Cremation with a Ceremony

Many people feel like if they choose cremation they cannot have a funeral with cremation. With, Potomac Valley Cremation Center, we allow families to have beautiful ceremonies while still opting for cremation. Take a look at the types of gatherings we can help organize and create.

Cremation and a Memorial Service

For many families, they choose to hold a memorial service or celebration of life after the cremation has taken place. Holding a memorial service or celebration of life after cremation allows the family time to think about exactly what they want the ceremony to look like. These ceremonies often take place weeks to months after the death. Furthermore, a memorial service or celebration of life is much less formal and organized than a traditional funeral. These ceremonies have become more and more popular because they focus more on honoring the deceased’s personality and can include really whatever you like.

Below, learn more about memorial services.

What is a Memorial Service?

A memorial service is a ceremony that memorializes and honors the deceased after the body has been cremated or buried. A memorial service serves the purpose of any other type of funeral service; honor and pay tribute to the life of the deceased. The memorial service often takes place weeks or even months after the death has occurred.

Memorial Service vs. Funeral

The biggest difference of a traditional funeral and a memorial service is that the body is not present in a casket at a memorial service. However, an urn with the loved one’s ashes may be present at a memorial service. Both traditional funeral services and memorial services have structure, and both bring the community together in support and remembrance. However, a traditional funeral ceremony has much more order and structure. A traditional funeral service commonly has specific rituals and is often associated with religion so it is led by a member of clergy, whereas a memorial service is led by a celebrant or master of ceremonies. Memorial services often give guests an opportunity to participate to some level, where guests of a traditional funeral are really just there to observe and reflect.

Memorial Service vs. Celebration of Life

A celebration of life is an event that truly celebrates the loved one’s passions, intellectual pursuits, personality, and personal accomplishments. A celebration of life can really have no structure at all and can be really anything you want.

A memorial service could be best described as a hybrid of a traditional funeral and celebration of life. A memorial service has some structure, but it still allows you the flexibility to make the ceremony unique and personalized to fit the individual being honored. Also the mood generally lies somewhere in the middle of completely somber and celebratory.

Why Choose a Memorial Service?

Here are some of the most common reasons people choose memorials for loved ones over other types of funeral services:
We find the most common reason people choose a memorial service is that they want the extra time to plan a ceremony. Since a memorial service can take place after the body has been buried or cremated, there is no rush to organize a ceremony. Immediately following a death, families are not emotionally ready to have a ceremony. Relatives and friends that live far away can organize their schedule to travel for the memorial service.
Commonly those who are not spiritual choose to have a memorial service as opposed to a traditional funeral because traditional funerals are more often associated with religion.
Memorial services tend to be less expensive than traditional funerals.
As mentioned above, for some people memorial services serve as the perfect compromise between a celebration of life and traditional funeral service.
Some people find celebrations of life do not pay enough attention to the deceased and turn solely into a party.

Use of a Civil Celebrant

Often memorial services are led by celebrants. A celebrant is a person who has been trained to conduct formal ceremonies, such as weddings, baptisms and funerals. They are not clergy; instead they are experienced masters-of-ceremony and story-tellers. A celebrant works closely with surviving family to create a ceremony which reflects the beliefs, cultural background, values and aspirations of your deceased loved one, and your family. If you think you would be best served by a celebrant, please speak with your funeral director.

Memorial Service Ideas

At memorial services, you want to make sure your loved one's personality and values are featured. Below are some examples of things you can do to highlight personalities and passions.

Accepting Donations in Lieu of Flowers

If your loved one had a cause or non-profit organization they cared about deeply, consider accepting donations toward that cause or organization.

Quotes & Poems

Think about favorite sayings from your loved one or words he/she lived by. You can decorate your venue with posters and banners with these sayings. Or maybe you can add this line to memorial or thank you cards.

Plant a Memorial Tree

Planting a memorial tree has become popular for those who are cremated so that it offers a place where people can visit much like a grave site.

Showcase Your Loved One's Hobbies

Consider creating a display case with some of your loved one's most cherished items or fill it with generic items that describe one of their greatest passions. For example, for a person who loved to travel you could create a showcase with a passport, luggage bag, some souvenirs that were collected, and a map marking all the places he/she traveled to.

Cremation and Visitation

We give you the option to have only a wake or small gathering before the cremation. This option is perfect if you do not want any type of ceremony, but want to give people the opportunity to come pay their respects and give their condolences. It is also a great option if you just wish to have a small, intimate gathering with the immediate family and friends.

Cremation with a Graveside Service

Often times when people think of funerals they think of ceremonies that take place at a cemetery. If you want to stick to these traditional roots, we can have our funeral directors arrange and supervise this type of ceremony.