There are many factors to be considered when arranging your own funeral. We provide a step by step guide on how to arrange your own funeral. This article is provided by Sydney Coffins. Sydney Coffins is a memorial product and funeral provider in Australia, specialising in unique and personalised coffins, caskets and funerals.

Thinking of planning a funeral is a task that is incomparable to everything we might need to plan for in our lives. Death is so profound and preparing this final farewell for yourself may seem too deep to want to even ponder a second about.  So try to steer clear of the notion of death itself if you can and think about life. Think about the life you have lived and what you liked and even loved about it and this will greatly assist in making this task easier and even rewarding.

Preparing and planning a funeral for yourself can be an emotional challenge but it can really help your close family and friends and save them a lot of worries.

We recommend you answer the following in a list structure and save, place, file, include in a will, give it to trusted people several times to ensure it is can be referred to at the time of need.  The list that you are about to do will greatly assist anyone in the future who will arrange the funeral. The following steps are elements which make up a funeral and it is very important to address each one in order to make a funeral that best suits you.

Step 1. Budget

The bottom line is the deciding factor on the following steps. Calculate how much money you can and would like to spare for your funeral. Australian funerals range from: Cheapest: $1500, average: $5000-$7000, Pricier :$10,000>

Step 2. Burial or Cremation

A burial funeral is when a person is buried above or below ground. A cremation funeral is where a person is cremated and the ashes are either scattered or placed in a final resting place above or below ground.

Step 2. Embalment and Open Casket

Decide if you would like to be embalmed. Embalment is a method used to preserve the body of a deceased usually for an open casket funeral(mourners can view the deceased and pay respects). Fluids are removed from the body and fluids which assist to preserve the body are injected.

Step 3. Coffin/Casket

The style and price of a coffin/casket vary greatly. It is a funeral item that is required by Australian Law for BOTH burial and cremation funerals. Try to remember that this item is focused on during a funeral and so it is only natural that you will want to choose and spend money on a product that you find most appealing. Sydney Coffins has original coffin and casket designs that are unique to the funeral industry which you might find more appealing than the more traditional varieties.

Step 4. Final resting place

A burial funeral WILL require a final resting place below or above ground. A burial resting place in major capital cities around Australia tend to be pricier than in rural and regional areas. They are also seen as a ‘property’/’land’ and prices rise and fall similarly to the property market does. A resting place for a cremation funeral is generally cheaper due to the size required.

Decide on where and how you would like to be laid to rest.

Step 5. Type of Funeral – No service, civil service, or religious

Religious Service
You may follow a religion and hope to have a funeral with tradition and customs connected to that particular religion. If this is the case you list the name and location of which particular religious organisation you would preferably like to use. You can even elect the religious representative to carry out the service.

OR

Civil Service 
A service is held by a civil celebrant and No religious tradition or customs are carried out. The location may be in a private, hall, or chapel.

OR

No Service Funeral 
The deceased person is taken away by the funeral home and there usually is No service held, No viewing, and No mourners in attendance for any service.

Step 5. Select the guests to invite

Make a list of the people who you would like to invite.

Step 6. Select the eulogists, readers, pallbearers

Make a list of the people who you would like to:

– Read a eulogy
– Read other material: poems, or other readings
– Serve as Pallbearers

You may write a farewell eulogy, this can be written, or recorded on a video, or even in a song, or music the way a farewell is presented is endless and up to one’s imagination and will. Some people take this final opportunity to be forthcoming to express love as well as apologies, to tell of thanks, to express loves and hopes and regrets. Funerals are nearly always very peaceful and forgiving events. It is a ceremony that has carried on for centuries and most the emotion of sympathy and love surrounds funerals.

Step 7. Select readings, music, photos, flowers you like, food, hearse, and other

Make a list of the readings, music, photos and other mediums you would like to be read or presented at the funeral.