Planning your own funeral in advance
An increasing number of people are documenting their funeral preferences ahead of time. A straightforward written record of your wishes, stored where family members can find it, often suffices — though it helps to tell at least one person where it is.
- Burial or cremation — the foundational choice that shapes everything else
- Service format — religious, humanist, celebratory, or none
- Coffin preferences — more options exist than many realise
- Music, readings and speakers — noting preferences relieves family uncertainty
- Final resting place — burial location or ash-scattering wishes
- Natural or green burial — eco-conscious alternatives worth considering in advance
- Document storage — keep it accessible, alongside your will or with your solicitor
Arranging a funeral after a death
Following a death, the immediate priorities are registering the death and making basic arrangements; most families engage a funeral director to guide the process. The main decisions are cremation versus burial, choosing a funeral director (get several quotes — pricing varies significantly), service timing and location, booking an officiant early, coffin selection, the order of service, and the post-service gathering.
Choosing a coffin
Families often spend very little time on coffin selection because of limited options and time pressure. The main choices:
- Wooden coffins — the most common, in solid hardwood or veneered MDF, though neither decomposes rapidly
- Wicker and willow — distinctive and well suited to natural burial
- Cardboard coffins — increasingly chosen for cremation and natural burial. Ours are built from double-walled recycled board, independently tested to over 160kg — countering any misconception about fragility — and can be fully personalised in colour with photographs, landscapes or artwork, with bespoke designs delivered in 3–5 working days
- Bamboo — another environmentally conscious choice with better decomposition than wood
Raise coffin preferences early with your funeral director, particularly for non-standard or personalised options.
The funeral planning checklist
Before the service
- Register the death (within five days in England and Wales)
- Obtain multiple death certificates
- Notify the funeral director
- Confirm cremation or burial and reserve the date
- Select the coffin
- Book the officiant or celebrant
- Finalise the order of service
- Arrange flowers, if desired
- Notify family and friends, and place a death notice if appropriate
- Confirm post-service arrangements
At the service
- Distribute the printed order of service
- Confirm music arrangements with the venue or crematorium
- Confirm pallbearers, if needed
After the service
- Thank speakers and helpers
- Acknowledge flowers and donations
After the funeral: the admin that still needs doing
Beyond the service itself lies substantial administrative work. Every organisation connected to the deceased — banks, insurers, pension administrators, HMRC, DVLA, utilities, subscriptions and mobile providers — requires notification, each with its own process and timeline. The government's Tell Us Once service covers public-sector bodies, but not the private-sector accounts where most of the work concentrates. Services like Legacy Trail were developed specifically for this phase, identifying the accounts that need notifying and managing communications on the family's behalf.
When documenting funeral wishes, including a record of your accounts — banks, pensions, insurance, subscriptions and digital services — significantly eases the burden on whoever handles your estate.