How to Produce an Elegant Funeral Order of Service Booklets

A funeral booklet is the printed document that is given out at funeral services that outlines the events in the funeral or memorial service and might contain a brief Biography about the life achievements of the recently departed. The Funeral Booklet may also contain a mention of speakers of the various readings and maybe a prayer or a hymn along with some photos that are of happier times.

It is also used as a memento to remember the recently departed long after they are laid to rest.

More often then not, these Funeral Order of Service Booklets are frequently low quality because time does not permit for the production of a quality funeral booklet that elegantly preserves the memory of the deceased. Many people buy templates and use disproportionate photos and print them at home on inferior quality printers and paper.

With a little bit of effort, you can find companies that focus their attention on the production of elegant booklets that are printed on quality paper that really hounour the memory of the recently departed, all within the tight constraints of a funeral service timeframe. If you decide to produce the booklet yourself then I suggest that you choose a matte card with a weight no lighter then 200gsm and no heavier then 300gsm and ask your local printer to score the card so that it will fold perfectly and not look uneven.

It can be difficult to know what to include within the Funeral booklet but they are usually an A4 folded in half (with 4, A5 pages) The first page is usually has the title “in loving memory” with an image of the deceased and maybe their date of birth and when they were laid to rest. The inside front cover may contain family members who give the readings and the inside back and outside back cover may contain a favorite prayer and poem. Quite often the Funeral Director or Celebrant will guide you on the most suitable content to include and show you examples of previous programs. Some Funeral Order of Service Booklets contain a lot of religious imagery and others may be a lot more neutral, it all depends on the denomination of the person in question. I always think that the most tasteful booklets use elegant fonts, simple imagery and a predominantly white background, having said that some of the deceased have large personalities and family members like to reflect this in the booklet. Each to their own – but please don’t skimp on the paper.