- by Tim Thompson
Funeral order of service outline
What do you include in a funeral order of service? Well planning the funeral order of service outline is a good idea to get started. Thankfully, most of us won’t have to think about this task very often in our lives, but that presents a challenge when the time does arise. What are the things to include, is there a standard number of images, what about the formatting?
It’s my aim to offer a helpful hand and show some examples of funeral order of service, throughout this guide I’ll share a link to a guide for families I put together, you are most welcome to download and examine, you won’t have to leave your email address in exchange for the guide, I just hope you find the information useful.
My name is Tim Thompson and I design and print funeral order of service for families all over the UK, over the years I’ve had the privilege to compile lots of different types of service outlines, and there are often some common factors, I’ll list them in this article with some images too.
You might have a specific question, so use the quick guide below, click the link and it’ll jump to the exact section in this post.
My Funeral order of service outline
Information on the front cover
The front cover will feature a large image of the deceased.
Above the photo, usually will sit:
Name of deceased / Date of Birth / Date of Death
Underneath the large photo, usually will sit:
Funeral Location / Date and Time of the funeral ( date time and location )
Sometimes on the front cover, you might want to mention the celebrant or the member of the clergy overseeing the ceremony, whichever is applicable.
Here are some front cover examples as inspiration
Information for the centre pages
Depending on the number of pages you choose for your order of service, you may have more or less room to detail the specifics of the funeral order of service. But as a useful guide, the funeral order of service running order would look something like this….
Example One:
Entrance Music / Welcome Words / Psalm 23 / Poem / Eulogy / Song Of Reflection / The Lords Prayer / Committal / Closing Words / Exit Music
Example Two:
Entrance Hymn / Reflection Hymn / Eulogy or Tribute / Exit Music
Example Three:
Entrance Music / Hymn / Reflection Hymn / The Lords Prayer / Committal / Exit Music
Example Four:
Entrance Music / Welcome & Opening Prayers / Hymn / Bible Reading / Eulogy / Reflection Music / The Lords Prayer / Poem Reading / Final Prayer / Exit Music
If you are using the services of a funeral celebrant, they will guide you through the process of creating the funeral service running order.
A member of the clergy or the funeral director may also guide you on the creation of the service running order.
If though, you are putting this together yourself, you can download a funeral word template here, it is just a collection of different funeral order of service templates, fill in the blanks and share with whoever is designing your funeral order of service.
The important thing to remember is, there is NO right or wrong way, the funeral order of service is designed to remember and give a glimpse into your loved ones life, a memory of their time with you.
Here are some Inside page examples as inspiration
Information for the Back pages
Typically the back page will feature one or a few photos of your loved one. These might be photos of them as a child or young adult or photos of them with their partner.
Here are some back page examples as inspiration
Notice how families use this section to say thank you to those who were able to attend, and thank others for their kind words, prayers and involvement in the funeral preparation.
I’ve seen lovely tributes to the care offered at the loved ones end of life, and mentions of hospice and charities which have played an important part through their life.
Sometimes, a link is shared to leave donations. This could be a donation to a charity, but its common these days to have a fundraising page in the name of the deceased too. These websites offer that facility…
www.justgiving.com
uk.virginmoneygiving.com/giving
What should be included in a funeral order of service?
Front Cover:
Name of deceased / Date of Birth / Date of Death
Photo of your loved one
Funeral Location / Date and Time of the funeral
Inner Pages (service running order)
Condensing the information above, the service running order typically takes this format:
Entrance Music – Welcome & Opening Prayers – Hymn – Reading – Eulogy – Reflection Music – The Lords Prayer – Poem Reading – Final Prayer – Exit Music
Back Page
Photo or collection of photos of your loved one / Thank you message or Poem of significance / Donations link or mention of how to donate to a specific cause or charity
What do you write on the back of a funeral booklet?
On the back page of the funeral order of service, a thank you message is common. To thank all those who were able to attend, or those who offered support and assistance.
Some examples of messages for the back page of a funeral order of service booklet would be:
Example 1. Mary, Shaun and Martin wish to thank all relatives and friends for the kindness and sympathy shown to that as this sad time. Your attendance here today is greatly appreciated.
Example 2. We would like to thank everyone for their kind words of love and support and for those who attended today.
Example 3. Kathleen’s family would like to thank you all for attending today.
The thank you message, is a nice space to mention anyone who had an impact and offered assistance, I hope the examples above help.
Who gives out the order of service at a funeral?
This is a question often asked by loved ones and the answer all depends on your arrangements that day.
Your celebrant may place the orders of service on the seats before the invited sit down, oftentimes the funeral booklets are handed out as the invited enter the venue.
Funeral order of service design online
I don’t put the design burden onto the family, and thats not intended to knock those websites who do. I used to own a bigger printing company, and the temptation back then was to setup an online design system (much easier nowadays) because, the design challenge is moved away from the printer, and into the hands of the bereaved family.
When I started this business, I decided that wasn’t the approach I wanted to take.
I know from experience, the process of use my DONE FOR YOU design process is much easier than learning the online design tools, I appreciate cost isn’t always the considering factor, but its worth mentioning that my prices are generally a lot lower than the big online suppliers, with their bigger overheads and staffing costs.
You really would be amazed, funeral order of service cost is a huge opportunity for many businesses to hike up their prices.
Done for you funeral order of service?
If you would like to discuss your funeral order of service design, I’m available on the live chat (just click the icon at the bottom of the website) , or send me an email at design@funeralorderofservice.co.uk or you can reach me on freephone 0800 799 9541
It will take me around 2-3 hrs to create you something beautiful, and you can receive your order next day using premium TRACKED couriers.
