There’s a lot that goes into planning a funeral, but making those arrangements beforehand gives you time to consider all of your options and make sure that you’re covering all of the necessary details. The following checklist will help you to make sure you’ve thought of everything when you begin creating your personalized plan.
Our funeral home recommends going through this checklist, writing down your requests, and making sure your loved ones know your wishes and have access to your pre-planning checklist. By creating your personal checklist now, your loved ones will have an easier time when you pass. Additionally, you can make sure your final resting place is where you want it to be. If you like, the professionals at our funeral home can help during the pre-planning process. Our funeral home is located in West Seneca, NY, and we serve those throughout Amherst, Buffalo, Cheektowaga, Hamburg, Lackawanna, Lockport, Niagara Falls, Orchard Park, NY, and the surrounding areas.
Information you'll need to assemble:
Vital Statistics
- This includes your father’s name, your mother’s maiden name, your level of education, and your social security number.
Affiliations
- This includes fraternal, service, or union membership, along with any special recognitions you might have
If you’re a veteran, you’ll also need to include:
- Military service
- Branch rank
- Date of enlistment
- Date of discharge
- Name(s) of war/conflict(s) toured
- Serial number
Ways in which you can plan ahead:
General
- Gather personal information for your obituary
- Choose a charity to direct donations to, if desired
- Choose a funeral home
- Make note of any special instructions you desire for your services and final disposition
Funeral Service
- Choose burial or cremation
- Select a casket or cremation container
- Choose the location and type of service
- Decide whether you’d like to have a viewing or visitation
- Choose a floral arrangement
- Select which photographs and memorabilia you’d like to display
- Consider any customs, traditions, or religious rites that are important to you and your family
- Choose the clothing you’d like to be dressed in
- Select music and hymns, if desired
- Select a style for your stationery and memorial register book
- Arrange transportation for your physical remains and your family
- Brainstorm any additional ways you’d like to personalize the services or pay tribute to your accomplishments, hobbies, personality, and life story.
Participants
- Choose a clergy member or officiator to preside over the service
- Select any musicians whose talents you’d like to employ
- Select pallbearers
- Choose friends or family members to perform the eulogy, read scripture, or prepare a speech
Cemetery
- Choose a cemetery
- Select a burial or cremation plot, or a mausoleum, if appropriate
- Decide between above- and below-ground burial
- Select a memorial or grave marker and inscription
Let Our Funeral Home Help with Pre-Planning
Remember that there’s no need to make all of the decisions right away. The purpose of pre-planning is to allow yourself to take the time you need when considering your options and to make the choices that are right for you. Just remember that every little bit of information you add now can help your loved ones in the future. If you don’t want to take care of details such as floral arrangements, music, and choosing a memorial registration book, that is fine. Go through this list and determine what is most important to you. For personalized assistance in creating your plan, consult one of our professionals and contact our funeral home to schedule a one-on-one meeting.
Don’t let your family take on the burden of planning everything. Instead, give your family time to grieve and heal by contacting our funeral home for help with pre-planning. Someone dealing with a loss needs time to grieve, but they also have a lot of tasks to complete such as telling the rest of the family, taking time off work, reorganizing their schedule, making funeral arrangements, and so much more. If you take care of funeral pre-planning now, you can help reduce your loved one’s stress later. Our funeral home helps those throughout Amherst, Buffalo, Cheektowaga, Hamburg, Lackawanna, Lockport, Niagara Falls, Orchard Park, West Seneca, NY, and the surrounding areas. We welcome you to give us a call or plan online.