From Oxted in the east to Farnham in the west, there are plenty of good funeral directors in Surrey to choose from. Even if you have never been to the county before and are arranging the funeral of someone who lived there, then you can rest assured of being able to obtain a good service from professionals who know what they’re doing. You may have to dig a little deeper if you are planning a particular type of funeral service, such as a Buddhist ceremony or a Hindu cremation, because not all funeral directors in Surrey will have the necessary expertise. That said, the standards and professionalism among funeral directors in the county are high. Your appointed firm will be on hand to help you but what else do you need to know?
Check for a Funeral Plan
Before you commit any money towards a funeral service, it is a good idea to check whether there is a pre-existing plan in place. Otherwise, you could pay out money for disbursements that you don’t need. Many people plan their own funerals in advance these days. According to Newrest Funerals, which deals with funeral plans throughout Surrey, not checking to see whether the funeral has already been paid for could be a big mistake. Equally, some Surrey residents will have laid out the plans for what they’d like and have taken out insurance to cover some, if not all, of the costs. Confirm whether such a plan exists before making any other decisions.
Choose Your Preferred Service Type
Many Surrey inhabitants would like a traditional Church of England-style funeral service after they’ve gone whether they were religious or not. The major decision will usually be whether to have the body of the deceased cremated or buried. If there is a family plot available in a churchyard, then this is probably the best way to proceed unless the deceased left specific instructions to the contrary. Other burials usually take place in council-run cemeteries but you can conduct burials on private land, too, if it meets certain criteria. In the end, however, most of Surrey’s former residents are cremated since this is a cost-effective way to proceed.
Select a Suitable Venue
For the service, you will want a suitable venue. If the deceased held religious views and went to a place of worship regularly, then this is probably the best place to hold a service. If not, then a funeral home or a crematorium can be booked that will suffice. Non-religious services can take place in them, too. If you need a secular officiant at one of these sorts of venues, then contacting the Humanist Society is a good first port of call.
Notify Mourners
The next thing to do is to notify people who knew the deceased of the time and date of the service. The traditional way to do this in Surrey is still with an advert placed in the local newspaper. However, many people don’t bother to read them nowadays and social attitudes to such notices have changed. These days, social media posts are often accepted as a reasonable way to notify people of the funeral plans that have been made.
