No one is ever ready to lose a loved one. No matter how much you prepare for it and no matter how much time you are given to expect for the worst, when it hits, it still leaves you in great disbelief that you may or may not choose to accept it as a reality. If such a tragic event occurs, where do you think that leaves you? What if you were left to plan the funeral of your deceased loved one? Would you actually know how to plan a funeral in such short notice, more so while you are grieving at the same time? It would be a really difficult task to take on by yourself, but you do not actually need to do everything on your own. When you seek the help of professionals who are highly skilled in such situations, you would be able to give yourself time to breathe, relax, and to actually grieve for your loved one.
The Crucial First Hours
When you lose someone you love, especially in an unexpected and untimely manner, it could be a very distressing moment of time in your life. As troubling as it may seem, knowing which steps to take next as soon as your loved one passes on is utterly important as there are administrative procedures involved that you must take note of. The first and most important step to make is to contact the deceased person’s General Practitioner (GP), especially if the death happened in the private residence of the deceased or the family members. When death occurs inside a hospice or possibly a nursing home, the staff would be responsible for calling in a doctor who is qualified for the situation. If the deceased passed away due to an illness, it would be best that the doctor or GP to be called in is the one who knew about his or her medical history. The doctor would then issue a medical certificate stating the cause of death and would give the family a formal notice that the certificate has been signed and what to do next to register the death. After you get through the first few crucial hours of someone passing away, then you should be ready to make the necessary arrangements for a funeral service.
Arranging a Funeral
The most important factor to consider to be knowledgeable about how to plan a funeral is the budget that you would need to prepare so that your family would be able to afford the funeral service. The budget would also be the basis of what will happen and be included in the funeral arrangements of the deceased person. On average, funerals cost £3,575 in the United Kingdom. This includes basic funeral services with simple flowers, and getting the services of a funeral director. A burial would typically cost you £4,267 while a cremation is roughly a thousand pounds cheaper at £3,247. This is of course, just a rough estimate because the entire cost of the funeral would entirely rely on the things you would like to have and see during the funeral service. If you want to invite a number of people and hire a caterer, it would, of course, cost you more compared to just a straightforward service, or maybe even having a direct burial or cremation which would only cost half.
Getting a Reliable Funeral Director
When you have a reliable funeral director to help you with all of the arrangements and the planning, you would be able to not only have an easier time with the decision making, but you would also be able to save on a lot of costs. For example, at Stibbards, you could opt to have a direct cremation without having to go through a funeral service for just £975 which costs much less than the average figure in the United Kingdom for a direct cremation which is £1,712. Another option that you could have is an essential package wherein a simple and low-cost funeral service will be held to commemorate the life of your deceased loved one and would only cost you £1,575, which is around half of the average funeral costs today. If you want a funeral service that is more tailored to your family’s wants and needs, and most especially to give your deceased loved one what he would have wanted for himself or herself, then you could also opt on arranging a bespoke funeral service which only starts at £2,695. With the continuous rise of costs, goods, and cost of living in the whole world, it is best to be smart with the decisions you can consider to be economical and practical, even with funerals. It is not so bad to be able to give your deceased loved one a good chance to be commemorated without having to break the bank.