How To Go About Pre-Arranged Funeral Arrangements

Pre-arranged funeral arrangements have numerous benefits, the least of which is leaving behind no funeral expenses for your family. Companies like Brinsfield-Echols Funeral Home can help you plan out your funeral so that there's less stress on your family. If you think you would like to make your own end-of-life arrangements, you should get started now. If you do not know how to get started, here are a few tips that can help:

Shop Around

It sounds weird to shop around for funeral arrangements, but you might be surprised at the spectrum of prices charged for these services. One funeral home might charge twice as much for the same coffin as another funeral home. If you want a wake for a hundred people, but extra people show up, this funeral home may charge extra to accommodate the extra mourners, while another funeral home will not charge anything extra at all. Paying for these services in advance is just as important as getting the best price for the services and funerary products you want.

Pick a Resting Place

If you are going to be buried, pick out a plot in the cemetery in which you want to be buried. If you are going to be interned in a mausoleum, pick the crypt space. If you are going to be cremated and you want your ashes to be entombed rather than sprinkled or saved, choose an urn and a spot in the cremains mausoleum. This is, perhaps, the most important funeral decision, and should be made with certainty.

Pick Your Prayers, Hymns, Services and Religious Officiant

Depending on your faith or religious beliefs, you should select a religious officiant (if you want one) and any prayers, hymns and ceremonial services you want. Make sure these requests are written down on paper, and that the officiant has agreed to them. Having your final ceremonial wishes on paper means that everyone knows ahead of time how you would like to be remembered and celebrated. Additionally, you should open a funerary services account with the funeral home, out of which the officiant and services will be paid after you have departed.

Headstone or No Headstone

Most people would choose a headstone, but if you are going to be in a crypt or mausoleum, a wall plaque is all you really need. You may also choose not to have any of these burial markers, although it is rather unusual. Finally, if you decide to go with an alternative "natural" burial, where your body is laid in one spot and allowed to decay naturally, you will not need any marker at all.