Funeral homes Evanston, IL, allow you to personalize your loved one’s end-of-life service. The history of customizing the funeral services of lost loved ones predates the ancient Roman Empire. With time traditions change and so do how people choose to express grief and honor the deceased.

Today, no specific rules dictating how should you give the final tribute to the deceased but there’re several things to consider to make the final services a memorable and thoughtful event.

1. Final Disposition Type

Most of us grew up knowing the traditional burial funeral as the default form of saying goodbye to the lost loved one. But lately, the popularity of other funeral options like cremation, green burials, body donation, and entombment has continued to rise.

If your loved one hasn’t specified the disposition method in their will, then brainstorm different disposition ideas and choose one and customize it to commemorate the departed soul.

2. Food and/or Beverages

What you wish to serve at the funeral or the memorial service depends mainly on the theme of the event – religious or not, traditional or not. But the food list must include your loved one’s favorite dishes.

Recently, many people have started to choose “potluck” celebrations of life where the attendees sign up to try and recreate one of your loved one’s favorite dishes and bring it to the service. This type of service is the best tribute to people who loved to cook.

3. Venue Selection

Most religious families tend to choose a worship place like a church, temple, or mosque for funerals and memorials, but you are not limited to only those venues. You can gather the friends and family in non-traditional places that can be pretty much anywhere as the body doesn’t necessarily have to be present during the service.

It can be a scenic location like a beach, park, museum, or any favorite place of the loved one to comfort each other and share memories. Generally, such events are arranged after the burial or cremation.

4. Readings or Music to Include

For music lovers, nothing is more comforting than meaningful songs, and what’s a great funeral service without playing the loved one’s favorite tunes? Get the favorite playlist of the deceased and showcase it at the event. With just a few quick searches on Google, you’ll find many meaningful songs you can play at the funeral service.

If the deceased wasn’t into music or had religious affinities, then it’ll be appropriate to have the religious clergy read the spiritual excerpts or holy readings.

5. Personalizing the Service

Many bereaved families consider integrating personal memorabilia such as a tribute video, a photo display, an antique car collection, or any personalized centerpieces that reflect the personality of the deceased.

Your funeral director can help you create perfect memorabilia capturing the loved one’s best moments. You may ask friends and family to bring something the loved one liked to make them feel as they are part of the service at funeral homes Evanston, IL.