Ceremonies and Cremation

Services or ceremonies may be conducted when cremation is chosen. Cremation does not limit choices, but increases the options available to you. It in no way eliminates a funeral. Optional services may precede or follow the actual cremation. Prior to the cremation there may be a visitation and/or funeral ceremony with the casketed body present. If a ceremony or service is held following the cremation, the receptacle containing the cremated remains may take a place of prominence. This receptacle is most commonly an urn, which is taken to its final resting place following the ceremony.

Regardless of whether the cremation precedes or follows the funeral, the funeral service should be tailored to benefit the living. Viewing the body of the deceased can help bereaved persons begin to overcome grief by more readily accepting the fact that a death has occurred. Funeral ceremonies also have value in offering family and friends an opportunity to honor their loved one and it gives them an opportunity to remember.