Surprise, AZ funeral home

Arranging a Funeral Service

Once your deceased loved one is at a Surprise, AZ funeral home, you will have the opportunity to arrange a funeral for them. The purpose of a funeral or a memorial service is to allow family, friends, and colleagues to gather to remember, honor, and respect the life your loved one lived and to share support and comfort with each other.

The first thing you’ll need to choose is what to do with your loved one’s physical remains. Whether you choose cremation, traditional burial or a green burial, you can still have the funeral ceremony (unless you choose direct cremation, in which case you may have a memorial service at a later date). If your loved one’s remains are going to be cremated, you will rent a casket for the funeral service, and the body will be cremated after the service. If your loved one is going to be buried, you will purchase the casket they will be laid out in for the funeral service and then be buried in. 

Next you will arrange the actual funeral service. The most important thing to remember is that this service needs to reflect what your loved one would have considered to be a meaningful way to say “goodbye.” While you can personalize it with your own ideas, try to think how your loved one would react if they were sitting in the audience of the funeral service you are arranging.  

The things in the actual funeral service itself that you’ll need to make decisions that include: 

  • Where the service will be held 
  • Who will lead the service 
  • Whether there will be readings, eulogies, and music and who will participate in these parts of the service 
  • Whether you want food and beverages and who will provide them 
  • Pallbearers 
  • Whether you want to webcast and/or record the funeral service (the funeral home will take care of this) 
  • Personal touches, such as a memorial video, memory boards, and personal memorabilia. 

Next, you’ll need to decide whether you want the body present during the funeral service, and, if you do, whether you want the casket open or closed (if you decide to have it close, funeral directors are very sensitive to the family’s emotional needs and will take you to another area while the funeral home staff close the casket). Traditionally, most funeral services are held with the casket closed, but there is no right or wrong choice here, so whatever your family is comfortable with is the best way to go.  

Another decision you’ll need to make as part of the funeral service is whether you want your loved one memorialized with flowers, donations to worthy causes or organizations that you specify or leave to the donor’s discretion, or both. 

You can learn about how to arrange a funeral service by speaking with one of our experienced and empathetic Surprise, AZ funeral home staff members at Simply Cremation & Funeral Arrangements. Our funeral home is located at 16952 W. Bell Rd., #303, Surprise, AZ, 85374. Contact us today at (623) 975-9393 for whatever help you need.

One Comment on “Arranging a Funeral Service

  1. Thanks for this advice for arranging a funeral service. It’s good to know that you should try to figure out who will lead the service. It sounds important to discuss it in case you think that there is someone you think can do a good job leading the funeral. https://leavittsmortuary.com/funeral-options

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