What is the Normal Order of Service for a Cremation?

cremation services in Tallahassee, FL

Many people who choose cremation to dispose of their loved ones are still not sure about the order of service to follow. The wide acceptance of cremations is still something new, and as such, there is no concrete template to follow yet. However, we have looked at the nature of cremation services in Tallahassee, FL, and can suggest the normal order for a cremation service.

Components of a Cremation Service

The typical cremation service consists of two events – a funeral ceremony and the cremation or committal. We will discuss both rites and the orders of service for both.

The Funeral Service: The funeral service is essentially a ceremony where the deceased’s life is celebrated. It is almost a universally accepted tradition that people who had interactions with a deceased person should gather together. This will typically include immediate and distant family members, close friends, associates, colleagues, and other well-wishers.

In their gathering, they get to commemorate the life of the deceased, recount memories, and share the grief of losing the dead person. The funeral organizers can hold the service anywhere, but the most common spot is often a religious center, especially if the deceased or family are of any religious faith.

Then, there is the front yard of the deceased person’s home. If the crematorium has a chapel hall or garden, this can be a great location.

The typical order of source for traditional funerals often entails:

I. Viewing or Wake: Many also call this visitation. The deceased is placed in a casket and placed on the catafalque in a location for people to come view and pay their final respects. It is often held immediately before the cremation at the premises of the funeral service.

II. The Service Proper: Here, the service is held. The order of service may differ from one person to another, depending on the family or organizer’s preferences. If the family or deceased were religious, then religious activities such as songs and prayers may be the ceremony’s highlights.

However, there is often time allocated for encomiums and commendations in almost all cases. People who knew the deceased while alive get to share their experiences with the attendees.

Some cool ideas include:

  • Memorial Slideshow: Here, you get a projector to display photos and videos of the deceased during their lifetime. You can play songs in the background while doing this.
  • Quotes or poems: For one, you can display generic quotes and poems that talk about grief and eulogies. Also, add in some funeral humor to lighten the mood of attendees. If the deceased was good with quotes, sayings or poems, display them briefly.
  • Other ideas include candle release, candle lighting, and sharing of memorial capsules.

cremation services in Tallahassee, FL

Cremation or Committal: This is when the body is burned. It starts with the coffin being taken out or obscured behind a curtain. Then, it is taken to the cremation chamber (also called a retort), where the body is subject to intense temperature (as high as 1,800°F). In the end, you have only ashes. Some time is allowed to pass for cooling to happen.

No family or friends are often present during this. The crematory staff only carries it out. However, not all cremations follow these steps, but the outline here represents the most common.

Conclusion

An observation of cremation services in Tallahassee, FL reveals a typical outline for cremation services. We have explained it here. You can simply copy the guide while adapting it according to your preferences.

Is a Funeral Home a Good Investment?

Funeral homes in Tallahassee, FL

There are many reasons you might want to consider the funeral industry. For one, you may want to commit funds to invest in a funeral business or even start one from scratch yourself. Funeral homes in Tallahassee, FL have been said to be a good investment opportunity. So, here we discuss how this investment may pan out.

Reasons to Invest in Funeral Home

The funeral business is strong due to several reasons. The most prominent ones include:

A Huge and Largely Untapped Market: While the funeral business may seem unattractive because of what it entails, statistics claim that it is a market with many potentials. For one, it is huge. The industry does a turnover of over $21 billion per annum. This amount is shared by about 19,000 funeral homes, which handle about 2.8 million funerals (burials and cremations) yearly.

The National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) also claims that its members serve an average of 113 families annually. Looking at the average amount of organizing a single funeral, you will agree that funeral businesses see a lot of revenue.

Strong Fundamentals: The funeral home business is comparably stronger than other markets because it possesses features that make it forever relevant. The funeral industry is an evergreen one. Death is mostly inevitable for all humanity. Thus, there will always be the need for services to store and prepare the dead body before it is disposed of.

Furthermore, unlike other industries, trends in the society or economy don’t seem to affect the industry much. Thus, you often don’t find a scenario where events such as a recession slow down the funeral industry.

Opportunity to Pivot: The funeral industry is fast changing. People are becoming increasingly environmentally conscious and are avoiding less eco-friendly ways of disposing of the body of their deceased loved ones. As such, we have such methods as cremation gaining popularity.

Thankfully, however, the industry is not structured to prevent incumbents from engaging in emerging industries. As a result, traditional funeral homes are free to pivot to these other niches while maintaining their profitability.

Diversification and Growth Opportunities: Just as with the above, the funeral industry can be flexible, allowing businesses to move across business lines in any part of the sector. As such, a funeral home can diversify its business offerings to include organizing all forms of funeral-related events, including memorials, burials, and cremation services.

In addition, the industry is poised to grow at an average of 6% over the next five years, which is decent.

Sizeable Profitability; The funeral business allows firms to earn a considerable bottom-line on revenues made. The NFDA puts the average cost of a funeral in the US at $7,800, and funeral homes can record as high as 60% profit margin per contract.

Then as the funeral home grows, they can retain even more profits due to economies of scale.

Funeral homes in Tallahassee, FL

Factors that can Affect the Viability of a Funeral Business

Some factors may influence how investable a funeral business is. Put these into account when investing.

  • Location: If you live in more populated and richer states, the funeral home can get more contracts and charge higher.
  • Business Management Skills: The funeral home managers must be frugal while handling their finances. Furthermore, they must seek ways to expand earnings.
  • How Diversified the Business: You can’t merely stop at owning a funeral home. Add other services.

Conclusion

A study of funeral homes in Tallahassee, FL reveals that the funeral business is quite attractive. However, there is the need to pay attention to the location of the business alongside the operator’s management abilities.

Things You Should Never Say at a Funeral

funeral service in Quincy, FL

A funeral service is often a charged moment where many emotions are expressed. In many cases, the survivors, friends, and other persons close to the deceased would be in precarious mental states. In this situation, they will need words of comfort and reassurance from the mourners and well-wishers present. Based on our experience with funeral service in Quincy, FL, we have come up with sentences you should avoid mentioning. In addition, we also explain why these utterances are bad.

Top Things You Should Avoid Saying During a Funeral

When you come across most of these sentences, you’ll notice that they seem harmless initially. But when you study them further, you begin to discover how negative they can be.

1. “At least it wasn’t worse”

Obviously, this sentence aims to comfort the bereaved and make them see that their loss is not the end of the world. In essence, you want to make them understand that things could be worse. However, to the survivor, this will sound insensitive. Nothing can be much worse than losing a loved one in that particular instance.

2. “I know how you feel”

Another seemingly harmless sentence aimed at reassuring the bereaved that you’re with them. While you might have experienced grief in the past and may truly understand the feelings attached to it, you shouldn’t say that. It isn’t your loved one buried or cremated in the current instance. Thus, you can’t relate to the emotions running through the minds of the mourning survivors.

Saying “I know how you feel” may sound like you’re dismissive of their emotions and that their feelings, in this case, aren’t special. The truth is that people are unique, and their approaches to situations, including grief, differ greatly.

3. “They are in a better place now”

Another variation of this is, “They have gone to rest.”

Again, this statement appears harmless but in reality, it is not. Unfortunately, we often hear this among persons who believe in the afterlife, especially those practicing major religions.

However, while the dead may have gone to a “better place,” the survivor is left in a place of agony and pain. As such, trying to lessen the importance of their death by saying this will most likely not achieve the goal of lessening the bereaved’s pain.

4. “Time heals all wounds.”

Or “You will heal soon.”

The purpose of this is to help the survivor pass through the current trying times by making them realize that it will soon be over. Unfortunately, as good as your intentions may seem, they may sound reckless and insensitive to the person who has lost their loved one.

In essence, you’re saying that the memories of the departed will soon wash away with time. While that is true, you shouldn’t mention it.

5. “Everything happens for good”

Or “It was meant to be.”

Again, we find this a lot among religious folks. We can say this ranks as one of the most callous things to say at a funeral.

No dead person’s relative will believe that the pain they are feeling due to the death of their loved one was predestined. Worse still, they can never understand that the death happened for a “greater good.” As such, avoid mentioning it.

funeral service in Quincy, FL

What Should You Say Instead

A tidy majority of those common statements in funerals are problematic. However, to avoid saying offensive things, we can say things like “It’s okay” or “I’m sorry.” Better still, we can merely be present and comfort them with gestures such as hugging and holding hands.

Conclusion

The funeral service in Quincy, FL is not a palatable event for anyone. However, no matter how sad we may feel, the most heartbroken persons will remain the deceased’s family or direct survivors, and they need your support.

The Fastest Way to Raise Money for a Funeral Service

funeral service in Tallahassee, FL

It is no gainsaying to state that funerals in America are an exceedingly expensive affair. Estimates from funeral service in Tallahassee, FL, state that it can cost as high as $8,000 to organize a befitting funeral for a loved one. Figures presented by the National Funeral Director Association (NFDA) also support the calculations made by funeral service Tallahassee, FL.

In essence, we have a situation where families and loved ones have to experience aggravated financial losses while still grappling with the physical and emotional toll of the deceased’s departure. However, this is not supposed to be the case. If the funeral bill feels overwhelming, there are viable sources of funding you can consider.

Fastest Ways to Raise Funding for a Funeral

Here, we discuss some of the channels to raise financing for the funeral service of a loved one:

Tapping into the Deceased’s Finances

The fastest means of funding for funeral proceedings is to take advantage of financial arrangements that the deceased might have made for this purpose during their lifetime. For instance, the deceased may have taken up a comprehensive life or final expense insurance policy. The insurance company is then liable to pay for the funeral and other expenses that may relate to the subject’s death, including medical bills.

However, in the absence of this, you may look at other financial items or plans the deceased had, such as their assets. For the funeral service, we strongly recommend that you only go for liquid assets such as stocks, ETF holdings, money market funds or even cash in the bank. These assets are easily convertible to cash, and you can access them in time for the funeral.

We don’t recommend selling illiquid assets such as landed property, vehicles and private company shares as they are much more valuable. But, then, it often takes time for them to get sold.

Family and Friend Contributions

Another easy and quick source of funding is the contributions from the relatives and other associates of the deceased. One benefit of this is that it lessens the financial burden on a single party and shares the responsibility across the board.

Furthermore, it helps you avoid selling the deceased’s property that would be best shared among their survivors. Lastly, there are higher chances of raising significant surpluses that you can channel towards relief for the family.

All you need do is host a meeting of the closest family and friends and call for donations. Note that such a meeting can be virtual in the current remote world.

Crowdfunding

This is not the most recommended but can be tapped into, especially if other channels don’t work out. Alternatively, even if other funding sources are available, you can still use this to raise greater sums for gainful initiatives such as a memorial fund or scholarship in the name of the deceased.

Crowdfunding has become seamless with technology as you can set up campaigns on online platforms like Kickstarter, GoFundMe, and Indiegogo. You can either make the crowdfunding campaign closed and limited to the deceased’s friends, associates, and colleagues, or you can throw it open to the general public.

funeral service in Tallahassee, FL

Conclusion

The death of a loved one is grossly undesirable. But when it happens, survivors are obligated to host befitting farewell services for the departed, which are often costly. However, based on recommendations from the funeral service in Tallahassee, FL, we have outlined channels through which you can raise funding quickly.

How Many Funeral Homes Are Located Throughout the Country?

funeral homes Tallahassee FL

The total number of funeral homes in the country has gone down in recent years. According to the National Funeral Directors Association, there were more than 20,000 funeral homes a decade ago. Today, there are about 19,000 of them. You might think that this would make it easier to find the best funeral homes in Tallahassee, FL, and other parts of the country. But it can still be very challenging to track down the right funeral home for your loved one’s services. Learn how to do it below.

Look for Tallahassee funeral homes that have extensive experience in the funeral industry.

The more experience that a funeral home has, the better! You don’t want to bring a funeral home on board for your loved one’s Tallahassee, FL funeral services if they’re not experienced enough to handle the job. Don’t be afraid to look up how long a funeral home has been in business, either on their website or through other materials that you find online. The last thing you want to do is work with a funeral home that hasn’t been around the block as far as planning funerals is concerned.

Make sure funeral homes offer the services you need.

Many people don’t realize this, but not all Tallahassee funeral homes are able to provide the same services to families. Some only offer burial services to families, while others have shifted into extending cremation services almost exclusively. You should make sure that the funeral services Tallahassee offers what you and your family need prior to working with them. You can usually find a list of their services right on their website.

Locate funeral homes that go above and beyond to make you feel like family.

Funeral homes are businesses. They’re designed to help those who run them make money. But that doesn’t mean that they should treat you like just another customer when you pay them a visit. They should open their arms and their hearts to you and do whatever it takes to make you feel like a part of their family when you’re working with them. This will make the funeral planning process so much easier for you and your family.

Tallahassee funeral homes

Consider the costs associated with different funeral homes before choosing one.

You might be surprised to see the discrepancy that exists when you look at the prices offered by one funeral home versus the prices offered by another funeral home. You might be able to save hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars by working with one funeral home over another one. That’s not to say that you should simply choose the funeral home with the cheapest prices and work with them. It won’t be worth it if their services aren’t superior. But you should shop around to find the funeral home that’ll offer the most competitive prices along with great services.

When you’re dealing with the death of a loved one, the last thing you want to worry about is whether or not you’re getting the best possible service from your funeral home. But with so many options out there, it can be tough to know where to turn. That’s where we come in. We’re a team of experienced professionals who have helped countless families through the tough process of choosing a funeral home. We know how overwhelming it can be, and we’re here to help you make the best decision for your loved one.

At Lifesong Funerals & Cremations, we know that you have lots of options when it comes to funeral homes. But we also know that you won’t get better service elsewhere than the service you receive from us. Reach out to us at (850) 765-3190 or take a trip down to 231 E 6th Ave, Tallahassee,FL 32303 to begin checking Tallahassee, FL funeral homes for your loved one.