Planning your own funeral is no easy task. It may not be pleasant to think about our own passing, let alone how you want others to celebrate your life once you are gone. Funeral pre-planning, however, is a worthwhile process that can help benefit you and your loved ones in many ways. In addition to planning your funeral, you can also pay for it in advance. Both planning and paying for your funeral can bring comfort and relief to many people. They feel relieved knowing that this important task is taken care of and that their loved ones can focus on grieving when the time comes.
What Can Happen If I Do Not Make Funeral Arrangements in Advance?
You may think that it is preferable to leave funeral arrangements to your loved ones. However, when you pass, your loved ones will be grieving. The stress of wondering what you might have wanted can be very taxing during that emotional time.
It Is Challenging for Your Loved Ones
When family members have an immediate need to make funeral arrangements, they must put together a funeral quickly. As they are in the early stages of grieving the loss, they must make a series of stressful decisions about a significant event, when they would likely prefer to focus on their own emotions.
Your Wishes Will Not Be Known
The ceremony is about you, but if your family does not know what you would have wanted, they will be left to guess about your preferences. Sometimes family members feel they need to spend more extravagantly to demonstrate their love for the departed, even if that is not what their loved one would have wanted. Without your input, the celebration of your life may feel less personal.
Your Funeral Costs More
If your family must make arrangements immediately, everything will cost more than if you had prepaid for and preplanned your funeral. Additionally, prepaying funeral expenses allows you to get the most of Medicare and Medicaid.
How to Pre-plan a Funeral
Research Funeral Homes
The first step to pre-planning your funeral is to find the right funeral home that can meet your needs. Once you have selected a few options, ask each funeral director for their general price list, which should list all the services the funeral home offers as well as the prices for each service. Ask about any specific needs you have to make sure the funeral home can accommodate them.
Determine How You Will Be Laid to Rest
Burial, entombment, and cremation are some of the most common ways bodies are laid to rest. Recently, cremation became the top choice in the U.S.
If you wish to be buried you want to find the best cemetery for your needs. You need to determine if you want a below-ground burial or if you might like to be entombed. You will also need to decide on the budget for your casket.
If you wish to be cremated, figure out if you want to be cremated before or after the funeral service. Some people opt to cremate after the service so that the body is available for viewing at the funeral. You will also want to decide what will happen to your ashes after the funeral.
Choose How You Want to Be Remembered
A funeral can be a meaningful way to remember and memorialize someone. A well-planned, thoughtful, and personalized funeral can help family members grieve and mourn together and bring them comfort during an incredibly difficult time.
Aim to plan a funeral that reflects your personal style. Some people want funerals that are more solemn and encourage quiet reflection and mourning. Others prefer a funeral that is a joyful celebration of their life.
The location is one way to personalize the funeral service. The funeral home, graveside, at home—these are just a few of your options. With people increasingly moving farther from their hometown and moving more frequently, you may wish to hold a funeral as well as memorial services in other locations to give all your friends and family an opportunity to grieve fully.
Your religious preferences are another way to craft a personalized funeral. You will want to specify whether you want a religious leader or someone else to officiate it. Let your family members know if you want any scripture or other text read aloud at your funeral and who you want to read it. You may also have hymns or other songs you want played. If you have preferences about flowers or any kind of memorial displays, you can make that known too.
You may wish to have services in addition to your funeral or memorial. Wakes, Shiva, and military honors are some common examples.
Let any additional unique element that you want for your funeral be known.
Determine If Your Funeral Will Support Any Charities
Sometimes family ask for donations to charity to help remember a loved one. You can let them know in advance if there is one you would like to support. You might wish to ask your family members how they feel about people sending flowers to your funeral. Some people find flowers to be a comfort that helps them grieve. Others feel all the flowers are a burden during a difficult time, and in this case, you can tell your family to encourage donations to your chosen charity in lieu of flowers.
Tell Your Family
Make sure that you notify the right people who can execute your funeral plans when you are gone. Sometimes people leave these wishes in a will, but the will may not be read before the funeral occurs. You might wish to create a separate funeral plan that you share with your next of kin. Alternatively, if you prepay a funeral home, they can make sure your plans are executed.
Prepaid Funeral Arrangements at The Gardens of Boca Raton
If you choose to pay for your funeral in advance at The Gardens of Boca Raton, you can trust that your payment is safe and that your plans will be carried out because of the strong state regulations that protect your money. We will guide you through pre-arranging your funeral to ensure that you plan a personalized service that reflects who you are.
We take your pre-paid funeral plans very seriously. When you trust us with your wishes and your money, we take that responsibility very seriously. When you give us your payment, you lock in your funeral costs, and we put this payment into a trust account where it accrues interest until we deliver the funeral services or you cancel the contract. With The Gardens of Boca Raton, you are free to cancel, change, or transfer your contract at any time. Refer to your funeral service contract for details.
We know how overwhelming it can be to plan your funeral in advance. Our funeral experts are experienced in helping people pre-plan their funerals and want to help you plan a funeral service that reflects who you are and your legacy. We are here to help.
