A Quiet Funeral How Long?

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While family or friends will concern themselves with all aspects of the funeral; from contacting uncle George in Canada to dealing with the multitude of enquiries and callers, time spent with the funeral director can actually be relatively very brief. The initial interview to discuss the funeral, including the signing of any documentation will rarely last longer than an hour. In many instances this can be the last contact until the day of the funeral as well...

A good funeral director or arranger in a "busy" office can complete the most detailed part of these requirements well within forty minutes - this will include your first introduction and seeing you from the premises!

Obviously, not all arrangements can be conducted so speedily, but the majority will .

What happens next? If you have been able to sign all the forms and hand over or arrange to deliver any other documents, not a lot. The usual format goes something like this.

If a cremation;

• Telephone the crematorium and reserve the next suitable day and time (to suit the funeral director's busy schedule)

• Telephone the minister or ceremony officiator to inform them of the loss and to agree the reservation.
• Telephone the doctor responsible for issuing the original death certificate to request cremation forms. He/she will usually arrange for a second doctor to attend, saving one further 'call for the funeral director
• Telephone or speak directly to the client to confirm the reserved day and times.
• Telephone or fax the announcement to the newspaper.
• Order any floral tributes.
• Order any printing - Order of Service.
• Enter the funeral details into the diary.
• Pass instruction to the work-shop to prepare the back ground detail.
• Complete documentation - the most time consuming part for the arranger, as long as 20 minutes sometimes! - subject to no interruptions!
• Deliver paperwork to crematorium when completed.

And if it's to be a burial, delete points 1 and 3 and replace with;

• Telephone cemetery and order preparation of ground.

If the client remains on the premises, most of these details will be finalised there and then.

Certainly the majority of the documentation will be completed during the arrangement interview and essentially, the funeral directors task is now finished.

If all telephone calls are answered, and often an answerphone will suffice, the entire matter can be wrapped up in an hour.

Of course, there is an element of more "physical", background work to be done but even that aspect of the funeral business - unless distances are great - is usually conducted with surprising speed.

This is not intended to undermine the funeral directors claim that each funeral takes up to forty hours to prepare, only to give an insight into what can happen under "ideal" circumstances - from the funeral directors point of view that is......

City of the Silent

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