Planning a funeral or memorial service is never easy, but after the loss of a loved one it is unavoidable. Naturally, during such a difficult time, making mistakes is a fairly common occurrence. In this post, we’ve come up with three common memorial planning mistakes you should avoid making. These apply whether you’re preplanning a service for yourself or after the loss of a loved one.
1. Not Exploring Funeral Providers
The National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA)’s latest survey explores why this is a common mistake. Interestingly, the four primary reasons respondents selected a funeral home include experience at the home. Basically, they already knew the funeral director; the location; and its reputation.
Take the time to compare funeral providers in your area. It could save you money and help you locate “the best” funeral home, crematory or cemetery for your needs. Burial and cremation expenses can vary quite a bit depending on where you go. Often, you will receive the same products/services.
2. Not Asking Questions
Obviously, after the loss of a loved one, it’s hard to focus on anything other than your grief. Unfortunately, many people must plan the Jewish funeral or cremation service, which can involve making a lot of decisions. Of course, grieving can compel you to make quick decisions without exploring all of your options. Whether you’re planning a funeral in advance or after a loss, you should ask every question you have about the service.
Good funeral homes provide a wide range of resources to walk you through each step of planning a service for your loved one. In addition, they’ll answer all of your questions and never make you feel pressured as you make your arrangements, or steer you toward anything that you don’t want. Also, they’ll take the time to understand the type of service you need and explain the various product and service options available to help you arrange a meaningful, personalized service.
If you’re making arrangements after the loss of a Jewish loved one, it’s perfectly normal to ask someone you trust to attend the funeral arrangement meeting with you – especially if you think you’re not up to it alone, or want another opinion before you commit to something.
3. Not Telling Anyone
According to the NFDA, 62.5% of consumers feel that it’s important to share funeral wishes with family members, but only 21.4% did so in 2017. Maybe you’ve thought about your funeral in detail, right down to what you’d like to wear and which songs you’d like played. But if you don’t document and share your wishes, who will know?
Some people may just choose burial or cremation or casually mention their desires and think that’s all that’s needed. Grieving family members may not remember what you said you wanted or disagree about what they think you wanted. By documenting your plans with a funeral home – and letting your family know – you eliminate the confusion and take the burden off your family.
Conclusion – Fox Memorials
Of course, memorial planning can be an incredibly emotional and painful process. However, at Fox Memorials, we work hard to remove all of the stress and challenges of personalized Jewish family monument creation from the process. For decades, we’ve crafted Long Island’s Jewish community with stunning, one-of-a-kind monument creations that honor their lives and their faith.