Blog | Lifesong Funerals

Funeral homes provide a cremation service in Tallahassee, among many other things. You may not realize all that funeral homes do to make the funeral process for your deceased loved one easier for you and your family.

All of that is because the funeral home has a staff that genuinely cares about you and family’s needs, as well as about the needs of your loved one who has died. People who choose to be involved in providing funeral home services do it because they care about people.

Many of them choose funeral homes as their career because of their experiences with a friendly and supportive funeral home when they lost a loved one earlier in life. You will find some of the kindest, most patient, most gentle, and most serving people working in funeral homes.

That’s important to you and your family when you are grieving the death of your loved one.

You will also find that the people who work in funeral homes are knowledgeable and they provide excellent counsel on funeral planning and they have a large network of resources within the community to make sure that everything you and your loved one wanted for the funeral process happens.

Think about why you chose this funeral home. Perhaps you and your loved one sat down with the funeral director years, months, or even weeks ago, and talked about what you wanted for your funerals. Maybe that was the first time you met the funeral director, but they were so kind and caring that it made a huge impression on you.

Perhaps everyone in your family, for several generations, has used this funeral home. The reason for that was because of their service to all your loved ones and the trust and loyalty they’ve built up with your family and the community over the years.

Trust and loyalty can’t be overestimated, especially in the face of death. When you lose somebody you love, you become vulnerable. You are grieving and you aren’t thinking clearly about anything expect your loved one’s death. Having trust in the funeral home to be there, to take care of things, and to take care of you and your family and your deceased loved one is one of the most reassuring feelings you can have when you’re grieving.

Funeral homes do everything in death. They transport your loved one’s body from the place where they died. They meet with you and your family to make funeral arrangements. They don’t leave any stone unturned to make sure your wishes are met.

They will ask about the type of cremation you want. They will help you with urn selection, keepsake selection, memorial jewelry selection, and any other types of memorial items you may want for your loved one. They will help with the obituary if you don’t have one already written.

If you choose to have a memorial video, they will help you put that together. All you have to do is provide them with pictures and song selections, and they will create a beautiful tribute video for your loved one.

If you need the memorial service livestreamed or recorded, especially now with the COVID-19 restrictions that limit how many people can attend the service in person, the funeral home will help make that happen.

The funeral home staff will become friends. Although you may not socialize with them the way you would with other friends, they become part of your inner circle that you know you can call on at any time and they will be there.

For more information about any cremation service in Tallahassee, our caring and knowledgeable staff at Lifesong Funerals & Cremations is here to assist you.

If you’re thinking about preplanning a cremation in Tallahassee, FL, you may be putting it off because you have ideas about doing it that don’t square with the reality of doing it. You are not alone. Many people put off cremation and funeral preplanning because they don’t understand how beneficial it is, not only for them, but also for their families.

One idea that you may have that is holding you back from preplanning your cremation is that it will be better if you let your loved ones take care of it when you die. The reason you may believe this is because you may think that letting your family take care of planning your cremation will let them be able to do it the way they want to.

The reality is that planning a cremation after you die is one more burden that your family will have to add to the stress and grief they have because of your death and the void that has created in their lives.

They will plan the cremation, not on the basis of what they want, but on the basis of what they think you may have wanted. Without any indication from you of what those things would be, they will work harder and longer to try to guess to get it right for you.

When you preplan your cremation – and discuss it with your loved ones, as well as providing the funeral home and each of them with detailed instructions – you relieve them of an incredible amount of extra stress that you wouldn’t want them to have and that they shouldn’t have to go through.

You may also be putting off preplanning your cremation because you just can’t seem to find the time to sit down and do it. You know you need to create a folder with contact information, important papers, and detailed instructions on the cremation, the service, and what you would like done with your cremation remains. You know you need to talk with the funeral home and get everything on file with them.

But that takes time and it seems to be, right now, more time than you have. But consider this. If you believe that this is going to take a you a lot of time to do – and you probably have a pretty clear idea of what you want already and simply need to gather paperwork and write things down – think how much time it’s going to take your family to do.

In fact, they won’t have the luxury of time like you do right now. They will need to make decisions quickly. They will feel rushed. And, they may, somewhere down the road, experience guilt or regret that they did or didn’t something because they forgot about it.

You can spare your loved ones that kind of pressure and the emotional baggage they may have to deal with long after you’re gone by taking the time now to preplan your cremation.

A final reason that you may be dragging your feet on preplanning your cremation is because you think your family won’t like some of the decisions you make about your cremation, about the service, and about what you want done with your cremation remains.

It’s your cremation. Do what you want. After you’ve preplanned it in detail and talked with the funeral home, then sit down with your family and go through all the details with them. Give them an opportunity to understand where you’re coming from, to voice their opinions (with explanations of why you chose what you did), and to come away from the discussion on the same page.

For more information about preplanning a cremation in Tallahassee, FL, including grief resources, our caring and knowledgeable staff at Lifesong Funerals & Cremations is here to assist you.

You may not have thought about your deceased loved one’s clothes for a Tallahassee cremation, but if you haven’t, you’re in pretty good company. While you may give a lot of thought to the clothes that your loved one will wear when they are being buried (usually, because a viewing precedes the burial), clothing seldom enters the picture when your loved one is being cremation.

This is, in part, because the cremation process itself is still very mysterious to most Americans. Even though almost half of us are choosing to be cremated or have our loved ones cremated, we still don’t know exactly what happens during the cremation process.

The clothes you pick for your loved one to wear for their cremation are every bit as important as the clothes you would pick for them to wear if they were being buried.

It’s important to understand that the same dignity and respect is shown to and for your loved one by the funeral home regardless of whether they are being cremated or being buried. The funeral home staff will give them the same level of detail and attention, regardless of which final disposition method you choose.

However, there are special considerations for clothing when your loved one is being cremated that are not a factor when they are being buried, so you do need to be mindful of that when you are choosing the clothing they will be cremated in.

There are several different options that you can choose from. If your loved one died in the hospital or in a care facility, they may have died wearing a hospital gown, pajamas, or a robe. Generally, if hospice is involved in your loved one’s final care, they will clean the body and change clothes, so if there is a clean pair of pajamas or hospital gown, they will dress your loved one in that after they are clean.

This is perfectly acceptable clothing for your loved one to be cremated in as long as there is no metal in the clothing (snaps, for instance, on hospital gowns or pajama tops or bottoms). Metal can cause tremendous damage to a crematorium, so all external metal (this includes the cremation container, which must be completely combustible) must be removed before your loved one can be cremated.

You might want your loved one to be cremated in clothes that were comfortable for them. Perhaps that was shorts and a t-shirt, or sweatpants and a sweatshirt. Again, as long as the clothing doesn’t have any metal in it, you can choose to have your loved one cremated in clothing that they wore all the time when they were at home.

You might want to dress your loved one up, just like you would for a viewing where they would be lying in a casket. Maybe they had a great black outfit that they looked very sharp in, or maybe they loved colorful clothing that mirrored their zest for and enjoyment of life. If this is what you want – or what they would want – then, by all means, dress them to the nines.

Be sure, however, to leave off jewelry (watches, rings, necklaces, tie clasps, cufflinks, etc.) and make sure the clothing doesn’t have any metal in it.

You can also choose to have your loved one cremated in an outfit that conveyed one of their interests in life. Perhaps they rooted for a specific football or baseball team, were an avid follower of a particular college’s sports, or participated in a particular sport themselves. It is very common for loved ones who are being cremated to be dressed in an outfit like this.

If you want to know more about cremation clothes at Tallahassee cremation, our compassionate and experienced staff at Lifesong Funerals & Cremations can help.