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.

Emailing Your Boss for Bereavement Leave: Subject Lines, What to Include, and Sample Emails - Funeral.com, Inc.

Emailing Your Boss for Bereavement Leave: Subject Lines, What to Include, and Sample Emails

When someone dies, your brain is immediately asked to do too many things at once: feel grief, make decisions, coordinate family, and still communicate with work in a way that...

Instagram Condolences: DM vs. Public Comment (What’s More Respectful and When) - Funeral.com, Inc.

Instagram Condolences: DM vs. Public Comment (What’s More Respectful and When)

You open Instagram and see it: a photo you recognize, a name you know, a caption that makes your stomach drop. Sometimes it’s a formal announcement. Sometimes it’s a single...

Facebook Condolences: Is It OK to Use Emojis? Comment Etiquette and Examples - Funeral.com, Inc.

Facebook Condolences: Is It OK to Use Emojis? Comment Etiquette and Examples

Facebook can feel like the fastest doorway to support: someone posts sad news, friends and family gather in the comments, and a community forms in real time. That speed is...

Viewing Etiquette: Is It OK to Touch the Body? What to Do at the Casket - Funeral.com, Inc.

Viewing Etiquette: Is It OK to Touch the Body? What to Do at the Casket

A viewing can feel like a moment that’s both ordinary and surreal. The room looks calm. People speak softly. There may be flowers, music, a guestbook, and a line that...

Funeral Photo Etiquette: Why Selfies Are Usually a No (and What to Do Instead) - Funeral.com, Inc.

Funeral Photo Etiquette: Why Selfies Are Usually a No (and What to Do Instead)

Most people don’t walk into a funeral or memorial service thinking about photography. They walk in thinking about the person who died, the family who is hurting, and the strange...

Livestream Funeral Etiquette: Mute, Camera, Chat, and Recording Rules - Funeral.com, Inc.

Livestream Funeral Etiquette: Mute, Camera, Chat, and Recording Rules

Showing up online can feel oddly vulnerable. You may be sitting in your kitchen with a mug of coffee, staring at a link, while somewhere else a family is gathering...

Breastfeeding at a Funeral: Finding Space, Staying Respectful, and Reducing Stress - Funeral.com, Inc.

Breastfeeding at a Funeral: Finding Space, Staying Respectful, and Reducing Stress

If you are reading this because you have a funeral or visitation coming up and you are breastfeeding, you are not being “difficult.” You are not being inconsiderate. You are...

Open Casket Etiquette: How Long to Stand, Where to Pause, and When to Move On - Funeral.com, Inc.

Open Casket Etiquette: How Long to Stand, Where to Pause, and When to Move On

If you have ever walked into a visitation and immediately felt your stomach drop—because there is an open casket, a line forming, and you suddenly cannot remember how people are...

Closed Casket Funeral Etiquette: Where to Stand, Where to Look, and How to Pay Respects - Funeral.com, Inc.

Closed Casket Funeral Etiquette: Where to Stand, Where to Look, and How to Pay Respects

A closed casket funeral etiquette question usually starts the same way: you want to show up with respect, but you do not want to do the wrong thing when there...

Funeral Procession Etiquette: Headlights vs. Hazard Lights, Safety Rules, and What Drivers Should Do - Funeral.com, Inc.

Funeral Procession Etiquette: Headlights vs. Hazard Lights, Safety Rules, and What Drivers Should Do

A funeral procession is one of those moments where traffic rules and human emotion overlap. People are trying to stay together, get to the cemetery safely, and avoid turning a...

Honorary Pallbearers: What the Title Means and How to Choose Them - Funeral.com, Inc.

Honorary Pallbearers: What the Title Means and How to Choose Them

In the middle of funeral planning, there are decisions that feel logistical and decisions that feel deeply personal. Choosing pallbearers sits in both categories at once. It’s a practical role...

Toasts at a Memorial: Alcohol Etiquette, Limits, and Inclusive Alternatives - Funeral.com, Inc.

Toasts at a Memorial: Alcohol Etiquette, Limits, and Inclusive Alternatives

A toast can be one of the gentlest moments in a memorial. It’s brief, familiar, and symbolic—an invitation to pause, lift a glass (or something else entirely), and say, “You...

Odor Management During a Home Vigil: Cooling First, Then Essential Oils and Airflow - Funeral.com, Inc.

Odor Management During a Home Vigil: Cooling First, Then Essential Oils and Airflow

The first time a family asks about odor during a home vigil, they usually whisper it—half from embarrassment, half from love. They are trying to do something tender and brave:...

Presidential Burial Sites: Where U.S. Presidents Are Buried (A Respectful Travel Guide) - Funeral.com, Inc.

Presidential Burial Sites: Where U.S. Presidents Are Buried (A Respectful Travel Guide)

Most people don’t wake up one morning and decide to go looking for a gravesite. The idea usually arrives after something else does: a history book that suddenly feels personal,...

Gothic Funerals: Modern ‘Dark Aesthetic’ Memorial Ideas That Still Feel Warm and Respectful - Funeral.com, Inc.

Gothic Funerals: Modern ‘Dark Aesthetic’ Memorial Ideas That Still Feel Warm and Respectful

A certain kind of person moves through life with an eye for the beautiful side of shadow: candlelight on old wood, black lace softened by warm skin, roses that look...

Steampunk Funerals: Victorian‑Industrial Aesthetic Ideas for a Personalized Memorial - Funeral.com, Inc.

Steampunk Funerals: Victorian‑Industrial Aesthetic Ideas for a Personalized Memorial

There is a particular kind of person who loved stories with gears in them—who could stand in a museum beside a brass instrument and imagine the hands that built it,...