Traditionally, a burial service involves a visitation, followed by a funeral service in a place of worship or at the funeral home. The casket is typically present at both these events, and it is your decision on whether to have the casket open or not. You have the option of having the remains interred (earth burial), or entombed in a crypt inside a mausoleum (above-ground burial). Family or religious traditions are often a factor for choosing burial. Other decisions you’ll need to make are whether the body needs to be embalmed for open casket viewing, the type of casket to use, which cemetery, and what to put on the grave marker or monument.
Burial Options:
· Monument grave: A monument grave is the traditional style of grave where headstones or other monuments made of marble or granite rise vertically above the ground.
· Lawn grave: A lawn grave is where each grave is marked with a small commemorative plaque, usually made of bronze that is placed horizontally at the head of the grave at ground-level.
· Mausoleum: A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or people.
· Columbarium: Columbarium walls are generally reserved for cremated remains. While cremated remains can be kept at home by families or scattered somewhere significant to the deceased, a columbarium provides friends and family a place to come to mourn and visit.
· Cremation garden: A cremation garden is a specific section set aside in a cemetery that is set aside only for the in ground burial of cremated remains.
· Natural cemeteries: Natural cemeteries, also known as eco-cemeteries or green cemeteries are a new style of cemetery set aside for natural burials. Although natural burials can be performed at any type of cemetery, they are usually done in a natural woodland area.