When a loved one or family member passes away, there are many small things that need to be taken care of before their funeral. Not only will you be speaking with a funeral home or crematory to make arrangements for caskets or cremation urns, you’ll also need to plan the funeral or memorial service itself, which can include tasks such as finding a florist and the proper musician for your loved one’s service.
One of the other tasks you’ll need to take care of is making the funeral program that will be distributed during the deceased’s service. There are certain items that are traditionally featured on a program and they include the following:
- Full name
- Date of birth
- Date of death
- Funeral information (time, date and place)
- Name of the service officiant (priest, pastor or other)
- Name of the person delivering the eulogy
- Titles of the songs that are sung or played during the service
- Full names of the pallbearers (if they aren’t being cremated)
- Place of internment (if they are being buried)
Of course, this being your funeral to organize, you can choose to leave off any information that you like, but you may also choose to add information that you think your loved one would have liked to see on their funeral program. This information can include a brief biography of their life or some favorite photos. You can also include information on donating to a charity on their behalf.
Don’t forget the cover! The funeral program cover is the first thing that someone sees, so you want to make certain that it’s something special to your loved one. You can choose to have photos from their life, or an image of their favorite place or activity in order to make it relevant and unique to their funeral.
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Until my grandmother passed away, I didn’t understand how important funeral planning actually was. Losing a loved one isn’t something you like to think about before it happens and handling the details after the fact can be emotionally painful. Having a third party available to handle the details of the funeral is such a blessing after suffering the loss of a loved one.