Tips For Planning A Memorial

Families often wonder how they can plan a memorial service for their loved one without the formality and financial obligations of a complete funeral service. There are many ways to plan the perfect celebration that remembers and celebrates your loved one’s life. Below are some tips to help you get started.

  1. Decide on a date and time for the memorial. It can be held days, weeks or months after the death, or even on the first anniversary of their death.
  2. Choose a location to hold the memorial. It can be at a church, community center, park, beach or a backyard. If desired, we can help you arrange a service in an affiliated chapel.
  3. Put together a guest list. You can send the invite via email, mail an invitation or even call and personally invite everyone.
  4. Select and plan the food and beverages that will be served, music that will be played, special readings, prayers or poems that will be read. You can also choose to include flowers and other decorations that had special meaning to your loved one.
  5. Put together memory boards or memory tables with photographs or other symbolic elements that will be displayed at the memorial. If your loved one had a hobby or interest, such as wood carving, golf, traveling, gardening, reading, baking or fishing, then incorporate some of those things in your display.
  6. Find someone to lead the service that will welcome the attendants, introduce speakers, direct prayers and songs, and initiate periods of silence. It can be a clergyman, professional speaker, family member or friend – whoever is comfortable enough to speak in front of everyone.
  7. Get family members and friends involved. They can be speakers, readers, singers, musicians, cooks or decorators – every extra hand is helpful.
  8. Consider if you want to hand out programs or memorial cards to guests, or some other keepsake for them to take with them and remember your loved one, such as a seashell, golf tee or seeds to plant in their memory.

Our cremation specialists can help you explore the best way to honor your loved one.

Please contact us or call 803-594-3436 for assistance.

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