Understanding Funeral Home Terminology

When you’re planning Buckeye, AZ cremations or funerals, a process that can be stressful and emotional, funeral home terminology is part of that process. Most people are unfamiliar with much of the terminology used by funeral homes, so this can create confusion and make the who process of planning overwhelming.

This guide offers brief descriptions of common terminology that funeral homes use in cremations and burial processes:

• Arrangement Conference – This meeting, which usually takes place within 24 hours of death, brings the funeral home director together with the deceased’s family to plan funeral services, memorial services, cremation, and burial. The funeral home director will review options for honoring the deceased and will review the various disposal options with the family. Additionally, if a funeral service or memorial service is being held, they will be planned during this meeting. The family can provide a pre-written obituary at this meeting or the funeral home director will help them craft one. A final part of this meeting is getting all the information the funeral home director needs to get the death certificates.

• Arrangement Room – A private conference area in the funeral home where the arrangement conference is held.
• Burial Vault – The lined and sealed underground container where the casket will be buried. This structure helps keep the casket and ground around it from sinking over time.
• Casket – Wood or metal enclosure where the deceased’s body is placed for burial.
• Certified Death Certificate – Local governments issue original death certificates when someone dies. Certified copies are required for insurance policies and may be required for other business as well. The funeral home director will order several copies of these and will ensure that family gets them.
• Columbarium – A building with individual units that are used to store cremains.

• Committal or Graveside Service – A short service at the cemetery plot that commits the body to the ground.
• Cremation – A disposal process that uses intense heat and pulverization to reduce human remains to infinitesimal bone fragments.
• Embalming – A chemical process to preserve the body.
• Final Disposition – Choice of whether the deceased will be cremated or buried.
• Funeral Home Director – Professional who assists the family in the funeral process and coordinates all aspects of it.

• Grave Marker or Headstone – A metal or stone installation that marks the grave with pertinent details about the deceased.
• Interment – Action of burying the body.
• Inurnment – Action of placing cremains in an urn that is stored in a mausoleum, columbarium, or an urn garden.
• Mausoleum – Aboveground building that serves as the final resting place for the deceased.
• Memorial Service – Service similar to a funeral service, but the body is not present and the service is often held some time later after death and final disposition.

• Urn Garden – A designated landscaped space within a cemetery that is specifically used to bury urns with cremains.
• Visitation or Viewing – A ceremony that usually precedes funeral services before cremations or burials. It’s purpose is to allow mourners to pay their final respects to the deceased and to comfort, support, and encourage the deceased’s family.

If you’d like to get a better understanding of funeral home terminology for Buckeye, AZ cremations and funerals, our empathetic and knowledgeable staff at Simply Cremation & Funeral Arrangements is here to help. You can visit our funeral home at 16952 W. Bell Rd., #303, Surprise, AZ, 85374, or you can call us today at (623) 975-9393.