5 uplifting ways to honour a lost loved at a Celebration of Life or memorial service

What is a Celebration of Life Service?

A Celebration of Life service is still a funeral but is one that enables friends and family to honour and celebrate their loved one's life in a unique and personal way. It is uplifiting and can be full of your loved one's personality to truly feel like that their life is being celebrated. I've listed below 5 unique ideas for a Celebration of Life service that will be sure to honour a special person in style and bring love and peace to the hearts of everyone attending.



1) Pick a theme or style

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What did your loved one like to do the most? What was their favourite colour? What food did they enjoy? What flowers made them smile? Themes are a lovely way to brighten a traditional funeral service and you can really capture the essence of your the person by incorporating their favourite things. My mum loved the colour pink, anything pretty, floral or bright, tea and cake and most of all, her family. So we decided on a Celebration of Life service that would totally encompass everything she was about. We had a dusky pink casket, beautiful pink and white roses and a bright dress code for guests. We followed the theme through to the wake afterwards with an afternoon tea style buffet at her favourite tea room. We set up a table with framed pictures of her from memorable trips and ones with all her family. People honestly said it was the nicest funeral they had ever attended which is something you never expect to hear!

2) Consider an Independent Funeral Celebrant

A Funeral Celebrant is someone who still officiates but helps the family incorporate personalised elements to honour their loved ones in a special and uplifting way. They can be religious or non religious but the overall aim is to achieve a funeral or memorial service that reflects the uniqueness of a person and their life.

Present Ascent is ran by the lovely Lucy Biggs, a funeral celebrant who helps families create something special to celebrate the life of the person who has died. I love everything she stands for and her website has some really helpful information for anyone looking into Funeral Celebrants. Lucy works in the Cheshire and Peak District areas and can be contacted here.



3) Uplifting Funeral Stationery

Most people probably don't know this but you can have some lovely funeral stationery, both at the service and the wake, that can be styled with your chosen theme. Most funeral directors will just offer their own Order of Service (or the 'depressing death book' as my dad likes to call it) which is typically just a folded piece of A4 paper with an oval shaped photo on the front, surrounded by some flowers and printed in the bog standard Times New Roman font. However, you can get your own Order of Service created which is personalised and special, featuring favourite flowers on the front, fonts to match their style and personality (retro, fun, elegant - the possibilities are endless!) and even embellishments like little roses, pearls or hearts. This can be carried through to a Funeral Memory Book for guests to write in and leave their favourite memories or stories of the person. And when the time comes that you feel ready to read them, you'll be surprised what things you didn't know about them!



4) Personalised Funeral Favours

A personalised funeral favour is lovely way to give your guests something they can take home that will remind them of the person they have just said goodbye to. There are many different things you might want to consider as a funeral favour, depending on what your loved one enjoyed. One of my favourite ideas is planting flowers for them, ones that appear every year to remind us that they are still around in some way, shape or form. I create the Seed Favour Packets pictured above which can be personalised with their name, favourite colour and flower of choice. A customer of mine made candles for the guests of a special memorial service and I created the below tags for her to tie onto them. They featured an uplifting quote and a bit of sparkle to represent her nephew as a star in the beautiful night sky.



5) Consider live music

Music is the ultimate way to uplift people so how about hiring a singer/band to play some of their favourite songs at the wake? Fill the atmosphere with their most loved music while you swap memorable stories about them with friends and family. I've always loved a gospel choir (think Sister Act!) but for a touch of vintage glamour, Simon Partridge - The Vintage Singer - may be your man! You can check out his website here

So there you have it - hopefully this blog post has provided some helpful ways to create a unique and personalised Celebration of Life service for a special person's memorial.