DIY Home funeral that feels ‘right’
Our DIY Home Funeral Package
A home funeral provides families with a slowed down opportunity to remain at home, carefully planned by you and with our affordable hands-on experience.
What is a "diy" funeral?
For many people arranging and planning a funeral independently can be a rewarding and lasting memory to your loved one. If the person died at home and have left specific wishes to remain at home until the day of their committal, this choice is ideal. Whilst there’s no legal requirement for a funeral director to be involved in the care and arrangements, you may wish to have practical advice and hands-on support, so we are here to lend our hand.
Below shows what's included in this package, or
More Services We Offer
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Whether you want to talk through our funeral services or need help choosing from our range of funeral products. Get in touch with us today.
DIY Home Prices
£495
PERSONAL MESSAGE TO YOU FROM AMANDA-LOUISE
“I built my independent family run funeral business on kindness and experience with our desire to provide you with every aspect for you to arrange a funeral that reflects how you wish to say goodbye. So, I offer choice,support and value and am not rigid in our approach, so you only pay for what you want and need.Not all funerals are the same and no two funeral directors are the same either. Some funeral directors charge additionally for many aspects of the funeral elements. We care about the living and the departed and know how daunting it can be to arrange a funeral. So, with my heartfelt offering, below is my 10 point gift to support you in your important life decisions, warmly Amanda-Louise”
1. Our Pledge – your loved one remains in our local facilities
2. Our Compliments No Charge (if desired) - Collecting clothing in the local area, our flower placed on coffin if desired as sentimental touch, and delivery of ashes in the local area
3. 'Our Compliments No Charge - A Funeral Notice' online service
4. The ability - for Amanda-Louise Funeral Director to personally come out to your home locally to discuss arrangements in detail
5. Our Compliments No Charge - Choice is very important to us, so you have the option for your gentle funeral ceremony to be conducted by Amanda-Louise (celebrant capacity - subject to availability)
6. Our Pledge Our Heart is Local – we prefer to use only local crematoriums or cemeteries (and not take you out of our region)
7. Our Compliments No Charge - We believe that arranging a meaningful funeral can be a healing experience to support your grief journey. Amanda-Louise will personally support you and guide you through the practical aspects and offer to help you create a fitting ceremony and celebration of life. Our in-house trained bereavement support for adults and children, and open invitations to join us for our bereavement coffee sessions after the funeral enabling a comfortable space and shared experiences
8. Our Partnerships - Access to specialist bereavement counselling for those needing therapeutic structured support
9. Our Pledge for the Planet – we dedicate towards planting a tree in memory of your loved one and our unique way to benefit our environment for future generations by offering a variety of eco-friendly funeral procedures, arrangements, and products too
10. Our Pledge to Ease the Burden – we offer to provide everything you may want or need for a funeral, memorial or celebration of life under our one roof helping to remove some of the stress from your shoulders. From floristry, vehicles, orders of service and ceremony accessories, catering to venue provision and memorabilia and keepsakes
DIY Home Funeral Support - The Details
· Practical support and advice to keep the person who has died in their own home up until the day of their funeral
Take the Next Step
Discuss with Amanda-Louise by calling 01643 800335 or email at [email protected].
The Breakdown of Costs
This tool of drop down boxes is designed to be transparent helping you make informed decisions. Ask us to provide you with your personal quotation.
Price includes our professional fees
· Provision of our hearse £320
· Coffin from £500
· Provision of our professional pallbearers £75 each
More services we offer
What to expect from us
The enduring strength of women
We care for you and your family
As your Lady Funeral Directors, Amanda-Louise can meet you in the comfort of your own home, or in our peaceful office, or via video call if you'd prefer. We will never tell you how 'things should be done', or rush you, but support you to understand and consider your choices, so that you can decide what is right for you and your family and friends.
We will listen to you, and can help you plan a funeral ceremony. We'll respect your personal beliefs, values and culture and ensure your requirements, and those of the person that has died, are reflected in the funeral. You may prefer a religious funeral, a more secular service or might want to include a number of different religious and spiritual perspectives within the same service.
We can help you to reflect on the life of the person who has died and enable you to create some positive memories to support you at a time when people can often feel sad and alone. We can support you to have a farewell that you desire - so we will support you to understand the wide range of options such as visual, musical, floral, donations, readings/poems for example, as well as organising venue and/or hospitality for your after funeral wake or reception, if you wish.
Importantly, we will be flexible to your needs and wishes and give you our time to help put your ideas into action. You can take as much control as you like. We are able to support families from across Somerset or Devon, are not regionally restricted, we can help you create an event at a time and place that is best for you.
Amanda-Louise Funeral Director, can also personally deliver a heartfelt celebrant led service on your behalf should you wish, or we can recommend other talented professional ceremony leaders including religious ministers, celebrants and humanists.
We work hard to support the wellbeing of every family we support (adults and children).We can also provide a wealth of practical bereavement information for adults and children, and we'll ensure the funeral is meaningful for you, which helps in coming to terms with loss too.
We care for the person who has died
In our care you have trusted us to look after your loved one and we take enormous pride in treating people with respect and dignity. From the very moment the person who has died comes into our care, to the moment they leave, we will treat them with compassion, kindness and consideration. We see this as part of the cycle of life
We reach out and support people from 15 to 50+ miles away from us, as we safely transfer the deceased into our facilities. We'll care for the person entrusted into our funeral home with compassion and dignity, and treat everyone as guests in our home. Or we can assist if you prefer the deceased to remain at home or liaise with a repatriation company for deaths abroad.
We provide a comprehensive range of coffins in different materials, including coffin accessories to suit all tastes. This is a very personal choice, so we happily talk about them or can show you the differences.
We can provide the ability for family to spend time with their loved one, and to change clothing if this is important to you. Plus you can be involved in as little or as much of their care as you desire. We will gently prepare them for their funeral following your wishes including hairstyles or makeup, and whilst we do not routinely embalm we can provide this if you desire. We’ll take great care of any person effects, and give them to you ,or they will remain with the person Plus we can arrange for your items to be placed in the coffin if you wish.
We can even support you to keep your loved one at home right up until their funeral if you wish.
On the day of the funeral
We understand that attention to detail is really important, from considering the way people enter the service to carefully calculating the journey time.
We can provide our professional pallbearers to convey the coffin. We can help you bear the coffin if that's important to you. We can arrange special routes to the funeral if you wish, or alternative hearses and limousines.
We can arrange to collect family from railway station or airport if helpful.
Some families prefer not to hold the funeral ceremony at a crematorium chapel or in church, so we can support you to have a service in a chosen hotel, hall or alternative venue that is meaningful to you.
Amanda-Louise will be by your side giving you that reassuring presence ensuring everything is going to plan smoothly, and we leave when you are ready for us to go. We can also provide attendance cards so you know who has attended the funeral ceremony service.
After the funeral
We remain connected should you need us. If we collected donations, we will provide you with audit trail so you know they have been forwarded to the relevant people, organisation or charity. We'll collect ashes if that's helpful & deliver them to you. We can arrange for you to scatter them or preserve them if you wish.
We will have spoken to you about the arrangements of the funeral flowers and carried out those wishes. And if required, we can organise graves and headstones to be put in place at a suitable time after a burial or ashes placed.
And we welcome you to stay in touch. Often our clients pop in to talk about how life is treating them, or to attend one of our coffee afternoons as life can be isolating at times following the loss of a loved one. Our kettle is always on, likely biscuits too. Rest assured, we will never stop caring - here for you whenever you need us, wherever you are.
Do you need more help?
"We all felt totally safe opening our hearts to Amanda-Louise and were so impressed in the skills and empathy she has to understand how we all felt."
DIY Home Funeral Package
Our frequently asked questions to guide you
Can I view the cremation?
Many crematoria’s will allow one or two family members to be present but this will need to be arranged prior to the cremation to accommodate this. There may be an additional fee for this. If you are worried about the process, then talk to Amanda-Louise who will answer all your questions honestly.
Are bodies cremated one at a time?
Yes they are. The chamber only allows for one body at a time, which allows to check the right person is being cremated at the right time, plus the law states this.
Are coffins ever reused?
No. During a cremation the coffin is always burned. At a burial, the coffin is lowered into the ground. Out of respect for the deceased and family a coffin would never be reused under any circumstances.
What is cremation jewellery?
This term is also known as remembrance or memorial jewellery and is jewellery that has incorporated a small amount of the cremated ashes. Popular items such as rings, bracelets and necklaces but there are a variety of other items such as coloured glass ornaments too.
Do you get cremated in the coffin?
Yes, the deceased is always cremated in the coffin or a shroud (if desired). All UK crematories have to follow a very strict code of practice. Once the funeral director has sealed the coffin, no one opens it again. Sometimes you may see a coffin flag or drape over a coffin, and as these can be recycled they are often removed prior to the cremation at the request of the family.
What actually is a direct cremation?
A direct cremation is a cremation with no service or mourners in attendance. Here at Amanda-Louise Funeral Services our ethical approach means we prefer to use local crematoria’s, we still drive to the chapel in a funeral suitable vehicle and take the coffin into the chapel with full honours. As a direct funeral is seen as a no frills no fuss approach, then the deceased is placed into their coffin in clothing they have arrived in and there’s no facility for viewing. The family do not choose the date/time and location of the cremation. Availability at crematoriums is limited for this type of funeral, so the time afforded to us is only 15 minutes maximum. Its usual practice not to inform the family of the details, as we need to obey rules of direct funeral of no attendees. If this is not the option that’s right for you, then we offer a full and flexible funeral service.
Which is more expensive burial or cremation?
Typically, cremations are less expensive than a burial, but there isn’t much in it these days.
For burials, the cost will depend on whether it’s a new plot needed to be purchased, or an existing one that needs to have a stone removed in preparation, plus there is the burial cost on top. Having said that, cremation prices do vary with each crematoria provider, whether you want a funeral ceremony and for how long. Please do talk to us about your individual requirements as we always supply a quotation.
Can you be cremated without a coffin?
Yes, the UK law states that a body must be covered up when in public. As coffins are a legal requirement for cremations, a shroud can be used. There are of course a variety of materials for coffins these days, from wood, to wood products, to wicker and cardboard too.
Are you clothed when you are cremated?
That’s up to you. You can be cremated with or without clothing. The majority of direct cremations, the deceased is cremated in whatever clothing they are wearing when they died, however for more traditional support the funeral director can help the family redress the person who has died into something chosen by the family.
Will Prosthetics or Implants be Cremated too?
This will vary. Prosthetics will depend, for example pacemakers and internal defibrillators will need to be removed before cremation, as they will explode. Many implants such as silicone breast implants will likely remain with the deceased and will form part of the cremated ashes. Whereas metal implants do not burn, and these are separated after the body has been burned.
Will the crematorium provide a ceremony leader to conduct the funeral service?
No that’s not their role. We can help you find someone that is suitable for you, unless you have someone else in mind.
We don’t want to have the funeral service held in the church, chapel or crematorium, where can we have it instead?
The choices are limitless. Many halls, sports clubs, hotels, galleries, zoos, castles, outdoor areas can be suitable to host a funeral ceremony. You can have the coffin present if you wish. Best advice is to book somewhere that is enthusiastic to your needs.
What does a Modern Funeral Directors mean?
Amanda-Louise Funeral Director Services is owned by Amanda-Louise Knight who lives in Somerset between Taunton and Minehead with her family. She created the funeral home to serve the community and surrounding areas across Somerset and Devon.
Amanda-Louise,along with the team offer a modern approach to funerals while respecting the traditions of the past.
There is no longer a need for funeral services to be standardised, like those that have dominated people’s perceptions for the last century.
Amanda-Louise Funerals offer families choices which will enable them to create a personalised and tailored service reflective of the person who has died, whether that’s a service which is positive for the environment, a lively celebration of life, an intimate occasion or a more formal, traditional approach.
As modern funeral directors, everything we do helps people feel connected after a bereavement.
We listen to our families and they can be as involved as little or as much as they wish -we can even help families who wish for their loved one to remain at home right up until the day of their funeral too.
At the same time we’d like to provide as much clarity and transparency as we can in terms of our pricing, ahead of arranging a meeting to talk through your needs in detail – we can help with traditional, modern or alternative funerals and everything in between.
Our pricing for funerals is fully transparent and flexible – you only pay for those elements that you require. Some fees are essential, others are optional, so the total cost will depend on the choices you make.
We believe that planning a funeral isnt something that you 'get through' or you have to do things in a certain way - we recognise some of our clients will have different and personalised support from us. Some people would like to be given clear guidance and direction (so we put together free guides of useful advice).
When it came to pricing, some of our families like to opt for our packages and some packages) whereas others would prefer to be informed about their options and then feel empowered to make the choices that are right for them (see our bespoke choice).
"Dedicated to giving you the funeral you deserve & want"
"With my vision on providing wrap-around-care from start to finish. Our team are here to help you with every aspect of planning and organising your funeral needs from the preparation of the body to events and memorial services, I will be with you every step of the way"