Ask a Funeral Director

A traditional funeral features a procession to a church or other venue for a service with a eulogy and music followed by burial or cremation. Modern send-offs are now becoming much more diverse.

Funerals are important to many people for different reasons; honouring tradition can be important, but saying goodbye to loved ones is a helpful part of the grieving process.

Funeral directors must wait until a doctor has signed a Medical Certificate of Cause of Death from a doctor or coroner before they can collect someone who has died from a hospital or their home.

The most important things to consider when choosing a funeral director are the type of service you would like, budget and any other special requests, such as novelty hearses.

Funeral directors offer a range of different services, but always provide the same level of care and attention to everyone they look after.

A funeral director’s ‘professional services’ include organising important paperwork, advising bereaved families on funeral options, transporting the person from the place of death, caring for the person, and arranging their funeral.

Before you can bury or cremate a loved one who has died, you must get a Medical Certificate of the Cause of Death, a Death Certificate and a Certificate for Cremation or Burial.

Disbursement is the name for the costs of a funeral service that are payable to third parties, such as flowers, celebrants, funeral singers or providers of alternative funeral transport. The term disbursement is sometimes used to describe items such as flowers or orders of service.

Most funeral directors devote their lives to their profession and are on-call 24/7. Funeral directors take pride in providing bereaved families with a sensitive and compassionate service that often exceeds their expectations.

Before you can be cremated or buried your family will have to get a medical certificate from the doctor confirming your cause of death. If there is any uncertainty a coroner will perform a post-mortem to determine it.

After a person who has died donates organs all incisions are closed and the donor is returned to their family as soon as possible, so they can view their loved one if they wish.

There is no requirement to be embalmed, and families must always provide consent before it is carried out. Some religions forbid it and it is not allowed in many natural burial grounds.

If you view a loved one who has died they might seem very peaceful, but they may look different if they had been in an accident. Funeral directors & morticians can use embalming and makeup techniques to help improve the appearance of a loved one who has died.

People who have died can wear whatever they like. Most people will be dressed in a shroud, casual clothes or formal wear such as a suit or smart dress, and their shoes. Apart from wedding rings, most jewellery, including jewellery is taken off. This is a requirement if someone is cremated.

You can be buried in the nude! You don’t even need a coffin or shroud if the land belongs to you. If the burial ground is owned by someone else, you will need to get permission from them.

A coffin may be kept at home overnight before the service for a viewing, wake or religious ceremony.

Most graves are actually 3 feet deep. In the Middle Ages it was believed that burying people 6 feet below ground would stop the spread of disease, but this is not actually necessary.