Preplanning Your Funeral

At funeral homes in Rocky Mount, VA, preplanning your funeral can give both you and your family peace of mind that final arrangements are already in place. When you die, all that your family will need to do is go to the funeral home and talk with the funeral director about the funeral plans you have already made. This is an incredible gift that you can give your family. 

If you don’t have a funeral preplanned, your family will likely be in the dark about exactly what you would have wanted for a service and for a funeral. This can not only exacerbate the stress they are already experiencing, but it can actually create family drama, and even lead to permanent rifts in your immediate family because of disagreements about your funeral. 

Nobody wants to think about their families arguing and possibly fracturing after their deaths, so preplanning your funeral is one step you can take to make sure, at least in the short term, that your family is intact and support each other in the grieving process. 

What’s involved in preplanning your funeral? There are several things that you’ll work out with the funeral director (the funeral director and the family member you want to represent you after your death should know everything about your funeral plans) when planning your funeral. 

First, you’ll need to decide whether you want to be cremated – and what should be done with your cremated remains – or you want to be buried. If you’re going to be cremated, you’ll need to decide whether you want to have a funeral service before you’re cremated or you want to have a memorial service after you’re cremated. If you decide to have a funeral service before your cremation, you will also need to decide whether you want to have a visitation before the funeral service. 

If you’re going to be buried, visitation and a funeral service will be held beforehand. You can specify whether you want your casket open or closed during the visitation. If you’ve already written your obituary, you can provide that to the funeral director and let him know whether it should be published only on the funeral home website or in newspapers too. If you haven’t written an obituary, the funeral director can help you write one. 

Next, you’ll need to plan the funeral service itself. You can have any kind of service you want. Most funeral services include readings (poems, prose, and/or scriptures), music (it can be your favorite songs or it can be music to provide comfort for your family and other mourners), and a spiritual message that gives hope and encouragement to the people who are attending the funeral service. Eulogies are optional, but many people choose a close friend or two to give eulogies during the funeral service. 

You’ll also need to choose a cemetery where you want to be buried and go ahead and get a plot reserved. 

If you have burial or cremation insurance, you can either provide the policy number or the policy itself to the funeral director so that they can take care of the claim and you’re family won’t have that particular concern after you die. 

If you want to preplan your funeral at funeral homes in Rocky Mount, VA, our compassionate and experienced staff at Conner-Bowman Funeral Home & Crematory is here to help. You can come by our funeral home at 62 Virginia Market Place Dr., Rocky Mount, VA, 24151 or you can contact us today at (540) 334-5151.