The Service
Alongside the pain of loss, there is the opportunity to remember – to reflect on your loved one’s life and everything they meant to you, in the way they would have wanted.
The funeral service usually takes place in a church or crematorium, however, there are many other venues to consider such as community centres or private land.
Who can take the service?
Anyone can lead the funeral service, however, usually one of the following are used:
A Minister of Religion: A religious service that will reflect the faith of the person who has died
A Celebrant: They can lead a non-religious service, or can include elements of religion such as hymns and prayers.
A Humanist: This is a non-religious service and reflects on the life that has been lived.
We work closely with a number of celebrants, humanists and ministers and can advise you on who we feel best suits your needs. Of course, you may already know who you would like and that is absolutely fine too
What does the service include?
The person leading the funeral service will arrange a time to meet with you to talk through the service.
A Church of England service will usually follow a standard order including hymns, eulogies, a bible reading, psalms and prayers including the Lord’s Prayer and a blessing and commendation.
Alternative Christian denominations and other religions have their own specific format and rituals and we can guide you through these and put you in touch with the appropriate religious leaders.
When a Civil Celebrant leads the ceremony, you usually have a lot more flexibility in planning the service and choice of music and readings, with many opportunities to personalise the service.
For a Humanist funeral there can be no religious content at all, and a Humanist celebrant would work with you to decide the format that you would like the service to follow.
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Service Sheets and Printing
Service sheets can be as simple or as bespoke as you like. We have a range of designs for you to choose from ranging from black and white to full colour montages. You can photos to us digitally, or we can scan hard copies in our branches.
Once the person leading the service has met with you, they will send us a copy of what has been agreed including music and readings. We can then work with the professional design company to produce a proof for you to check. We only ever approve them for print once you are you are completely happy with it.
We can also offer many other printed keepsakes such as framed photos, bookmarks and memorial seed cards.
Recording those that are present
We offer a service called ‘taking names’ where some of our bearers attend the service venue ahead of time and capture the names of all the attendees by asking them to sign their names as they arrive. We then collate these names into a beautiful ring bound book. This is a truly valued service as often the close mourners can find it difficult to notice everyone who is in the congregation and the day can seem to pass in a blur.
You may wish to take it to the wake for people to add further mmemories or messages of support.
Children at the funeral
Children may want to be part of the funeral service. They may want to read a special poem or reading, or place something special on top of the coffin.
It is important to support children during bereavement as often what they imagine is far worse than the truth. We have many resources to support children during bereavement including our bereavement library and our video called ‘What Happens At A Funeral’ which is designed to help young people know what to expect at a funeral.
