The newest trend in funeral service is personalization. More and more people are opting to look for fun and innovative ways to personalize their loved one’s funeral. It is the perfect way to honor their memory and add a little uniqueness to their funeral service. If you find yourself searching for some on of a kind ways to add some personalization to a loved one’s funeral, we have a few ideas to help you along the way. Check some of these out and see if they will easily fit into the funeral service you are planning.
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Share some memories and personal stories. A typical funeral has one speaker, such as the priest, preacher or funeral director. However, you could set aside a special time for people acquainted with the deceased to come forward and share any special stories, funny moments or their cherished memories they have of the deceased. You could ask people ahead of time if they would like to volunteer a story or two, or you could just have an open mic type of thing and leave it open for whomever would like to share. Remember to allow people from every time and group in the deceased life to get many different types of stories.
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Incorporate their favorite music or literature. You can easily add their favorite music to play during the funeral with the other hymns, sing their favorite song during the service, read from their favorite books or recite their favorite poems. These things were special to your loved one, and I bet they would appreciate you adding these to their funeral service. It is also a perfect way to remind others of their memories of your loved one and reminisce about better days with your loved one.
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Add a photo display. Having a photo display is a great way to share memories and special moments featuring the deceased. You can ask people to contribute any photos they may have. You could easily turn these photos into a collage and have them on display with the other decor during the funeral service, or you could turn them into a slide show. The slide show could have its own special time slot to not take away from the main speaker of the funeral. You could have a lone speaker narrate the slide show or have people who were featured or know the photo to come up and tell their story about the photo. You could also feature the slide show to their favorite music, if you wanted.
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Personalize the funeral program. A typical funeral service will have a program. They are handed out as people come into the funeral and typically detail the order things will happen. However, you could take it a step farther and add personal stories, photos, song lyrics or favorite words of poetry of the deceased. You can add so much from your loved one to these. The options are limitless, and the cost will be minimal because most funerals already feature a program. It is up to you to ask to add what you think your loved one would have wanted.
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Hand out personalized gifts or keepsakes. Many other ceremonies and celebrations offer gifts to guests to thank them for coming, so why not do the same at a funeral? You could give out something that relates to your loved one, such as photos, sports memorabilia, their favorite flower or favorite food. You could personalize a candle, other decorations or posters. It could be something special to your loved one, something that reminds you of them or something with their picture on it. You can hand them out prior to the funeral, during the service, in the receiving line with the family or place them on a table for attendees to pick up on their own.
The options are fairly limitless when it comes to personalizing and customizing a funeral. Most funeral homes and funeral directors will be more than happy to work with you and may even offer some suggestions of their own. Remember they have been doing this awhile and know what their other clients liked or disliked about the process, and they will know more about what you may or may not need to achieve the best personalization possible. Remember the employees at the funeral home are on your team and are there to help you achieve the best funeral possible for you to honor your loved one, so you should never be afraid to ask for help.