Preplan Your Cremation And Spare Your Family Stress

Whether it's sudden or the result of a long illness, death is always hard for family members to accept. If they also have to scramble to make funeral arrangements, their time is made even harder. You can do one last favor for your family and plan your final parting so they don't have to deal with the details. If it's your desire to be cremated, you can arrange for it and the memorial in advance, even if you don't expect to pass for many years. Here is some information.

The Cremation Process

If you want to be cremated, you can still choose any funeral home you want to handle the process and hold the service. If the funeral home you prefer doesn't have a crematorium, they can have the procedure carried out elsewhere and your remains returned. This could be important if your family has a long history with a funeral home in your town and you want a traditional service there, but just prefer cremation to burial.

Other places are devoted to cremations and have crematories on site. Those with the equipment on site may have a lower cost associated with handling the process since your body won't have to be transferred. In either case, your body is treated with the same respect whether it is in a casket or an urn. After death, instead of being embalmed, your body is placed in a crematorium and reduced to bone fragments by fire. Your family may be present during this process if they want. Your body is in a disposable casket so they won't have to view anything bothersome. Once the process is over, your family or funeral home of your choice receives your ashes and the memorial can begin. One advantage to a cremation is the memorial service can be at any time after the death. If you need to wait weeks for loved ones to gather, then that's no problem since ashes are conveniently stored in an urn.

Options For The Memorial

There's no right or wrong way to hold a memorial service. When you're cremated, you have many options. You can have a traditional service in a funeral home complete with flowers, music, and speakers, or your family can gather at a beach or other place you loved to spend time together. The important thing is that your family can be together with you one last time to remember you and process their grief. The end of the service can conclude with a scattering of your ashes, or your ashes can be placed in a mausoleum or kept in an urn.

Preplanning Your Cremation Services

The cremation itself and the memorial that follows can all be planned by you and paid for in advance. All your family has to do is follow your wishes, which takes a lot of stress from them. Just like a prepaid funeral, you can choose the funeral home or crematorium that handles your body, lay out your wishes for the memorial service, decide on the final destination for your ashes, and then handle all the financial details while you are still alive. With traditional funerals costing several thousand dollars now, having your cremation and services paid for in advance can take a burden off your loved ones.


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