Funeral costs ?

Savvy_Sue

purpletopaz wrote: »

Just a note, The civil life celebrant told us when we first met with her ( My mum didnt want a funeral but we had family who had to say goodbye to her and we had already booked it ) That The body could have been creamted alone, with no service and then she could have facilitated a service in mums home once we had the ashes, or wherever we had wanted, wish we had known this before as i think this would have been a nice idea too.

We had a church service followed by cremation, it takes an hour to get to and from the crem so only five of us went out there with Dad while everyone else went off for tea and sandwiches (and strict instructions to save us some!).

The minister did say he would take Dad on his own if we wanted but even though he knew Dad quite well we couldn't let that happen! What was nice was that rather than sitting in the pews half a mile away from the coffin we stood close to it for just a reading and prayer.

Savvy_Sue

SiannieLaz wrote: »

With regard to orders of service, you are looking at £150+ so I would recommend doing them yourself, or asking friend/family member - printer quality is so good these days.

But if you are doing them yourself, make sure you have a couple of spare ink cartridges at the ready. And do them in good time. You do not want the stress of running out of ink on the day of the funeral.

Far better IMO to find somewhere which will print from your originals, then it's their problem not yours if something breaks / goes wrong.

We were using a printer, through the FD, and one of my big displacement activities was trying to persuade the printer to do it my way, not his. I'd laid it all out very carefully, as I knew how I wanted it to look (and Dad was in printing, so it mattered!) That didn't stop the printer completely changing the layout. As one of my siblings said, he probably wasn't used to people knowing how they wanted it to look ... but the suggestion that I was getting into discussions about kerning is a malicious fabrication!

If I'd been at home I'd have taken my original to a company I use here, but I wasn't.

Mee

My deepest sympathy too.

I also used the Co-Op after checking independent funeral parlours in the area. My dad was ill for over a year so I had sometime to do the leg work and save where it was appropriate/needed. However, had I been in the same position as your family I think I would have felt pressurised into spending more than was necessary. The Co-op were good, but not outstanding, but remember they are a business.

My father's funeral plus the cremation plot etc. came to over £3.5k. I used Sainsburys for sandwiches and nibbles platters (which were excellent) plus food and drink donations from others; and local florists (rather than the Co-op) for flowers. My breakdown is below.

CO-OP £2,407.00
minister fees £200.00 (including organist)
food £128.49
coffin flowers £124.95
church flowers £30.00 (Church florist)
Crem plot £300.00
ashes casket £20.00
Crem stone £358.50
Internment £115.00
death certs £10.50

I put together my own order of service leaflet and copied it on the church copier, and added photos of my father to a powerpoint display.

There are some other threads on this topic which offer some good advice. However, I think this is such a neglected item that it should have a forum of its own.

Oldernotwiser

SiannieLaz wrote: »

Hi there,
I work in the industry and the approx costs are as follows:
Basic funeral £1600 - £2000
Limousines - £100+ each
Burial fees - up to £2500 including plot and internment
or
Crematorium fees - range from £340 - £650, although some crematoriums have a cheaper rate if it takes place first thing in the morning - will include organist
Minster's fees - £120 - £150 depending on whether C of E, celebrant or humanist
Church fees - up to £250 including organist, verger, minister's fee and cost of church
Doctors fees £147.00 (cremation only) - payable unless coroner is involved, even if deceased died in hospital

With regard to orders of service, you are looking at £150+ so I would recommend doing them yourself, or asking friend/family member - printer quality is so good these days.

people often go for family flowers only nowdays and ask for mourners to make donations to a chosen charity instead.

A cardboard coffin is NOT always cheaper - our range starts at £2800. Also, get in touch with DWP, if the next of kin receive any benefits, they are entitled to the fees and disbursements (cost of crematorium, doctors fees, ministers fees) and £700 towards all other costs. Please note that if your funeral director knows you are claiming, they will probably ask for all the money up front. Otherwise, usually a deposit is taken first (fees & disbursements).

Under no circumstances let the funeral director talk you into anything you are not sure of - it is entirely your decision what you want.
Good luck

Is this figure correct as it makes no sense given the other information you've written?

dorien

Sorry for your loss. My nan died 2 weeks before christmas at the good old age of 99. (3 months off 100) We already had the burial plot as my grandad was already buried there.
It cost £950 alone to open the grave. Total cost of funeral was an astounding £6,500. The coffin alone was £2,500. To be honest I believe cremation the best way, but as the burial plot was there, that was the way it was to be. Personally I think the costs could have been cut considerably but other family members wanted to give nan a good old fashioned "east end send off" complete with horses and carriage.
I think it depends on your locality as well, this was in London (which appears to be much dearer that anywhere else.
Flowers are another thing altogether, costing £100,s of pounds in total, you only see then about an hour if your lucky, so much better to donate to a relevant charity ie cancer, heart foundation where the money will go much further.
The undertakers/florists etc are on a win win situation, because people are grieving and are vulnerable. Its what you gave the deceased person in life that matters no what you gave them on the there final day on this earth..memories are what count.

Morglin

electrician wrote: »

Hi All, My father in law has just died ( yesterday ) and the funeral directors are due to make contact with my Mother in law to arrange the funeral, I know funerals are expensive nowadays ( 2-3 thou ? ) and I have never arranged one myself, what bumps up the cost and is there any cost saving options ? didn't know which section to put this delicate post so if any mods want to move it ! cheers - Stuart.

If it's going to be a cremation, then opt for the cheapest coffin - crematoria staff used to just sell them back to the undertakers, as they weren't burnt along with the deceased (and even if they don't do that any more, it's still a bit pointless to spend a fortune).

Only get the cars you need for immediate family - others can drive.

And, although flowers are a nice tribute, it's fairly pointless spending a fortune on them - a simple tribute with a heartfelt message is enough.

Lin

Errata

At this time of year funeral flowers are left outside the crematorium after the service and will get frosted and killed off during the night. Anyone who wants to look at the tributes the next day will only find displays of dead flowers. Not the best memory to have.

dieselhead

A lot of people are commenting about the flowers and how you don't see them for very long. We were very lucky in that after the cremation even though we didn't have the service in the church, the flowers were taken back to my grandmothers local church and placed on the font for as long as they lasted. We thought this was lovely as it meant that the church was decorated with them and they were seen and enjoyed my a lot of people who perhaps didn't know Gran or didn't come to her funeral.

Mely

bennymac wrote: »

I just paid for my mum's funeral today and can confirm it was just under 2.5k we chose a local firm who were a fair bit less than the co-op (mum already researched it) the big surprise for me was the cost of the reception after the service, this was paid for on the day and since more than double the people came back the hotel charged me per head. They didnt suppy any extra food btw so the expected bill of 300 ended up at 800 pounds and they wouldnt reduce it, anyway I reported it to the funeral director as they recommended them so that other people can be aware of this surprise.

I am so sorry for your loss. Myself and my sister also paid 2.5k for our mums funeral last September(not including food at the wake afterwards). This was the cheapest amount that we could find. You need to be carefull with buying flowers a they as very expensive, and also you pay extra for each funeral car. Also coffins can vary greatly in what they cost too.

Savvy_Sue

We picked up two of the tributes before leaving the crem, we left Mum's there as she couldn't have done anything with it apart from put it on her table, and it was quite big. My sister wished we'd brought that back too, she would have dismantled it (which Mum wouldn't have minded!)

The bouquet from us is still going strong nearly 2 weeks after the funeral, and the trug is waiting to be planted out in the spring. I don't think many people would be going out to admire the floral tributes in this weather, the roads have barely been passable!