At Integrity Funeral Care, we understand that families have very strong feelings about the way their loved one is dressed for their burial or cremation.  Communication is key, and it is very important to us that between us, we make sure we know precisely what your wishes are.

Equally, there will be decisions to be made regarding jewellery – either that already being worn by the deceased or items you would want to have them wear at the end. 

When we collect someone from the hospital or public mortuary, or from your home, we will have a full list of all clothing and jewellery so that everyone knows precisely what items they have with them.  All jewellery is kept carefully and safely locked away in our safe so you can have complete confidence that it is being properly looked after.  Families often decide to bring other pieces to us with which to dress the body, and again, these will be kept under lock and key and recorded down to the last item.

Some families want to remove items like wedding and engagement rings to have as a keepsake, others want their relation to be buried or cremated with them (It’s important to understand that in the case of cremation, the jewellery will be destroyed and mingle with the ashes).

When it comes to the day of the funeral, if you have chosen an open casket for the service, families often like to put tokens of love in with the deceased.  These can be letters, photographs, teddy bears, bibles, rosaries in the Catholic tradition – people choose all kinds of things as appropriate tokens.  When it comes to cremation, however, it’s important to understand that some things cannot be included for safety reasons, particularly any electronic or battery-operated equipment.  If the family member has had a pacemaker fitted this will also have to be removed prior to cremation for the same reason.  Some specific brands of shoes can also be problematic for cremation, notably Dr Martens, because of the large amount of metal in them.  The same is true of some American-style caskets that can also have a high metal content. 

If you’re unsure whether an item can be included, please don’t hesitate to ask us in advance.  We want to make sure we can meet as many of your wishes as possible, so early discussion is always welcome and advisable.