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.

Memorial Bench Ideas: How to Choose, Personalize, and Place a Bench Tribute

Memorial Bench Ideas: How to Choose, Personalize, and Place a Bench Tribute

A memorial bench is one of those rare tributes that does two things at once. It marks a life that mattered, and it also serves the people who are still...

A Simple Memorial Service Script You Can Customize

A Simple Memorial Service Script You Can Customize

If you’re searching for a memorial service script, you’re probably not trying to write something poetic. You’re trying to guide a room through love and loss without feeling like you’re...

How to Ask Someone to Speak at a Memorial (Ask to Give a Eulogy)

How to Ask Someone to Speak at a Memorial (Ask to Give a Eulogy)

There’s a particular kind of nervousness that shows up when you’re planning a memorial service. It’s not only the logistics. It’s the human part: deciding who should speak, and then...

Obituary vs Death Notice: What’s the Difference

Obituary vs Death Notice: What’s the Difference

When someone dies, the first writing task families face is often not the eulogy, not the thank-you notes, and not even the paperwork. It’s the announcement. People are waiting for...

Burial With a Memorial Service Later: Planning and Timing

Burial With a Memorial Service Later: Planning and Timing

Some decisions arrive quietly, almost as a relief. A loved one dies, and the family realizes that trying to coordinate everything at once—travel, faith traditions, work schedules, children’s school calendars,...

Bench Headstones and Estate Monuments: What They Are, Costs, and Cemetery Rules to Know

Bench Headstones and Estate Monuments: What They Are, Costs, and Cemetery Rules to Know

Some memorial decisions arrive quietly. You may be walking through a cemetery after a service, or months later on a day when grief shows up without warning. You notice how...

Stained Glass Memorial Windows for Home: Design Ideas, Symbolism, and Commissioning Tips

Stained Glass Memorial Windows for Home: Design Ideas, Symbolism, and Commissioning Tips

There is a particular kind of quiet that settles into a home after loss. The phone calls slow down. The casseroles stop arriving. And yet the absence stays loud in...

Bird Baths as Garden Memorials: Placement, Safety for Birds, and Simple Dedication Ideas

Bird Baths as Garden Memorials: Placement, Safety for Birds, and Simple Dedication Ideas

Grief often shows up in ordinary moments. It can meet you at the kitchen sink, on the back steps, or in the quiet pause before you turn the porch light...

Military Flag Shadow Boxes: Display Options, Etiquette, and How to Protect the Flag Long‑Term

Military Flag Shadow Boxes: Display Options, Etiquette, and How to Protect the Flag Long‑Term

The folded flag is often the moment everything becomes real. You may remember the precise way it was handed to you—carefully, intentionally, with a level of respect that can feel...

Memorial Trees: Choosing a Species That Lives Long (and Thrives Where You Plant It)

Memorial Trees: Choosing a Species That Lives Long (and Thrives Where You Plant It)

There is a moment that many families recognize after a death—sometimes after the service, sometimes after the cremation, sometimes weeks later—when the world grows quieter and the practical tasks finally...

Memorial Plaque Wording Ideas: Short, Meaningful Phrases for Benches, Trees, and Gardens

Memorial Plaque Wording Ideas: Short, Meaningful Phrases for Benches, Trees, and Gardens

If you have ever stared at a blank space on a plaque order form and felt your mind go quiet, you are not alone. The hardest part is not a...

Memorial Benches: How Park Donation Programs Work, Costs, and What Families Should Ask

Memorial Benches: How Park Donation Programs Work, Costs, and What Families Should Ask

There is a particular kind of comfort in finding a name in a place that still feels alive. A bench beside a trail. A seat near the playground where grandchildren...

Adopt-a-Highway Memorials: How They Work, Eligibility, and What Signs Typically Say

Adopt-a-Highway Memorials: How They Work, Eligibility, and What Signs Typically Say

On a drive you’ve taken a hundred times, the world can change in a single instant—after a loss, familiar roads stop being “just roads.” They become the route to the...

NFT Memorials and Blockchain Tributes: What They Are, Pros/Cons, and Longevity Questions

NFT Memorials and Blockchain Tributes: What They Are, Pros/Cons, and Longevity Questions

When someone dies, the world gets very small and very practical at the same time. You may be choosing music for a service, looking through photos, trying to coordinate relatives,...

Colorizing Old Photos: What AI Can Do, What to Watch For, and How to Get Natural Results

Colorizing Old Photos: What AI Can Do, What to Watch For, and How to Get Natural Results

There’s a particular kind of ache that comes with an old photograph. It’s proof, it’s comfort, it’s history—and sometimes it’s also the only clear image you have of someone you...

How to Create a Memorial Space That Doesn’t Overwhelm the Room

How to Create a Memorial Space That Doesn’t Overwhelm the Room

A home memorial can be one of the gentlest forms of remembrance. It can also become surprisingly hard to live with when it starts to feel like a “project” you...