Creating a Unique Life Celebration

MELBOURNE, Australia - March 28, 2014 - PRLog -- When you think of personalising a funeral, what do you think of?

When we need to assist a family to create a funeral ceremony that truly provides a unique celebration of their loved one's life, it needs to be meaningful to them and their loved one.

Personalising the ceremony, assists our families to tell the life story of their loved one with their friends, extended family and individuals who have come to support and honour the life of the individual who has passed. Every life is worth celebrating and there are many options and ideas on how to assist families to do this in their own way.

Consider some of these suggestions..

DVD Tribute: One of the ways you can begin to personalise the funeral ceremony is by creating a high quality DVD Tribute of your oved one. This DVD presentation can capture the memories perfectly as they start the healing process and reflect on the life lived. Everyone one can focus on their memories and happier times together. The actual time spent together as a family or group of friends, going through the photos, reminiscing and recalling the memories can be start of the healing in the grief process.

Customised funeral vehicles: Sourcing a unique funeral vehicle such as a vintage hearse, horse and carriages or harley motorcycle with a side car that is equipped to carry a coffin. You can also ask your funeral service provider if they would decorate and personalise their hearse to reflect the personality of your loved one.

Memory table: A table filled with keepsakes and memorabilia that everyone associates with the individual who’s life you are celebrating is often something that many of the mourners attending the funeral appreciate.  It can bring back many fond memories and emotions.

Memorial Cards and Orders of Service: Customised to reflect the personality of your loved one.

Tribute candles: Favourite colours or photos applied to the candles, candles are a beautiful way to honour someone’s life.

Personalised floral tributes: Whether it’s your loved one’s name, the role they held in your life (Mum, Dad, Nana), the colours they loved or the a floral tribute in the shape of something that reminds everyone of them, the options are unlimited..

Coffins: Maybe you are looking for something traditional….. or perhaps not so traditional. If your loved one was an environmentalist and wanted to leave a lighter footprint on the earth when they passed, there are many eco-friendly coffins available these days.

If you have a theme in mind or would just like to have the photos of your loved one laminated against their coffin, with today's technology.. anything is possible and its surprisingly affordable.

Music: Music is so powerful in bringing back memories and feelings. Thinking about the type of music your loved one might like or what you think is appropriate is so important.  There is no script, music can start and finish the ceremony and can be weaved throughout the presentation as well....

Story-telling: Ensure that the Life Celebration Specialist / Celebrant that your funeral director has introduced to you is experienced and has got lots of ideas on how they can tell the story of your loved one's life. They should know how to get families and friends talking about the important things that need to be spoken about to reflect a life lived. They must be able to ensure that every funeral ceremony is a unique celebration, unique and personalised to reflect the memory of your loved one’s life.

Before and after planning: Sometimes it’s not so much about the personalisation of the actual ceremony but the attention to detail prior in the planning of the funeral. It could be the details like the type of wake they wanted. Perhaps they wanted a full Irish wake, complete with a whiskey toast and their ashes scattered in a tropical location..

Perhaps your loved one didn’t want to be present funeral at all. They may have wanted an unattended cremation and just to have their ashes scattered in a place where all the family could visit with a simple memorial service and family sharing a meal afterwards as part of the wake and life celebration. This sort of funeral is more common than you think.

After the service – what happens? Think about creating a loving memory box. A special place that you can keep memories, photos, sentiments, jewellery, trinkets and other things that were meaningful to your loved’s one life or reminds you of them. The contents of this box can become a very valuable coping tool for the family as a well as a legacy piece that can be handed down from generation to generation, to ensure the memories are kept alive.

Personalisation is not only about what happens in the actual funeral ceremony, it starts at the pre-planning and arrangement process and afterwards during the grieving process as well.

At Greenhaven Funeral Services, our focus is on providing sensitivity, guidance and support to families who need to arrange a unique celebration of life for a loved one.

We are leaders in providing ideas and options for personalising the farewell ceremony for your loved one’s life and we are here to assist you at any time.

Carly Dalton
Life Celebration and Funeral Specialist
Greenhaven Funerals - Funeral Care that doesn't cost the earth