How to Plan a Celebration of Life
Start with the date and the room, then the people, then the parts of the service, then the meal. Everything else follows. Here is the order the team at Sacred Farewells walks families through, from the first phone call to the last chair put away.
By Gloria Pleimann.
Step One: Choose the Date and the Room
Because no body is present, the date is yours. Pick one that lets the people who matter travel, often two or three weeks out. Then hold a room. At Sacred Farewells a 25% deposit holds the date, and a free 30-minute tour comes first so the family can stand in the sanctuary before deciding anything.
Step Two: Decide Who Leads
Someone has to open and close. A pastor, a chaplain, a steady friend, or a professional MC. If no one in the family wants to stand up, Legacy Tribute includes an MC who guides the room so the family can sit with each other.
Step Three: Write the Order of Service
Most services follow a simple outline: a welcome, a song, a reading, two or three people who speak, an open time for memories, a closing. Keep it to 30 or 45 minutes. Enhanced Celebration and Legacy Tribute include up to 100 printed programs, so guests can follow along and take one home.
Step Four: Photographs and Music
Ask the family for the photographs they love, not the formal ones. Choose three or four songs. Send the files to the venue ten days before the service so the staff can test them on the screen and the sound system. A memorial video edited from your photos is a $400 add-on if you would rather hand that job over.
Step Five: Plan the Meal
The meal after is where the real remembering happens. Decide whether family and friends bring the dishes the person loved, or whether drop-off catering from $15 per person is easier. Either way the venue sets out the serving tables and clears up. Count on guests staying longer than you expect.
Step Six: Tell People
Share the date, the address and the start time, and say what to wear if it matters to the family. Mention whether there will be a meal and whether children are welcome. Most families send one message and let it pass along.
Step Seven: Arrive and Let Go of the Day
Arrive about 30 minutes early with the photographs, the keepsakes for the memorial table and the food if you are bringing it. The staff handle setup and breakdown, the sound and projection are ready to use, and Enhanced and Legacy include an AV technician. The family's only job is to be together.
What It Costs to Do All of This
At Sacred Farewells the room, the sound and projection, the tables and chairs and the staff are included in each package: Basic Celebration $1,500, Enhanced Celebration $2,200, Legacy Tribute $2,800. Add-ons are priced separately and shape the final total. Need something different? The team will work with you to customize something that fits your budget.
Questions
Something else on your mind? Call (954) 471-3965.
How far ahead should we plan?
Two weeks is comfortable and lets relatives travel. Faster is possible when the family handles more of the organizing. Files for the slideshow and music are due ten days before.
What should be on the memorial table?
A portrait or an urn if the family wishes, a few keepsakes, the guest book and memory cards. The staff arrange it and return everything afterward.
Do we need a funeral home at all?
Only for the care of the body. Cremation or burial is arranged with a licensed provider. The celebration of life itself needs a room, a plan and the people.