How to Plan An Unforgettable Cremation Memorial Service

Are you at a loss for how to plan a tasteful and unforgettable cremation memorial service? Here are some ceremony and memorial ideas to inspire you.

Marlaena Gonzales

Planning a ceremony for a loved one’s funeral can be tough enough as is. But when you throw in your loved one’s wishes to be cremated, it can prove to be all the more difficult.

How can you plan a tasteful ceremony and pay tribute to those you’ve lost while still respecting their wishes for a cremation? Thankfully several cremation memorial ideas can help you show the respect that your loved one deserves.

See below for several ways to plan an amazing cremation memorial service that lines up with proper funeral etiquette. Be sure to consider all of these options.

1. Scatter Them in the Water

Perhaps your loved one didn’t wish to have a ceremony at all. Many people hope for their loved ones to skip the costs of performing a big ceremony once they’ve passed on.

Instead, they wish for their family and friends to cremate their bodies and spread them in one of their favorite places in the world. One of the best cremation memorial ideas to fulfill this wish is to spread their ashes in their favorite body of water.

The ashes pose absolutely no harm to underwater life and will create a beautiful environment for you to send off your loved one the way they would’ve wanted. If they spent a good majority of their life on the water, it’s the perfect fit.

Simply choose the proper cremation service for your needs, then have the remains returned to you so that you can arrange plans to spread them throughout the sea/lake/river.

2. Traditional Ceremony

For some, they won’t receive the closure that they need without preparing a traditional funeral for their loved one that has passed away. They worry that the loved one’s wish for cremation will interfere with that.

You need not worry! One of the best cremation memorial ideas is simply carrying on with a traditional funeral ceremony as you wish. Just because the body is cremated doesn’t mean you can have the same wake and funeral that you normally would.

Instead of having the casket opened during the wake, you can simply set up the ashes in a beautiful cremation urn with a picture of your loved one beside it. This will help people mourn and gain the closure they need by having your loved one in the room.

You can also choose to have the wake and funeral before the cremation. This will allow you an open casket memorial service. You’ll then have to decide between having a burial service or just having the body taken right to the crematorium afterward.

3. Planting a Tree

Was your loved one big on treating the environment with respect? Were they a bright light in everyone’s life? If so, then planting a tree can be an amazing option for a cremation ceremony.

While it’s a bit unconventional, you can find a tree that exudes what your loved one was all about and use it as a focal point in the ceremony. You can find a place of significant meaning (after gaining permission) and plant their tree with their ashes.

Once the ceremony is complete, you might consider offering out seeds of the same tree to all of those that attend. That way, if they so choose, they can plant a similar tree on their property and be reminded of your loved one as it grows.

It’s the perfect way to keep them close by. Your loved ones will always be near your home, watching over your family as they continue to grow.

Make sure you run this idea by the rest of your family in order to make sure everyone’s happy with the idea. Remember, people grieve in different ways, and it’s important to factor in everyone’s wishes.

4. Sky Lantern Send-Off

Maybe you’re simply looking for a memorial service idea that will help you send your loved one off with style. If so, then nothing will be as amazing as sending them off with a sky lantern ceremony.

You can purchase a sky lantern for everyone that plans to be in attendance, as well as some pieces of paper.

Everyone will be able to write a personalized note to your loved one and place it in their sky lantern with a tiny bit of their ashes. Then at the end of the service, everyone gets to light their candles and release the lantern into the night sky.

This ceremony will bring an entirely new meaning to both saying goodbye to your loved one and celebrating the beauty of life.

5. Spread Ashes Among Their Property

If your loved one’s property held a special place in their heart, then it’s only fitting you would spread their remains among it. That way, they can enjoy the peace and serenity of their land from here on out.

The ceremony can be as simple or complex as you’d like. You can host a small one on the land along with some of your loved one’s favorite songs.

You might also consider hosting a buffet-style lunch where everyone brings a favorite dish of your loved ones to cook it up for them one last time. When the ceremony is done, you can spread their ashes among the trees, grass, and flowers.