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.

Grieving an Ex-Spouse or Estranged Family Member: Coping With Conflicted Grief

Grieving an Ex-Spouse or Estranged Family Member: Coping With Conflicted Grief

When someone you’re estranged from dies—an ex-spouse, a parent you haven’t spoken to, a sibling you kept at a distance—grief can feel tangled. You might feel sadness and relief in...

Anticipatory Grief: What It Feels Like and How to Cope Before a Loss

Anticipatory Grief: What It Feels Like and How to Cope Before a Loss

Anticipatory grief is the kind of mourning that begins while someone is still here. It can show up during a terminal diagnosis, a long decline, or the slow, complicated goodbye...

Humanist Funerals Explained: Meaningful Non-Religious Services and What to Expect

Humanist Funerals Explained: Meaningful Non-Religious Services and What to Expect

When someone you love dies, decisions show up before your heart is ready. If the person wasn’t religious—or your family simply wants language that matches the way they lived—a humanist funeral...

Cremation Jewelry Guide: Necklaces, Rings & Keepsakes That Hold Ashes

Cremation Jewelry Guide: Necklaces, Rings & Keepsakes That Hold Ashes

There’s a particular kind of comfort in being able to keep someone close when you’re moving through normal life again—driving to work, standing in the grocery store aisle, walking into...

Best Cremation Jewelry and Keepsakes: Rings, Glass Memorials, and Top Brands

Best Cremation Jewelry and Keepsakes: Rings, Glass Memorials, and Top Brands

Cremation has become the default choice for many families, which is part of why memorial jewelry and keepsakes have become so much more visible—and, for some people, genuinely helpful. According...

Fishing Cremation Urns: “Gone Fishing” Designs, Keepsakes, and Where to Shop

Fishing Cremation Urns: “Gone Fishing” Designs, Keepsakes, and Where to Shop

When someone loved to fish, it usually wasn’t “just” a pastime. It was where they reset after a hard week, where they kept promises with friends, where they taught a...

Men’s Cremation Jewelry: Durable Necklaces and Pendants That Hold Ashes

Men’s Cremation Jewelry: Durable Necklaces and Pendants That Hold Ashes

After cremation, families often describe a strange mix of relief and uncertainty. The immediate logistics may be over, but now there is a container in your hands and a question...

Choosing a Cremation Urn—and What to Do If You Don’t Want Ashes on the Mantel

Choosing a Cremation Urn—and What to Do If You Don’t Want Ashes on the Mantel

Most families don’t start this process by shopping. They start by trying to steady themselves after a loss, or by trying to plan ahead without feeling morbid. Somewhere in the...

Hummingbird Cremation Urns: Meaning, Styles, Sizes, and Where to Buy

Hummingbird Cremation Urns: Meaning, Styles, Sizes, and Where to Buy

If you’re reading this, you may be holding a handful of decisions that don’t feel like they belong together. There’s grief. There’s logistics. There’s the quiet pressure of choosing something...

Where to Buy Cremation Urns: Funeral Home vs Online (Plus Funeral.com Tips)

Where to Buy Cremation Urns: Funeral Home vs Online (Plus Funeral.com Tips)

If you’ve found yourself searching for where to buy cremation urns, you’re not alone—and you’re not “behind” if it feels like you’re making this decision later than you expected. Many...

Purple Cremation Urns: Meaning, Design Ideas, and How to Pick the Right Size

Purple Cremation Urns: Meaning, Design Ideas, and How to Pick the Right Size

There are moments in funeral planning when the most practical decisions feel unexpectedly personal. Choosing an urn is one of them. At first, families often focus on the basics—timing, paperwork,...

Cremation Urns 101: Types, Materials, Sizes, Terminology, and How Long Urns Last

Cremation Urns 101: Types, Materials, Sizes, Terminology, and How Long Urns Last

Most families don’t set out to become experts in cremation urns. You start with a loss, or the quiet realization that planning ahead would be kinder to the people you...

Dressing for a Funeral in Extreme Weather: Summer Heat, Winter Cold, and Rain

Dressing for a Funeral in Extreme Weather: Summer Heat, Winter Cold, and Rain

Grief has a way of making ordinary decisions feel surprisingly heavy. Even something as simple as getting dressed can turn into a quiet source of stress—especially when the forecast is...

Cremation With a Viewing: How Visitation Works (With or Without Embalming)

Cremation With a Viewing: How Visitation Works (With or Without Embalming)

In the first hours after a death, families often feel pulled in two directions at once. One part of you wants the simplest path forward. Another part of you wants...

Pre-Planning Your Funeral Online: Tools, Services, and What to Compare Before You Commit - Funeral.com, Inc.

Pre-Planning Your Funeral Online: Tools, Services, and What to Compare Before You Commit

It often starts quietly. A late-night search. A tab left open after reading a friend’s post about their parent’s funeral. A moment when you realize that if something happened tomorrow,...

Assigning Roles for Funeral Planning: How to Involve Loved Ones (and When to Say No) - Funeral.com, Inc.

Assigning Roles for Funeral Planning: How to Involve Loved Ones (and When to Say No)

In the first hours after a death—or even in the weeks leading up to one—help often arrives before you know what you need. A sister offers to “handle everything.” A...