Most people don’t realize, but anyone can run a funeral service. In fact, there are a variety of options available when you choose who should conduct your loved one’s funeral or memorial, depending on their religious beliefs and what you feel would be most suitable.

Religious leader

Traditionally, funeral services were lead by priests and vicars who would incorporate religious worship and prayer into the ceremony. For most religions, there is a set order of certain prayers and readings that are to be maintained.

If your loved one was religious, you would want to organize their funeral in their local place of worship and ask their religious leader to conduct the ceremony. The religious leader should be able to help you plan the service and other aspects of the funeral.

Some religions will perform funeral services even if the person who has died wasn’t particularly religious, or did not worship very frequently.

Unlike other types of the celebrant, most religious leaders will also offer support after the funeral service. They would welcome the bereaved friends and family to visit them again for spiritual guidance, or for company to help them cope up with grief.

Civil Celebrant

Civil Celebrants are not part of any belief system or religion and can conduct funeral and memorial services with no religious content at all, or with the inclusion of certain prayers and readings.

Rather than sticking to the pattern of traditional religious ceremonies, civil funerals focus on meeting the needs of the family and the person who has passed away. Similar to a religious leader, civil celebrants would meet the bereaved family and friends to discuss arrangements and the kind of ceremony they want.

A Friend, Family Member or Yourself

Anyone can conduct a funeral or memorial service, including you or another friend or family member. All you need to have is a plan for the order of service. You need to be sure that you are comfortable speaking in front of a crowd and will be able to lead the ceremony.

Pet grave markers team say that the role of celebrant will require you to lead the order of service by speaking in front of the congregation. This can include narrating a eulogy, reading prayers, poems, and verses, as well as welcoming other people to speak. You might also need to wrap up the ceremony by inviting the congregation to attend a wake.

Just like a celebrant, you would have to involve your loved one’s friends and family in planning the order of service. If you wish, you can also split the role of celebrant between several family members or friends. Often siblings choose to do this in tribute to a parent.

However, this may call for more organization as you will need to work together to decide the order of service, determine who speaks and when and how to divide up the responsibilities.

Subscribe to our blog and discover more about arranging a funeral or finding flat granite grave markers for your loved one’s burial and funeral service.