Are High Costs Preventing Memorial Services?
You lost a friend or loved one. These moments in time are the lowest point in our lives that most of us can imagine. No ceremony or wall of pictures or PowerPoint presentation can lessen the pain and sense of loss. But, it does make it easier to bear for those who go on. And honoring their memory is something we owe to everyone who passes. Should we be forced to spend tens of thousands of dollars to accomplish this? No matter what type of memorial service we may choose or our loved ones may have planned for, it is going to cost a lot of money. From flowers to caskets to headstones, memorial services carry a price tag. Even cremation or other alternative internments can break the bank, especially for those on the lower rungs of the income ladder.
The cost-prohibitive nature of memorial services can often lead to a decision to skip service or celebration of life altogether. This is truly a shame and a mark against our humanity. Every life matters and every life has some actions, moments or love that that should be recognized. Nothing is free, but it could and should be less expensive to carry out a memorial service for someone you cared about.
We Can’t Afford To Mourn – Memorial Services In Today’s World
It is a sad fact that many factors can conspire to make a Memorial Service seem impossible. As we mentioned earlier, the cost of everything just keeps going up. Flowers are expensive, decorations or dedications to a loved one are not cheap and let’s don’t even start on the cost of funeral homes and their services. Even if you plan on light refreshments and a limited duration for the Memorial Service, the expenditures can rise quickly. With that said, your friend or family member was loved and cherished and money should not get in the way of remembering and celebrating their life and accomplishments.
Despite the challenges and the roadblocks, it is good for everyone who cared, to mourn and also celebrate one who has passed. The question is not should we but how do we do it more economically. After all, it’s a safe bet your loved one would not want to waste money unnecessarily. Humans are pretty practical, even in the face of our passing.
Focus The Service On Love
Is a catered meal or extensive pot luck needed to honor your Uncle’s memory? If you are independently wealthy perhaps so. For the rest of us, simple is better, and focusing on the love we had for our dear departed should be all that drives us. So, in the spirit of love, but also thriftiness, we present a couple of money-saving ideas.
- Look for a rental venue instead of a funeral home. Ever been in an uplifting, bright, and welcome funeral home?
- Opt for finger foods or perhaps some favorite dessert or candy that your loved one liked. Serving Mt. Dew soda would please my husband at his memorial service.
- Limit the flowers, decorations, and other commercialization of death. Instead post photos, cherished belongings, or other mementos of the loved one you are honoring.
- Lastly, remember, life goes on. Your friend or relative that has passed would likely you remember them by the love you knew and not what was spent on saying goodbye to them.
The Beacon Center Understands Love & Loss
We have experienced loss ourselves. No one is immune and no one lives forever. It is sad, it hurts and we all need some method of dealing with those challenges and feelings. One of our driving principles is to help ordinary people without deep pockets to have a place to love, to cheer, or to mourn. From Gender Reveals to Memorial Services, The Beacon Center was founded and designed to be a neutral, economical option for people to do all those things and more.
If you want to learn more about how we can help you commemorate all the highs and lows of life, visit our website at www.meetingspaceforyou.com. You can even go old school and call us on the telephone at 702-483-0746.
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