Making Funeral Arrangements

If you will organize your loved one’s funeral, you will have several responsibilities:

• Comforting those most affected by the loss
• Notifying family, friends, and business associates
• Meeting with your funeral director for arrangements
• Deciding on traditional burial or cremation and the final resting place
• Providing information for the obituary announcement
• Working with the funeral director to decide on the time, place, and type of visitation and the setting for the service
• Planning the tribute - including any flowers, photos, music, memorabilia, eulogies – and deciding where the tribute(s) will take place (funeral home, house of worship, graveside committal service, etc.)
• Choosing pallbearers (if applicable)
• Selecting the casket, cremation urn, burial vault, memorial keepsakes
• Following up after the service with thank-you notes (if you wish)
• Distributing the deceased’s remaining personal belongings