But there’s one event that many of us never look forward to planning and that’s a memorial service for a loved one (or perhaps even yourself if you’re pre need planning). However, never fear, there’s not a wonderful Pinterest board filled with great ideas for memorials for the dearly departed.

The board clearly states “Who wants to plan a funeral, when you can plan a celebration of life instead?”

We’re inclined to agree with that sentiment and we love the ideas that they’ve come up with to help celebrate a life!

Memory Tree: Leave small slips of paper out for guests to write a memory about the deceased. When they’re done, they hang the memory on a tree so that by the end of the service, there’s an entire tree filled with memories of a person’s life.

Plantable Seed Memorial Cards: The paper of the card actually has seeds embedded in the paper so that when guests leave, they can plant the card and watch as beautiful wild flowers bloom from the card.

Memorial Seedlings: If you want trees instead of flowers, you can get little seedlings to give to to each of your guests. They can be planted anywhere in memory of your loved one.

There are a lot of other great ideas on this Pinterest board and it got us thinking why more people don’t use Pinterest to plan a funeral or memorial service. Would you use this social media service to plan a memorial?

Power of Attorney

You never know when tragedy will strike. It’s a very real and terrible fact of life that’s why it is important to specify that your partner has power of attorney and is charged with making medical decisions on your behalf. If no one has expressly been given power of attorney, it’s given to next of kin; and since many states have not yet legalized gay marriage, this means that your domestic partner would not be considered next of kin, no matter how long you have been together. When Power of Attorney is formally designated, it’s very difficult for doctors to refute.

Executor of the Estate

If you want to ensure that your loved one can take charge of your estate after you pass away, designate him or her as the executor of your estate. Again, if this isn’t formally and legally assigned, duties fall to next of kin.

Beneficiary in the Will

This falls under the same category as the two above. If you want your partner to have access to your estate and to benefit from your life insurance, savings, etc. you must express it legally, so be certain to make them a beneficiary in your last will and testament.

We understand that having a conversation about these types of things early on in a relationship can be incredibly uncomfortable. However, the reality is that many of the basic rights afforded married couples do not yet apply to civil unions or domestic partnerships, so it pays to make sure you and your loved one cover all the bases just to be prepared.

Times are changing and states are now, slowly but surely, legalizing gay marriage and with the states that have equal marriage rights for every type of loving couple, all you really need is that certificate and you should be afforded the same rights as every other couple is when it comes to medical rights and death decisions.

At Une Belle Vie, we have an exclusive design called “Fly Away” that’s perfect for the pilot in your life. The beautiful wood details on the plane can be modified according to your specifications and we’ll happily work with you to create a custom urn that is perfect for you loved one’s memory.

If you don’t want to have a literal representation of the deceased’s lifelong passion, you can always opt for something a little more esoteric or abstract.

Our “Epilogue” custom urn can have a cover decorated however you see fit and with whatever title you find most fitting.

One great way to have an urn customized is to purchase a standard metal urn and then commission an artist to paint a mural around the body of the urn. You could have it be a simple, serene sky with clouds or a painting of their favorite type of plane.

Whatever, urns you decide on to honor your loved ones life as a pilot, whether it was professional or a hobby, we’re sure that it will be a beautiful tribute to their life among the clouds.

But a new book is asking what if you could have your funeral BEFORE you die? The book, called “FUN-erals: How Your Friends Can Celebrate You Before You Go,” gives outlines on how to hold a party that’s basically a funeral but you are the guest of honor and you’re still alive and attending.

The basic principle of the book is that it’s sort of a silly idea to have a get together where the most important person isn’t able to attend since, well, they’re dead.

So, to lighten the whole concept of a funeral up, this author decided to start hosting faux funerals. This way, the most important person gets to attend and they can hear all the really nice things everyone says about them before it’s too late.

The book highlights many of the planning aspects of having a fake funeral, including writing an obituary, planning transportation, music and décor and there is a section called “Practicing Dying.”

We’re not quite sure what to think of the idea. On the one hand, it’s nice to see someone trying to find a way to work around all the somber traditions of funerals, but on the other, it seems slightly off to pretend to be dead in order to have a party that brings all your friends together to talk about you.

What are your thoughts? Would you have a mock funeral so that you could be the guest of honor?

When pre-planning, consider using a national or regional service. There is absolutely nothing wrong with pre planning for your funeral. It takes the burden off your family and lets you make the decisions. However, keep in mind that a local funeral home may fall on hard times and close. If you choose to plan with a local home, you run the risk that your pre planned funeral won’t happen because the funeral home no longer exists. For this reason, it’s better to pre plan with a company that’s been around for a while and offers you the ability to pre plan and choose among several funeral homes in your area.

You don’t need to buy your cremation urn or casket from the funeral home. When you visit a funeral home, there will no doubt be some very lovely (and expensive) caskets and urns on display, but you aren’t required to buy directly from the funeral home. In fact, you can find many beautiful caskets and cremation urns online.

You can rent a casket for the viewing. If you’re planning on cremation, but still want to have a viewing, then many funeral homes offer the option of casket rentals. The body is placed in a cardboard container within the casket and then removed after the viewing. This is a great way to cut costs when you’re trying to save some money on the funeral.

Don’t buy caskets with protective gaskets. These are a complete ripoff and should be avoided. Not only does the body still decompose, but harmful gases can build up in the casket and actually cause it to explode.

Request a plain metal or plastic container when picking up cremains. Oftentimes, crematories and funeral homes will put their name on the cremation container that you pick up in order to pressure you into buying a different urn on the spot. However, if you request a plain container, they are required to comply.

Always ask to see the individual price list. Funeral homes tend to create packages for different types of funerals, which can be very helpful, because they will include aspects that you might overlook on your own. However, they might also include service you don’t need. Ask to see the individual price list along with the packages so that you can compare and contrast.

Funerals are usually much less expensive when the body is not present. When there’s no body, there’s no need for a casket or embalming or any of the other necessities that come with having a viewing. If you want to save money, then opt for direct cremation and have the cremains present at the memorial service.

Sometimes the most meaningful funerals cost less. You don’t have to fork over a ton of money to have a beautiful funeral. You can have a memorial in a park or a potluck at a relative’s home. The important part about a funeral is that you are honoring your loved one’s memory and most of the time, the greatest memories made are the free ones.

Easily customizable aspects of a funeral are the colors used during the service, the types of flowers use, and the way the program is designed or even having a special takeaway from the service for guests in order for them to have something to remember your loved one even after they have passed.

If you decide to have your loved one cremated, another way you can customize the service is to have a custom urn or memorial crafted in their honor. If your loved one was a big history buff, then you we have several Une Bell Exclusives and can also have a custom urn made to suit your relative’s favorite area of study.

For example, this replica vintage airplane was made for one of our customers and we’ve recreated it in several other styles and colors for other customers with loved ones who loved flying or were pilots during a war.

For those history fans whose love of centuries past goes back a little further, the Venus of Willendorf is a custom urn, now available as a an exclusive piece. It hearkens back to a time before modern society and can be a great representation of your family member’s love of ancient history.

Whatever their favorite decade or century, our urn artisans will work with you to create a custom urn that’s perfectly suited to honor the memory of the one you’ve lost.

However, lately a couple of reality shows have been picked up by Discovery Channel via TLC and Discovery Health that feature funeral homes.

Best Funeral Ever was originally a just a one off special that was fairly well-received and so renowned reality TV channel TLC (you know, it once stood for The Learning Channel) picked it up for a full season. It will follow the goings on at Golden Gate Funeral Home in Dallas, Texas and showcase some of the fun or crazy ways people chose to celebrate their loved one’s life and mourn their death. Funeral Boss is basically the same thing but set in Missouri and the William C. Harris Funeral Home and airs on Discovery Health.

As much as we like to poke fun of reality TV shows that showcase odd industries or unique characters, there might be an underlying silver lining here.

Perhaps the fact that large cable channels are picking up shows about funeral homes means that the taboos surrounding death and traditions around death are starting to wear off. Sure, the shows are being picked up because working at a funeral home is not a job that everyone has, but it does show that people are curious about it. Instead of ignoring death, we want to see other traditions and funerals from other families around the country, which isn’t a bad thing.

So while we may not be on the couch watching either of these shows, we’re interested to see what they do to further change the views that most of the population have about the funeral industry.

Bury the Lede: Une Belle Vie Memorial Urns has produced some stunning new urn designs since we last visited with Melody Jamali’s company (Aug. 15, 2010; online at bizj.us/gjegl).

The Denver based online retailer is now 3 years old, and says revenue jumped 201 percent from 2010 to 2012. The company makes unique and customized biodegradable urns (decorative-urns.com; 1-877-395-3509).

“We have more than 375 styles and we have artistic pieces that are basically one of a kind,” says Jamali, who contracts with between 30 to 40 artists nationwide to build the urns.

Some examples of the latest urns: ones shaped like a motorcycle, airplane, sparkling wine bottle and sewing machine, and one titled “Diva High Heel Shoe Urn.”

“People want to be remembered for the things that they loved,” says Jamali.

It’s definitely been an exciting ride from starting a business to seeing it succeed the way we’ve wanted it to for the last couple of years. What began as a tribute to our son has turned into something that we are very passionate about and that continues to grow every year. We’re sure that Eric would be pleased as punch with how well the business has done and that every day, we learn how to help people during one of the most difficult times of their lives.

The funeral home itself. One of the interesting findings was the view that boomers have of the predominant existing view of funeral homes and traditional funerals. They don’t want to think of funerals as being sad, somber events, but funeral homes reinforce the negative stereotype of a funeral. The colors are muted and neutral, the space is quiet and cold. In fact, several people interviewed stated that it made them feel like they were “trapped” in a tomb.

The advertisements. Boomers surveyed said they got the same trapped feeling from advertising. The negative images of grief or a hearse or casket make them feel as though there’s no escape from death and sadness.

The concept of death as taboo. One of the surprising findings was that baby boomers are fine talking about death. They want to talk about death and their plans for their estate and their funeral after they pass away. Funeral homes now treat death as something dark and mysterious that should be avoided, but that’s exactly the opposite of what they want!

The traditional funeral. A lot of the people interviewed expressed negative views towards the concept of the “traditional funeral,” but were excited to explain their ideas for their funeral or memorial service. They feel as though their funeral should be planned just like any other event they had in their life: with excitement and celebration. They want their funeral to be improvisational and authentic to who they were in their life.

Once again, there’s another survey that shows that newer generations are moving away from rigid definitions of what a funeral means, and taking the time to define what it means to them personally.

Thanks to Funeral One for this great article!

For example, you could be a sports geeks, Tolkien geek, Dr. Who geek or World of Warcraft geek. There are many kinds of geeks in the world and we think it’s only appropriate to honor your dearly departed geek at heart with a custom cremation urn designed specifically for their obsession. Take a look below to see some of the geeky custom urns we’ve created for our customers.

Sports Geek

Though they might prefer to be called a fanatic, sports nuts love their athletics and we’ve created several custom sports urns to fit their folly. From a golf ball and tee to a tennis ball and basket ball, your loved one can have a memorial that’s a tribute to the passion that they had for a sport.

Dr. Who Geek

For those of you who have a loved one that was a huge fan of the BBC show “Dr. Who,” we’ve designed a British Call Box Urn similar to what’s been used by the doctors on this long running show. It’s such a fitting memorial for someone who’s a huge fan of the show.

Aviation Geek

If your loved one loved flying more than anything in life, you should most definitely consider an airplane cremation urn for their cremains. From Boeing to Cesna, we can design a custom urn that’s a perfect memorial for their life spent in the sky.

There are so many different types of geeks out there and we know that you can think of the perfect cremation urn for a loved one you’ve lost that might have been a bit of a geek at heart about their life’s passion.