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.

Mausoleum vs Ground Burial: Costs, Pros and Cons, and How to Choose - Funeral.com, Inc.

Mausoleum vs Ground Burial: Costs, Pros and Cons, and How to Choose

If you’re comparing a mausoleum with a traditional ground burial, you’re probably doing two things at once: trying to honor someone well, and trying to make a decision that won’t...

Buying a Cemetery Plot in Advance: Contracts, Fees, and Burial Vault Requirements - Funeral.com, Inc.

Buying a Cemetery Plot in Advance: Contracts, Fees, and Burial Vault Requirements

Most families don’t start by thinking about contracts. They start with a feeling: “I don’t want my kids to have to figure this out.” Buying a cemetery plot ahead of...

Finding Pet Loss Support for Disenfranchised Grief - Funeral.com, Inc.

Finding Pet Loss Support for Disenfranchised Grief

If you’re grieving a pet and it feels like the world expects you to “move on” quickly, you’re not imagining that pressure. Pet grief can be profound, but it’s often...

Planning Funeral Thank-You Notes: Who to Thank, What to Write, and When to Send Them - Funeral.com, Inc.

Planning Funeral Thank-You Notes: Who to Thank, What to Write, and When to Send Them

After a loss, the world keeps asking things of you. Forms. Calls. Decisions. Messages. And then, once the service is over and the house gets quiet, another task often shows...

Cremating Birds and Reptiles: Special Considerations for Exotic Pets - Funeral.com, Inc.

Cremating Birds and Reptiles: Special Considerations for Exotic Pets

The day your bird or reptile dies, the world can feel both painfully quiet and strangely busy. You’re grieving, and you’re also suddenly making decisions: who to call, what the...

Planning a Child’s Funeral: What to Expect, Special Considerations, and Support Resources - Funeral.com, Inc.

Planning a Child’s Funeral: What to Expect, Special Considerations, and Support Resources

When a child dies, time can feel warped. Minutes crawl, but decisions appear fast and urgent: calls to make, paperwork to sign, family to notify, and the question of what...

Memorial Tattoos and Pet Ashes: What to Know Before You Add Cremains to Ink - Funeral.com, Inc.

Memorial Tattoos and Pet Ashes: What to Know Before You Add Cremains to Ink

There’s a moment after a pet dies when the world gets strangely quiet. The leash still hangs by the door. The water bowl is still under the sink. You can...

Taxidermy vs. Freeze Drying: Extreme Pet Preservation Explained - Funeral.com, Inc.

Taxidermy vs. Freeze Drying: Extreme Pet Preservation Explained

When a pet dies, the first decisions rarely feel like choices. They feel like a rush to do something respectful while your mind is still in shock. In the middle...

Digital Funeral Planning Tools: Apps and Websites to Organize Arrangements Online - Funeral.com, Inc.

Digital Funeral Planning Tools: Apps and Websites to Organize Arrangements Online

When someone dies, the hard part is not that there are “too many decisions.” The hard part is that decisions, documents, and emotions all land at the same time. A...

Pre-Planning a Funeral as a Couple: Making Joint Decisions and Documenting Your Wishes - Funeral.com, Inc.

Pre-Planning a Funeral as a Couple: Making Joint Decisions and Documenting Your Wishes

When couples talk about planning ahead, it often starts with the practical things: “Do we have life insurance?” “Where are the passwords?” “Who’s on the mortgage?” But pre-need funeral planning...

Cat Urn Sizing: Do Maine Coons Need “Dog” Urns? - Funeral.com, Inc.

Cat Urn Sizing: Do Maine Coons Need “Dog” Urns?

After a Maine Coon dies, a practical question can hit hard: maine coon urn size. Your cat may have looked more like a small wildcat than a “normal” house cat,...

Funeral Planning for Aging Parents: How Adult Children Can Start the Conversation - Funeral.com, Inc.

Funeral Planning for Aging Parents: How Adult Children Can Start the Conversation

Most adult children don’t avoid funeral planning because they’re careless. They avoid it because they’re trying to protect their parent from fear—and themselves from the ache of imagining life without...

How to Plan a Secular Celebration of Life (Non-Religious Service Ideas) - Funeral.com, Inc.

How to Plan a Secular Celebration of Life (Non-Religious Service Ideas)

A secular celebration of life is one of the most compassionate “middle paths” a family can choose: it offers structure when your mind feels scattered, but it doesn’t require religious...

What to Do With Ashes (2026): Choosing Cremation Urns, Keepsakes, Pet Urns & Cremation Jewelry in a Way You Can Live With - Funeral.com, Inc.

What to Do With Ashes (2026): Choosing Cremation Urns, Keepsakes, Pet Urns & Cremation Jewelry in a Way You Can Live With

There’s a moment after cremation when life goes quiet in a very particular way. The urgent decisions may be behind you, but the question that remains can feel surprisingly heavy:...

Funeral Receptions and Repasts: Food Ideas, Venue Options, and Etiquette After the Service - Funeral.com, Inc.

Funeral Receptions and Repasts: Food Ideas, Venue Options, and Etiquette After the Service

After a funeral or memorial service, many families feel two things at once: exhaustion and a quiet need to be together. A funeral reception or a repast after funeral isn’t...

Pet Loss Support in Rhode Island (2026): Hotlines, Grief Groups & Counseling - Funeral.com, Inc.

Pet Loss Support in Rhode Island (2026): Hotlines, Grief Groups & Counseling

In Rhode Island, pet routines shape the day: the morning walk, the familiar spot on the couch, the sound of paws at night. When a pet dies, that rhythm breaks,...