Two tips for those who need to choose a headstone for their recently deceased loved one

If someone close to you has died, and as part of the funeral arrangements you need to pick out a headstone for their grave, you may want to keep the following advice in mind.

Discuss your budget for the funeral with the director of the funeral home before you buy the headstone.

Prior to picking a headstone, you should go to the funeral home that will be organising your loved one's funeral and discuss your budget for the arrangements with the funeral director.

The reason for this is as follows; the various expenses associated with arranging a funeral can add up very quickly. You may need to cover not only the cost of the headstone, but also the organist, the flowers, the vehicle used to transfer the deceased's body, as well as the embalming process and the coffin.

If you do not have a huge amount of money available to spend on the arrangements, you will need to take these other expenses into consideration when deciding how much to spend on the headstone.

If you pick out the headstone before having this discussion with the funeral home director, you may end up spending too much money on this item and then being left with very little for the rest of the arrangements.

Conversely, you could end up opting for an overly cheap headstone as a result of overestimating the cost of the funeral, and then find yourself disappointed with the appearance or condition of this feature.

By going through the expenses one by one with the funeral director first, you can ensure that you spend an appropriate amount of money on the headstone and select one that is both beautiful and well-made.

Take the environmental conditions of the cemetery into consideration

When talking to the funeral home staff about headstones, you should ask them about the environmental conditions of the cemetery where the grave will be located. (Provided the cemetery is in the local area, the staff should be familiar with it and should be able to provide you with this information).

The reason for this is as follows; if you want the headstone to remain standing for as long as possible, you should choose one that can withstand the specific conditions of the cemetery in which it will be placed.

For instance, if the cemetery is located in an area with a wet or humid climate, a wooden headstone would not be a good choice, as wood will usually rot in a moist environment.

Similarly, a marble headstone would not be a suitable option in this case, as it can develop water stains after being repeatedly exposed to moisture.

In this example, a slate headstone might be a better choice, as this material is resistant to water and as such, will remain largely unaffected by any spikes in rainfall or humidity.


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