepaid funeral insurance plan. With a prepaid funeral insurance plan, make sure:

1. Your plan is structured properly for Medicaid if you think you might need to qualify for long-term care assistance from the government.
2. You have an itemized list of expenses from the funeral home based on your preferences (so you know what you’re paying for).
3. You are paying through a reputable insurance company or trust, not directly to the funeral home.
4. The policy is covered by a state guaranty fund that is in place to protect policyholders in the event that an insurance company defaults on benefit payments or becomes insolvent.
5. Your funds will grow over time to keep up with inflation.
6. Your plan includes sufficient funds for cash advance items and other possible, unexpected expenses so that your family will not have to pay for much or any of these expenses out of pocket.

Mistake #7 – Not paying in advance

Keep in mind that funeral expenses rise at a relatively high rate. The cost of steel, materials, energy, and wages contribute to a steady rise in costs over the years. By paying for a funeral in advance, you can sometimes reduce the cost of the funeral and alleviate the stress of paying for a funeral at a time of loss and emotional stress. By prefunding a funeral, you can save hundreds, or even thousands. If you decide not to prefund your funeral, make sure that you or your family have enough life insurance and/or cash on-hand to pay for funeral expenses at the current cost. Keep in mind that even if you have a life insurance policy or a final expense policy in place, the proceeds will not be paid for 6-8 weeks (or even longer) after you put in your claim, which is long after the funeral takes place.

Mistake #8 – Taking care of cemetery needs but not funeral service needs

Purchasing a plot or columbarium niche at the cemetery is just one aspect of the preplanning process. Oftentimes, separate owners run the cemetery and the funeral home. This means that you can purchase space in a cemetery but have nothing planned for the funeral service. A funeral home will help you plan a personalized funeral service and select the merchandise (casket, urn, etc.) necessary to complete your final wishes. When the time comes, the funeral home will work in concert with the cemetery to ensure that everything goes smoothly.

It’s important to address all the details associated with planning a funeral. Working with a funeral home partner will help you stay on top of everything and accurately budget for all of the expenses. Unfortunately, some families miss a few details and end up under-funding the funeral service. Then, they have to hastily find additional financial resources to cover the costs. Planning ahead prevents this last-minute scramble.

Mistake #9 – Not preplanning at all

Whether you decide to pay for a funeral in advance or not, it’s always a good idea to preplan. This way, your family will know exactly what your wishes are. They won’t have to make difficult decisions on one of the hardest days of their lives. Instead, they can be together and grieve their loss. With a funeral plan in place, they can put your wishes in motion, confident in knowing that you will be honored in the way you desired. That takes a lot of stress and strain off the family. By preplanning, you give your family a gift of love – the peace of mind that everything is taken care of.