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.

Personalized Cremation Urns: Custom Photos, Engraving, 3D Prints, and Other Memorialization Options - Funeral.com, Inc.

Personalized Cremation Urns: Custom Photos, Engraving, 3D Prints, and Other Memorialization Options

Personalization is often the moment an urn stops feeling like a “purchase” and starts feeling like a memorial. Families who search for personalized cremation urns are usually trying to solve...

57 Things to Put Ashes In: Creative, Meaningful Ideas (Urns, Keepsakes, and Alternatives) - Funeral.com, Inc.

57 Things to Put Ashes In: Creative, Meaningful Ideas (Urns, Keepsakes, and Alternatives)

If a traditional urn doesn’t feel right, you’re not doing anything wrong. When you’re grieving, the idea of choosing a “forever” container can feel strangely heavy, like you’re being asked...

Memorial Candle Etiquette: When to Light One, What to Say, and How to Set Up a Ceremony - Funeral.com, Inc.

Memorial Candle Etiquette: When to Light One, What to Say, and How to Set Up a Ceremony

There is a particular calm that comes with candlelight. In the middle of grief, when words feel too small or too complicated, a flame gives people something steady to look...

Meaningful Remembrance Gifts After a Loss: Memory Jars, Photo Albums, Tree Tributes, and Comforting Rituals - Funeral.com, Inc.

Meaningful Remembrance Gifts After a Loss: Memory Jars, Photo Albums, Tree Tributes, and Comforting Rituals

When someone you love is grieving, the impulse to help can feel urgent. You want to do something that reaches them, not just today, but in the weeks and months...

Candlelight Vigils and Remembrance Candles: Planning a Meaningful (and Safe) Tribute - Funeral.com, Inc.

Candlelight Vigils and Remembrance Candles: Planning a Meaningful (and Safe) Tribute

A candlelight vigil is one of those rare gatherings that can hold a lot of emotion without asking anyone to perform it. People arrive carrying their own version of grief,...

What to Do When the Urn Arrives: A Gentle First-Week Plan (Placement, Safety, Family Conversations) - Funeral.com, Inc.

What to Do When the Urn Arrives: A Gentle First-Week Plan (Placement, Safety, Family Conversations)

When the urn arrives, many families expect to feel “ready.” Instead, it often feels like grief has changed shape. The loss was already real, but now it has weight, space,...

Columbarium Niche Fit: How to Measure the Space and Choose an Urn That Actually Fits - Funeral.com, Inc.

Columbarium Niche Fit: How to Measure the Space and Choose an Urn That Actually Fits

If you’ve ever heard someone say, “Most niches are standard,” and then tried to shop for an urn, you already know the problem. A columbarium niche can look uniform from...

The Ultimate Urn Placement Guide: Home, Columbarium Niche, Burial, Scattering - Funeral.com, Inc.

The Ultimate Urn Placement Guide: Home, Columbarium Niche, Burial, Scattering

Most families don’t start by asking, “Which urn should we buy?” They start by asking, “Where will they be?” That placement decision is the real foundation of everything that comes...

Best Urn Material for Home Display: What Holds Up Best in Real Life - Funeral.com, Inc.

Best Urn Material for Home Display: What Holds Up Best in Real Life

When families ask for the best urn material for home display, they’re rarely asking a purely technical question. They’re asking a life question: “Can we keep this here—on a shelf,...

How Much Ash Is Left After Cremation? Average Weight, Volume & Urn Fit - Funeral.com, Inc.

How Much Ash Is Left After Cremation? Average Weight, Volume & Urn Fit

There’s a moment many families don’t expect: after all the big decisions, the question that suddenly feels urgent is the practical one—how much ash after cremation is there, and will...

Memorial Quotes for Plaques and Headstones: 100+ Short, Meaningful Inscriptions - Funeral.com, Inc.

Memorial Quotes for Plaques and Headstones: 100+ Short, Meaningful Inscriptions

Choosing words for a headstone or plaque can feel strangely hard. You might have written birthday cards, texts, even long letters to the person you love—but now you’re trying to...

Alternative Urn Ideas: 50+ Unique Containers and Memorial Options for Ashes - Funeral.com, Inc.

Alternative Urn Ideas: 50+ Unique Containers and Memorial Options for Ashes

After cremation, many families discover that the hardest decision isn’t choosing “an urn.” It’s choosing a kind of remembrance that fits a real life: a home with kids and pets,...

Can You Open the Temporary Container? What Families Should Know Before They Try - Funeral.com, Inc.

Can You Open the Temporary Container? What Families Should Know Before They Try

When you bring cremated remains home, the container can feel more intimidating than you expected. It might look like a practical cardboard box or a simple plastic case, and yet...

Laser-Engraved Glass Gifts and Memorials: Best Glass Types, Design Ideas, and Care - Funeral.com, Inc.

Laser-Engraved Glass Gifts and Memorials: Best Glass Types, Design Ideas, and Care

There is a particular kind of comfort that comes from seeing light move through glass. In grief, that feeling can matter more than it sounds like it should. A laser-engraved...

Glass Cremation Urns for Ashes: Crystal Styles, Art Glass Designs, Pros/Cons, and Care Tips - Funeral.com, Inc.

Glass Cremation Urns for Ashes: Crystal Styles, Art Glass Designs, Pros/Cons, and Care Tips

When a family chooses cremation, the urn often becomes the place where love “lands.” It may sit on a shelf beside a photo, travel to a memorial service, or rest...

Ritual Space 101: How to Create a Sacred Place for Grief at Home (and What to Expect at a Graveside Service) - Funeral.com, Inc.

Ritual Space 101: How to Create a Sacred Place for Grief at Home (and What to Expect at a Graveside Service)

Grief can feel like it lives everywhere at once—on the kitchen counter beside an unopened condolence card, in the car when a certain song comes on, in the quiet moment...