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.

Interfaith Memorial Services: Planning a Ceremony That Honors Multiple Faith Traditions

Interfaith Memorial Services: Planning a Ceremony That Honors Multiple Faith Traditions

When a family gathers after a death, the questions are rarely only logistical. Yes, you may be choosing a date, a location, and who will speak. But in an interfaith...

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...

Drones at Funerals: Aerial Video, Tribute Moments, and the Rules to Know Before You Book

Drones at Funerals: Aerial Video, Tribute Moments, and the Rules to Know Before You Book

On some days, a family wants the world to stay small. A few chairs, a familiar song, the simple steadiness of being together. On other days, families want proof that...

Personalized Memorial Gifts: Unique Sympathy Keepsakes Beyond Flowers

Personalized Memorial Gifts: Unique Sympathy Keepsakes Beyond Flowers

Flowers are kind. They also fade, and in the days after a death, families often feel the strange whiplash of watching sympathy arrive in waves and then quietly disappear. If...

Releasing Butterflies or Doves: Meaning, Etiquette, and Humane Alternatives

Releasing Butterflies or Doves: Meaning, Etiquette, and Humane Alternatives

There’s a moment at some funerals and celebrations of life when words feel too small. The music fades, people shift in their seats, and a family wants a gesture that...

Interfaith Funeral Etiquette: How to Attend Respectfully Outside Your Faith

Interfaith Funeral Etiquette: How to Attend Respectfully Outside Your Faith

Walking into a funeral outside your own faith can feel like stepping into a room where everyone else already knows the rhythm. You might worry about the prayers, the gestures,...

What to Do When You Encounter a Funeral Procession: Road Etiquette and Local Courtesy

What to Do When You Encounter a Funeral Procession: Road Etiquette and Local Courtesy

You’re driving along like any other day—coffee cooling in the cup holder, a list of errands in your head—when traffic suddenly shifts. A line of cars moves more slowly than...

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...

Funeral Etiquette 101: What to Do, What to Say, and Common Mistakes to Avoid

Funeral Etiquette 101: What to Do, What to Say, and Common Mistakes to Avoid

If you’re reading this because you’re worried about getting it wrong, you’re already doing the most important thing: you’re trying to show up with care. Most people don’t avoid funerals...

Do You Need a Funeral Planner or Concierge Service? When Extra Help Is Worth It

Do You Need a Funeral Planner or Concierge Service? When Extra Help Is Worth It

In the days after a death, there’s a strange collision between grief and logistics. You’re trying to absorb what happened, and at the same time you’re expected to make decisions...

Scottish Funerals and Bagpipes: Why They’re Used and What the Tradition Represents - Funeral.com, Inc.

Scottish Funerals and Bagpipes: Why They’re Used and What the Tradition Represents

The first time many people hear bagpipes in a funeral setting, it catches them off guard—not because the sound feels unfamiliar, but because it feels instantly human. A lone piper...

Catholic Funeral Mass Explained: Rosary, Vigil, Funeral Liturgy, and Graveside Customs - Funeral.com, Inc.

Catholic Funeral Mass Explained: Rosary, Vigil, Funeral Liturgy, and Graveside Customs

Most families don’t arrive at a Catholic funeral already fluent in the rhythm of the prayers. They arrive tired, tender, and trying to do right by someone they love. If...

First-Time Pallbearer Guide: Quick Tips to Honor the Role (and Stay Safe) - Funeral.com, Inc.

First-Time Pallbearer Guide: Quick Tips to Honor the Role (and Stay Safe)

The request can land in your lap at the exact wrong moment: a text from a family member, a quiet call from a friend, a funeral director asking for names....

Living Funeral Explained: How to Plan a Celebration of Life Before Death - Funeral.com, Inc.

Living Funeral Explained: How to Plan a Celebration of Life Before Death

There are moments in serious illness and advanced age when time feels both precious and strangely unreal. Conversations get postponed because everyone is trying to stay hopeful, and yet the...

Planning Multi-Location Memorials: Coordinating Tributes in Different Cities at the Same Time - Funeral.com, Inc.

Planning Multi-Location Memorials: Coordinating Tributes in Different Cities at the Same Time

When a family is spread across cities, a single gathering can feel like an impossible compromise. Someone is recovering from surgery. Someone can’t afford a last-minute flight. Someone is stationed...

Funeral Gift Etiquette: What to Send (Food, Flowers, Donations & Keepsakes) and What to Avoid - Funeral.com, Inc.

Funeral Gift Etiquette: What to Send (Food, Flowers, Donations & Keepsakes) and What to Avoid

If you have ever stared at your phone after hearing the words “they passed away,” you are not alone. Many people want to help immediately, but grief makes ordinary social...