What Does a Funeral Service Include?
What does funeral service include? We look at the different types of funerals available and what a funeral service will involve. Read more about what happens at a funeral.
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What are the different types of funerals?
A funeral is a way to acknowledge, honour and celebrate the life of a loved one and allow friends and family to say a final goodbye. Funerals typically involve common rituals that can differ significantly depending on the deceased's religion, culture, and specific wishes.
No two funerals are going to be the same, just as no two people are the same. While funerals will often have several elements in common, they can significantly differ among various religions and cultures. A funeral is a highly personal event that celebrates the lifespan of a person. The wishes of the deceased should be honoured, as well as the preferences of the family.
Funerals can range from more traditional services such as at a funeral home, church, mosque or synagogue, to more unconventional approaches like a burial at sea.
Arranging a funeral for a loved one can be an incredibly emotional and unsettling time, so bringing some structure to the experience is essential. There are a number of funeral options available such as traditional faith orientated funeral services, direct cremations, memorial ceremonies, or even no funeral at all.
To help you better understand the different funeral options available, you may find it helpful to have a look at an overview of the different kinds of funeral ceremonies that can take place. This should provide you with some practical funeral ideas that can help prepare you for the final farewell.
When making decisions about what kind of funeral is going to be best for you or your loved one, is it important to take into consideration the way in which you, or your loved one, lives or lived life, as this is a good indication of the kind of funeral that would most honour that life.
Faith and customs are two factors that will often define what happens at a person's funeral. There are several different kinds of funerals that you can consider, such as a traditional funeral, a graveside or committal funeral service, a direct cremation or burial.
The most common types among these is a traditional funeral service and committal funeral service (also known as graveside service). Direct cremations or direct burials can also be common choices for funerals.
What does a funeral service involve?
The type of funeral will define what the service involves and how any common funeral ceremony rituals will be performed.
Religious and cultural beliefs will usually come with a set of specific guidelines for a conventional funeral. Although there are some differences in certain rituals, a funeral service will tend to share many similar features and follow the same structure.
The wake or viewing
A wake or viewing consists of an informal gathering, typically including those people close to the deceased who wish to spend one last time with their loved one before the funeral service. While viewing will usually take place at the funeral home with a funeral director, a wake can be held at home or a favourite place.
A viewing will typically occur in the presence of the coffin, while modern wakes will usually happen with no casket in sight. Either of these options is a great way to say goodbye to your loved one on a more personal level. It is an occasion that allows you to both mourn the loss of the deceased and celebrate the life of your loved one.
Obviously, not all viewings will require an actual body display, and they can even take place in the presence of a cremation urn instead. Wakes and viewing services are entirely optional and depend on the specific wishes of the deceased and their relatives.
Some wakes will take place after the main funeral service and will typically be a more casual event for the loved ones of the deceased, consisting of a buffet or meal with drinks.
Committal service
A committal service is a ritual that is performed by the funeral directors at the graveside and originated from Christianity. Committal services are most commonly associated with Catholic and Orthodox denominations, though not exclusively.
Committal services usually take place at the graveside of your deceased loved one, and they may include things such as prayers and readings.
When everyone is ready to say goodbye to the person, the casket or coffin is lowered into the ground. You may wish to scatter soil onto the casket or throw flowers into the grave as it is being lowered.
It symbolises committing your loved one to their final place of rest and usually follows the central funeral service. Although a committal is a graveside ritual, it could also occur in the crematorium or when burying the ashes.
Burial or cremation
Burial and cremation services represent the core of any funeral and will typically occur directly following the main ceremony. Unlike the other elements of a funeral that you can choose to skip, carrying out either a burial or cremation is an essential process.
When you choose to go with a cremation funeral, you are not only paying for the funeral costs of cremation itself, but you are also paying for your choice of urn and, in some cases, a vault or crypt to store the urn inside.
If you decide you would prefer to go with a burial, you will be paying for the embalming, your choice of coffin or casket, and the actual opening and closing of the grave.
Funeral reception
A post-funeral reception is an optional ceremony that offers the family and friends of the deceased the opportunity to spend a bit of quality time with each other and pay tribute to the life of their loved one.
They are typically held in a more comfortable and casual setting, styled according to you and your families particular requirements.
When you are organising a funeral reception, it is important that you choose a suitable venue, arrange catering services, and, of course, share all relevant details with your guests.
Memorial service
A memorial service is very similar to a funeral service in a lot of ways. The main difference between the two is that the body is typically present as a focal point for the service at a funeral, whether that is in a closed casket or an open one. However, at a memorial service, the body is not usually present at all.
Generally, a framed portrait or an urn will serve as the main focal point at a memorial service. Many families recently are choosing to move away from formal funeral traditions and are embracing memorial services in a variety of different styles. Memorial services are an excellent way to create a more personalised, bespoke celebration of your loved one's life.
A memorial service has far fewer restrictions and can be something different and out there, such as a vintage afternoon tea, or something more intimate such as a quiet reflection at home.
How long is a funeral service?
Most standard funerals that occur in the UK will last for around about an hour.
While some religions can have funerals that last for days, and some will decide to have direct cremations with no service at all.
The average time for both a cremation and a burial is around an hour long in total.
Some services can sometimes last up to two hours, with the extra time given used to perform readings, hymns, speakers, music, and so on.
How long does a cremation take?
Crematoriums can usually offer around 40-45 minutes for funeral services to occur. This time frame will allow for approximately ten minutes on either side for the guests to arrive, pay their respects to the loved one who has died and then leave the chapel so that further services can take place.
Some places will offer you longer service times, and some may offer shorter ones. However, most funeral directors will allow you to book in some extra time for an additional charge. An actual cremation will take between 1-3 hours.
How long does a burial last?
A funeral service that includes a burial will typically take around an hour.
The amount of time can vary based on whether the burial takes place where the funeral service is held or somewhere else and what religious ceremonies are being included if any.
Suppose you have decided on a traditional Christian burial, with the funeral service taking place in a church and the burial being held in its churchyard.
In that case, the total time taken for the service will be comparatively low.
However, if you choose to have a celebration of life in a funeral home and then follow that by travelling to a natural burial ground and then moving on to a wake held at another site, more time will obviously be needed.
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