If your loved one was not religious you may want to consider a humanist funeral, and if so, we would be delighted to help ensure it is carried out with as much pride and sensitivity as any service in a church or chapel.

One of the problems people often come across when arranging non-religious funerals is the question of where to hold it. Unsurprisingly in our experience, church ministers are often very reluctant to allow their premises to be used for a service of a non-religious nature. What we have found is that there are many venues like stately homes which have in recent years become experienced in hosting weddings, and which are willing to provide a beautiful and poignant location. However, the people running the venue may be less well-versed with funerals so it’s vitally important that your funeral director has a chance to talk to them well in advance of the service, to make sure they can meet all the needs of such an event. If you’re at all uncertain, please do ask us and we can help you find an appropriate location and have all the necessary conversations to ensure everything goes off as you would wish. The second most frequent concern is for a celebrant. People worry that if they don’t want to have a member of the clergy taking the service then who might there be who can do it? There are today a number of very fine and experienced humanist celebrants who are as thoughtful and sympathetic as a family could wish for. Again, if you would like to explore this possibility, please do talk to us and we will help find the right person for you.

Then there is the service itself. One of the attractions of a non-religious funeral is the ability to do everything precisely as you and the departed loved one would wish. However, without the framework of a church service it can be quite daunting trying to work out what to include in terms of music, poetry, eulogies and so on. You’ll need to decide what you want to happen at the service itself and which elements would be better suited to the graveside or crematorium. Are floral tributes appropriate and what will you do about feeding those who attend? It’s really important to talk about all these things among the family, but an experienced professional will be able to give you a great deal of advice and guidance and hopefully take the weight of much of these arrangements from your shoulders at a time when you need to look after yourself, so you can properly experience the event, rather than being consumed by organising it.

For further information or advice, please do get in touch.