Families who choose cremation have many options for creating personalized services that celebrate the life of the person they loved and honor their loved one’s memory. 

The first choice is to decide whether cremation will be held before or after funeral services.

Families that are interested in including a visitation can choose to have their loved one cremated following the funeral service. This allows for either an open or closed casket, whether for public visiting hours or a private visitation with close family and friends prior to the funeral service. Most funeral homes provide casket rentals for this purpose. Visitation enables community support for family members and allows the opportunity to say goodbye to a loved one in a concrete way.

The funeral service can be held in a church or other religious house of worship or at the funeral home. This type of traditional service creates a vehicle for ritual and for public remembrances of a loved one and can be extremely healing to the family.

Another option would be to choose cremation followed by funeral services. Families can still choose to hold a visitation with an urn holding the remains. Even without visitation hours, an urn can be present during funeral services which can be held either at a religious facility or at the funeral home. 

By choosing cremation first, options open up regarding the timing of the funeral services or celebration of life. For families who live in different areas, it may take time for them to assemble to remember their loved one. This option gives more flexibility in the timing of both the services and for final dispensation.

There are many options and combinations for services with cremation. A memorial service is a ceremony without the presence of the deceased and can be held either before or after final dispensation. A celebration of life is an end-of-life ceremony where people come together to celebrate the unique life of the deceased, often without the remains present. A visitation can be held with either a casket or urn present and can be included with other services. A funeral service is a ceremony with the deceased present in either a casket or urn. A committal ceremony is held at the grave, columbarium, or other site for final dispensation. A scattering ceremony is held at the scattering site following cremation. Families may decide to hold a visitation, funeral service, and scattering ceremony – or any combination that suits their needs.

Remember, if you or a loved one chooses cremation, there are many service options available that can be tailored to the needs of the family and the wishes of the loved one.

Thanks for reading our blog. You can reach out to us, Wheelan-Pressly Funeral Home and Crematory anytime at 1-309-786-5421 or find us online at wheelanpressly.com