It seems that more people these days would like their funeral to be a celebration of their life than a gloomy affair. Many of them have specific ideas on how they would like to achieve it.
Just like any other event, funerals can be personalised and more & more people are choosing to move away from traditional religious choices.
A report on funeral trends back in 2015 found that 37% of people would like to personalise their funeral, with half wanting specific songs or music to be played. 16% wanted a themed funeral and 25% wanted their guests to wear bright colours.
In recent years, over half of UK funeral directors have been asked to arrange funerals away from a traditional religious venue. The most popular settings have been the deceased’s home or garden, their favourite sports venue or even their place of work.
It has become commonplace for funerals to request the guests wear something of significance to the deceased – such as a football scarf or something in their favourite colour, and increasingly specifying guests wear fancy dress – some of the most popular apparently being witches, Darth Vader and superheroes.
According to a study from 2016, Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” was the top song to be played at a funeral, with “Time to Say Goodbye” (Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman) in second place, and “Over the Rainbow” (Eva Cassidy) coming in third.
As trends change the music list is likely to change too, and in a 2017 study, 5% of adults said they’d like the ‘Game of Thrones’ theme song played at their funeral, and Liverpool FC’s “You’ll Never Walk Alone” is top of the sports wish list chart.
These days you can personalise anything: the hearse, flowers, coffin, location and memorial. At one recently reported funeral, the deceased was a huge fan of Only Fools and Horses and so the hearse was replaced with Del Boy’s Reliant Robin.
If you have specific wishes you need to make them known, and ideally discuss it with your family. Not everyone is comfortable talking about these things though, so it might be easier to write a specific ‘funeral list’ to sit with your Will, documenting what you want.
Your instructions can be very precise, or vague. For example – “I want to be cremated and for people to wear bright colours”. Or it could be that you want particular songs played and poems read. Whatever it is, write it down and make sure you’ve told your family & the Executors of your Will that it exists – and where to find it – otherwise the danger is that by the time your Will is located and read, your funeral may already be planned, or even have taken place. It will be a source of comfort to them knowing that what they are arranging is what you wanted.
If you do not want your family or friends to have to go through the stress of arranging your funeral – at a time when they are in the early stages of mourning your passing – you have the option of purchasing a ‘Pre-paid Funeral Plan’. These plans enable you to arrange everything upfront, and pay for it upfront – rather than it having to be paid at a time all your finances are frozen before Probate is granted. In addition it means you pay at “today’s rates” for a service that is only going to increase in price by the time of your death.
Heir Tight Wills helps clients put in place robust provisions and valid documents, to protect their loved ones and their assets both during their lifetime and after their death – including arranging Pre-paid Funeral Plans. For a FREE Consultation to discuss writing or updating your Will & estate planning provisions, or putting in place a Pre-paid Funeral Plan, contact Rachael Rodgers on 0845 519 7585, or CONTACT US via email.