How do we plan a Funeral Ceremony?

I believe that funeral ceremonies & memorials are a time for honouring, to express gratitude, grief and love. For some people, this is a celebration, for some it is more of a time to gather as a community in support and sadness, for some it is a mix of these things and more.

This time of grieving and organising & planning ceremony & ritual can be so tricky to navigate. It requires effort and reserves of strength perhaps you don’t know you had- all through the fog of grief and shock and sometimes disbelief. I’ve been told I‘m quite good at guiding & supporting people through this time of transition. 

​I plan & write all my ceremonies in close consultation with the family & ask lots and lots of questions to get a good idea of who your loved one is, what your needs and wants are, and I have lots of ideas (should you need them) about creating the most personal & fitting ceremony possible. 

We talk about your person, your love for them, the grief & gratitude you’re feeling. We discuss who will write and deliver eulogies and tributes, what music will be used, what rituals are fitting, how the service is to feel, what colours/special items of clothing to wear, do we include songs/prayers/a call & response? We will probably come up with ideas together that you hadn’t thought of before… people often say, “Oh! I didn't know we could do that!” or “Oh! I hadn’t thought of that!” So, we stay open to inspiration and all the ideas that come to us in mysterious ways and together we create a time of beauty, of sorrow, of togetherness- a time which honours your person and sets you on your path of bereavement.