The Funeral.com Journal

Resources to help you create tributes as unique as the people (and pets) you love. Learn how engraving, photos, colors, and symbols add meaning; discover scattering rituals and at-home memorial ideas. We focus on the details that matter—because small choices can carry a lifetime of comfort.

Bringing a Living Pet to a Funeral or Cemetery: Etiquette, Pros and Cons, and Safety Tips

Bringing a Living Pet to a Funeral or Cemetery: Etiquette, Pros and Cons, and Safety Tips

There’s a particular kind of quiet that settles around a funeral home chapel or a cemetery lane. It’s not just the absence of noise—it’s the feeling that everyone is carrying...

Burial Service

Burial Service

A burial service is often labeled as “traditional,” but for most families, the meaning is much simpler and far more human. It is a defined moment in time, sometimes a...

Can Pet Ashes Be Buried with Humans? Laws, Cemetery Rules, and Realistic Options

Can Pet Ashes Be Buried with Humans? Laws, Cemetery Rules, and Realistic Options

There’s a moment many families don’t expect until they’re living it: you’re planning a burial or an urn placement for someone you love, and suddenly the conversation turns to a...

Understanding Your Cemetery Contract: Plot Rights, Fees, and Long-Term Obligations

Understanding Your Cemetery Contract: Plot Rights, Fees, and Long-Term Obligations

In a season of loss—or even in the quieter weeks of funeral planning—a cemetery contract can feel like a different language. The phrases look familiar (plot, deed, perpetual care), but...

Best Stone for Headstones: Comparing Granite, Marble, Sandstone, and Other Materials

Best Stone for Headstones: Comparing Granite, Marble, Sandstone, and Other Materials

If you’ve ever stood in a cemetery with your hands in your pockets, staring at rows of markers that look “fine” from a distance but weather very differently up close,...

Types of Headstones and Grave Markers: Materials, Styles, and How They Age

Types of Headstones and Grave Markers: Materials, Styles, and How They Age

Choosing a headstone can feel strangely difficult. Not because you don’t love your person enough to decide—because you do—but because you’re being asked to translate a whole life into a...

Headstone Regulations and Cemetery Rules: Size Limits, Materials, and What’s Allowed

Headstone Regulations and Cemetery Rules: Size Limits, Materials, and What’s Allowed

Choosing a headstone can feel overwhelming, especially during a time of grief, because it involves more than simply selecting a beautiful stone. Families quickly discover that cemetery rules set boundaries...

Cemetery Fees Explained: Opening and Closing, Perpetual Care, and Other Common Charges

Cemetery Fees Explained: Opening and Closing, Perpetual Care, and Other Common Charges

When families first see a cemetery price list, it is common to feel a wave of confusion and even frustration. You may have already paid for a burial plot or...

Moving a Grave: Laws, Permits, and Costs of Exhuming and Reburying a Loved One

Moving a Grave: Laws, Permits, and Costs of Exhuming and Reburying a Loved One

Most families don’t set out expecting to think about moving a grave. It usually starts with a quieter truth: someone can’t travel anymore, the family has scattered across states, a spouse...

Tombstone Words in a Cremation-First World: What to Write, Where to Place a Marker, and How Ashes Fit

Tombstone Words in a Cremation-First World: What to Write, Where to Place a Marker, and How Ashes Fit

A single word like “tombstone” can carry a surprising amount of weight. Sometimes the question is practical—what should it say, how much space do we have, what will the cemetery...

Graveside Service Guide: What Happens at the Cemetery and How to Plan One

Graveside Service Guide: What Happens at the Cemetery and How to Plan One

When you picture saying a final goodbye, you may imagine a quiet gathering at the cemetery, with friends and family standing together beneath a tent, words spoken softly, and the...

Pet Memorial Ideas for Cemeteries and at Home: Stones, Markers, and Everyday Keepsakes

Pet Memorial Ideas for Cemeteries and at Home: Stones, Markers, and Everyday Keepsakes

When a beloved pet dies, the world can suddenly feel too quiet. The leash hanging by the door, the empty bed in the corner, and the way your body still...

Burial Plot Benefits: Why a Cemetery Place Still Matters in a Cremation-First World

Burial Plot Benefits: Why a Cemetery Place Still Matters in a Cremation-First World

When families start talking about final arrangements today, the conversation usually circles around a familiar either-or question: burial or cremation. It can sound like once you choose one path, every...

Columbariums and Scattering Gardens: Final Resting Places Beyond Traditional Graves

Columbariums and Scattering Gardens: Final Resting Places Beyond Traditional Graves

Choosing a final resting place for ashes is a journey that begins long before decisions are made, one that touches the heart as deeply as the life being honored. It...