Choosing a Final Resting Place
Choosing your final resting place, where your body or your cremated remains will be buried or entombed, is a decision made in which we think we won’t see the benefits from.
On the contrary, we’ll feel it in our hearts, knowing that we’ve already made a very difficult decision while we were alive, preventing others from struggling with it after we’ve died. We’ll know we made their lives better, even after ours is over.
Whether you are preplanning your funeral in a South Florida cemetery or you are noting in your last will and testament where you would like to be buried, we should do so to make decisions easier for our families. One thing we should keep in mind, though, is that if you put your wishes in your will, it might not be read in time for your funeral. You should make sure you tell your loved ones where you’d like to be buried – especially if it has already been paid for! Leave a letter of instruction to the executor of your will that allows them to provide your funeral instructions.
Three Steps in Choosing Your Final Resting Place
So how should one go about choosing where they should be buried, and what pitfalls should they be aware of? For those looking to be buried in a South Florida cemetery, we’ve listed some steps.
- Know Your Options
First, if you’ve decided against cremation, then you have to choose where you would like to be buried or entombed. If you’d like to be buried underground, finding a beautiful cemetery in your area with lush grounds, conveniently located near your family would be ideal. You might even consider being buried by other members of your family, or that others have already purchased a plot for you.
Remember that you can also choose to be entombed in a crypt inside an indoor or outdoor mausoleum. Even here you have plenty of choices, which include companion crypts, side-by-side crypts and Westminster family crypts, which can accommodate many in your family.
Second, if cremation is your decision, but you’d still like to be buried or entombed somewhere, then where will that be? Will it be a nice peaceful area for your family to visit? A columbarium is like a mausoleum for urns, where several niches store the different remains. You could even choose to be placed in a bench with a bronze plaque attached to it.
- Sharing Your Decision With Others
After you make your decision on how and where you should be buried, you have to communicate your choice to the rest of the people in your family.
While this information should certainly be inside your will, you should also tell the person that’s serving as your executor, as well as the rest of your family. They need to know your wishes before they make their own decisions.
The more people you tell, the better the chances that your wishes will be honored.
- Making Sure Your Decisions is Carried Out
By preplanning your funeral, you can take a major task out of the hands of the ones that will be in mourning, hence, making it much easier for them during a time of grief. Talk with a funeral director and see what steps you can do ahead of time, from setting up what type of memorial service you’d like (open-casket, closed, what types of music should be played, etc.) to what kind of casket or urn you’d like to be placed in.
Making these decisions before your family is forced to is the best way to make sure your wishes will be carried out.
If you’re planning a funeral in a South Florida cemetery, consider talking to The Gardens of Boca Raton Cemetery & Funeral Services about your prospective final resting place. You can call us at (561) 989-9190, or visit our offices at 4103 N. Military Trail, just north of NW 40th Street, and west of I-95.
