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.

What Are Cremation Ashes Made Of? Composition, Texture, and What to Do Next - Funeral.com, Inc.

What Are Cremation Ashes Made Of? Composition, Texture, and What to Do Next

If you’ve ever wondered what are cremation ashes made of, you’re usually asking for reassurance as much as information. The word “ashes” makes many people picture fireplace ash: soft, black...

Do You Need an Urn Vault to Bury Ashes? Cemetery Requirements and Cost Breakdown - Funeral.com, Inc.

Do You Need an Urn Vault to Bury Ashes? Cemetery Requirements and Cost Breakdown

If you’re planning to bury cremated remains in a cemetery, it’s common to feel blindsided by one unexpected question: do you need a vault for a cremation urn? Families often...

Where to Put the Urn After Cremation: Home, Cemetery, Scattering & CA Rules - Funeral.com, Inc.

Where to Put the Urn After Cremation: Home, Cemetery, Scattering & CA Rules

After cremation, many families expect a single “next step,” and instead find themselves facing a handful of meaningful options. You might be asking where to put urn after cremation because...

Who Owns Cremation Ashes? Custody Rights, Scattering Rules, and Common Legal Pitfalls - Funeral.com, Inc.

Who Owns Cremation Ashes? Custody Rights, Scattering Rules, and Common Legal Pitfalls

When families choose cremation, there’s often an assumption that the hard decisions are behind them. The arrangements are made, the paperwork is signed, and the cremated remains are returned. And...

How Long Do Cremated Ashes Last? Storage, Scattering at Sea & Environmental Notes - Funeral.com, Inc.

How Long Do Cremated Ashes Last? Storage, Scattering at Sea & Environmental Notes

When families ask how long do cremated ashes last, what they usually mean is, “Will anything happen to them if we keep them for years?” The reassuring answer is that...

Where Can You Scatter Ashes? U.S. Laws, Permissions, and Best Practices by Location - Funeral.com, Inc.

Where Can You Scatter Ashes? U.S. Laws, Permissions, and Best Practices by Location

When families ask where can you scatter ashes, they’re usually trying to protect two things at once: the meaning of the moment and the place where it happens. Scattering can...

TSA-Approved Urns and Flying With Cremated Remains: Airline Rules and Travel Tips - Funeral.com, Inc.

TSA-Approved Urns and Flying With Cremated Remains: Airline Rules and Travel Tips

There are trips you pack for with excitement, and there are trips you pack for with a quiet kind of courage. If you’re flying with cremated remains, you’re not just...

How to Bury Cremation Ashes and Urns: Cemetery Rules, Home Burial, and Green Options - Funeral.com, Inc.

How to Bury Cremation Ashes and Urns: Cemetery Rules, Home Burial, and Green Options

After cremation, many families eventually come back to the same question: what should happen next? For some people, keeping the urn at home feels right. For others, the goal is...

How Long Do Biodegradable Urns Last? Breakdown Times for Burial and Water Ceremonies - Funeral.com, Inc.

How Long Do Biodegradable Urns Last? Breakdown Times for Burial and Water Ceremonies

There’s a particular kind of quiet that shows up after a cremation—after the phone calls, after the logistics, after the first wave of decisions. It often arrives when the ashes...

Can You Fly With Cremated Ashes? TSA Rules, Best Urn Materials, and Travel Checklist - Funeral.com, Inc.

Can You Fly With Cremated Ashes? TSA Rules, Best Urn Materials, and Travel Checklist

Some trips are packed with excitement. Others are packed with care. If you’re reading this because you need to fly with cremated ashes, you’re probably carrying more than a suitcase—you’re carrying...

How to Put Ashes Into an Urn: Step-by-Step Filling, Closing, and Sealing Tips - Funeral.com, Inc.

How to Put Ashes Into an Urn: Step-by-Step Filling, Closing, and Sealing Tips

The day the cremated remains come home is often quieter than people expect. There may be no ceremony in that moment—just a phone call, a careful handoff, and a temporary container...

What to Do With a Loved One’s Ashes: Scatter, Bury, Keep at Home, or Create a Memorial - Funeral.com, Inc.

What to Do With a Loved One’s Ashes: Scatter, Bury, Keep at Home, or Create a Memorial

There is a moment that catches many families off guard. The phone calls have been made, the paperwork has been signed, the cremation has taken place, and then—often in a...

Biodegradable Water Urns for Ashes: How They Float, Sink, and Dissolve (Plus Top Options) - Funeral.com, Inc.

Biodegradable Water Urns for Ashes: How They Float, Sink, and Dissolve (Plus Top Options)

Water has a way of holding memories without needing to explain them. For some families, the ocean is where a loved one felt most like themselves—fishing before sunrise, swimming long...

Are Ashes Loose in an Urn? How Cremains Are Packaged and Transferred Safely - Funeral.com, Inc.

Are Ashes Loose in an Urn? How Cremains Are Packaged and Transferred Safely

If you’ve been wondering are ashes loose in an urn, you’re asking one of the most common “first-time” cremation questions. Many people picture cremated remains arriving already inside a decorative...

Are Ashes Loose in an Urn? How Cremains Are Returned and How to Transfer Them Cleanly - Funeral.com, Inc.

Are Ashes Loose in an Urn? How Cremains Are Returned and How to Transfer Them Cleanly

It’s a surprisingly common question, and it usually comes from a very normal place: you’ve seen photos of a beautiful urn, and you assume the cremation ashes arrive inside it...

Can You Open an Urn Later? How to Unseal Safely, Respectfully, and (Usually) Legally - Funeral.com, Inc.

Can You Open an Urn Later? How to Unseal Safely, Respectfully, and (Usually) Legally

There’s a moment many families don’t expect: the urn is already home, the ceremony is over, and then a practical question shows up months later. A sibling asks if it’s...