Planning a Funeral During a Family Feud: A Guide
If you're planning a funeral to which you need to invite feuding family members, you may have some concerns. Thankfully, there are steps you can take to make sure that the final farewell goes off without a hitch and everyone gets to pay their respects regardless of how they feel about each other. Read on to find out more!
Schedule a 'family meeting'
It may be a good idea to set up a meeting with the feuding parties. Let them know how important they are as a member of the family and as a person. Doing so will show that you care about what they're going through and they may be more receptive to sitting together at a funeral service. It is important to remind them that the focus is on the lost loved one rather than their relationship issues.
Ensure both parties play an equal role
When planning readings, hymns and flowers, it is important that you allow everyone to play an equal role. This will help to avoid any accusations of favouritism that could descend into a full-blown argument.
Agree on a seating plan
When it comes to choosing a funeral service and setting the plan for the funeral, you may be wondering whether you should seat feuding family members at opposite sides of the chapel during the ceremony. The only way to know for sure is to ask those who will attend.
If your family members are not on speaking terms, seating them at opposing sides of the chapel can help ease tension among them by keeping them separated. This will prevent a possible argument from occurring in the middle of a eulogy.
Since you want to be sure that everyone who wants to say goodbye to their departed loved one is able to, if they agreed, it may do your family members a world of good if they sat next to each other. Maybe they're not on good terms right now, but they served as an important part of each other's lives at some point and can come together just long enough for a show of respect without causing any drama or discomfort for others attending. At the same time, the loss of a loved one may provide an opportunity for the feuding members of the family to re-connect and to put their differences aside.
For more information about planning funeral services, speak with a funeral director today.