How Does an Online Memorial Help in Organizing a Funeral?
An online memorial can serve as a helpful tool as you organize your loved one’s funeral in those early days after a loss.
When a loved one dies, the earliest hours and days of grief can be incredibly intense and challenging. At the same time, this is when many decisions must be made regarding final arrangements. This includes funeral and burial or cremation services. It can all feel like just too much to bear. But these practical matters must be attended to even in the midst of tragic emotional loss.
One thing that can help make this difficult time a bit easier to manage is an online memorial website. It’s a tool that can simultaneously bring comfort and serve as a touchpoint for the funeral and memorial service details.
What is an Online Memorial Website?
An online memorial is a website specifically created to honor and remember the special person you have lost. It serves as a collective place of grieving, celebrating, and honoring a life well lived. Friends and family can join together in a secure and personalized digital location. They can share their feelings, stories, memories, photos, and even videos. It is a loving way to memorialize and preserve all the components of your loved one’s full and complex life. Even if you lack technical skills, you can create a meaningful memorial site in a concise amount of time.
Additionally, an online memorial can serve as a helpful tool in organizing a funeral and related events. Below, we’ll discuss five benefits of using an online memorial website to help in organizing your loved one’s arrangements.
A Central Repository of Information
Traditional obituaries published in print or online newspapers are a common way to share details about funerals and other arrangements. However, obituaries are typically limited in terms of length, and they may be published several days before all the details have been finalized. When you use an online memorial website, there is no word limit concerning your sharing about the arrangements. You won’t be limited to listing a place and time. You can include details such as encouraging everyone to wear the deceased’s favorite color instead of black or announce a memorial balloon release and encourage attendees to participate. The site can also be updated frequently to reflect the most up-to-date information. Having such a place to direct those with questions can remove some of the information-sharing burdens.
An Easily-Shared Resource
Not only can you add lots of detail to a memorial website, but you can share it easily, too. When someone dies, many people are informed about the person’s passing and the details of the arrangements being made. While some people may see the obituary, newspaper readership is down. To ensure family members, friends, employers, a church community, and more are notified of your loved one’s passing, you might consider sharing a memorial website link on social media or through email.
A Place to Request Practical Support
There are many details involved with planning a funeral, and some of them are dependent on help from others. You may need to line up pallbearers, determine who will give a eulogy, maintain a list of well-wishers who should receive thank you notes, and plan for food and drinks at the post-funeral gathering. You can save quite a bit of time with telephone calls or texts if you post what you need on your loved one’s memorial website and request that volunteers contact you.
A Connection Point for Loved Ones Near and Far
A terribly stressful and challenging part of the grieving process happens when you live too far away – or world circumstances prevent travel – and you cannot attend a loved one’s funeral or memorial service. Missing these events in person can often mean failing to get needed closure to aid in the healing process. Failing to grieve together with other loved ones can truly feel like another loss for family and friends near and far. Online memorials offer a satisfying fix, however. If you arrange for video recordings of the proceedings, they can be posted on the website for others to view and get some much-needed connection and closure.
A Lasting Way to Do Good in Your Loved One’s Honor
You’ve likely seen many obituaries that include lines such as, “In lieu of flowers, please send donations to….” This is a wonderful way to ask your loved one’s family and friends to honor their legacy by giving to a charitable cause they found meaningful. However, obituaries are both short and short-lived. When you utilize an online memorial to encourage donations to a specific organization, you can share more details about the charitable organization or the work they do that meant so much to your deceased loved one. You can also include links for easier donations, which often facilitates more dollars raised in your loved one’s honor. Plus, your website will remain viewable much longer than a typical obituary.
Final Thoughts on Using an Online Memorial to help Organize a Funeral
There is nothing easy about managing all the emotions that come with loss while simultaneously tending to practical matters. When you’ve lost someone you love, it can be a challenge to get through the first few days, even without all the responsibilities that come with planning a funeral or memorial service. Although nothing can fully alleviate the burden, it can help embrace tools that make the process a bit easier. An online memorial website is something you can lean on for practical support as you plan, as well as emotional support and comfort as you travel your grief journey.
