Memorial Services in Simi Valley, CA

At our funeral home, we take pride in providing families in Simi Valley with quality memorial services.

What is a Memorial Service?

Unlike a traditional funeral , a memorial service  is a gathering where a casket is not present (although the urn with the cremated remains may be on display). A memorial service can be held weeks or even months after the death.


Memorial services can be held in a church, the funeral home or a community hall, or somewhere of importance to the deceased and family. There is usually music, selected readings, and a eulogy. Memorial services can be further personalized as a celebration-of-life .


Memorial services are a popular option for honoring deceased individuals, as they are less-structured than a traditional funeral. Below, you will learn the difference between a memorial and funeral. Additionally, you will learn how to develop memorial service ideas that will help you honor your loved one in a special way in Simi Valley.

How to Come up With Memorial Service Ideas

Our experience has shown us that many of today's families want more than a traditional funeral. This can be done by bringing more of the personality and lifestyle of the deceased into the arrangements. By displaying photographs or staging the event around a favorite pastime, a memorial service can become more personal and meaningful.

We have created some prompts to help you find some memorial service ideas that best represent your loved one: 
  • What did your loved one like to do?
  • What was he or she like as an individual?
  • What was their profession and how did that shape their life?
  • Was your loved one spiritual?
  • Was he or she proud of their cultural or ethnic heritage? 

    Memorial Service Information

    Memorial Service vs. Funeral 

    The biggest difference of a traditional funeral and a memorial service is that the body is not present in a casket at a memorial service. However, an urn with the loved one’s ashes may be present at a memorial service. Both traditional funeral services and memorial services have structure, and both bring the community together in support and remembrance. However, a traditional funeral service is much more structured and formal. A traditional funeral service is often associated with religion so it is often led by a member of clergy, whereas a memorial service is led by a celebrant or master of ceremonies. Memorial services often allow for each guest to participate to some level, where guests of a traditional funeral are really just there to observe and reflect.

    Memorial vs. Celebration of Life

    A celebration of life is an event that truly celebrates the loved one’s passions, intellectual pursuits, personality, and personal accomplishments. A celebration of life can really have no structure at all and can be really anything you want.
     
    A memorial service could be best described as a gentle mix of a traditional funeral and celebration of life. A memorial service has some structure, but it still allows you the flexibility to make the ceremony unique and personalized to fit the individual being honored. Also the mood generally lies somewhere in the middle of completely somber and celebratory.

    Why Choose a Memorial Service? What are its Benefits?

    We find the most common reason people choose a memorial service is that they want the extra time to plan a ceremony. Since a memorial service can take place after the body has been buried or cremation, there is no rush to organize a ceremony. Immediately following a death, families are not emotionally ready to have a ceremony – They need time to grieve. Relatives and friends that live far away can organize their schedule to travel for the memorial service.
    • Often those not religious choose to have a memorial service as opposed to a traditional funeral because traditional funerals are more often associated with religion.
    • Memorial service tend to be cheaper than holding a traditional funeral
    • As mentioned above, for some people memorial services serve as the perfect compromise between a celebration of life and traditional funeral service.
    • Some people find celebrations of life do not pay enough attention to the deceased and turn into solely a party
    Rather than opting to do things "the same old way", many families today want to celebrate the life of a loved one. Many funeral service professionals see this change as one of the many contributions to social change made by  "Baby Boomers". The National Funeral Directors Association notes, "As baby boomers age and find themselves having to plan funerals for loved ones and themselves, they are making funeral choices based on values that are different than previous generations. Baby boomers see funerals as a valuable part of the grieving process and are seeking ways to make them meaningful." If you too desire to make the funeral for a loved one more engaging and personally meaningful, a celebration-of-life may be the perfect concept to build on.

    Need Help With Memorial Services in Simi Valley? Contact Us.

    Whether you need to plan a memorial service now, pre-plan, or you are just interested in learning more about memorial services, we can help you. We have years of experience assisting families with memorial services, and we would be honored to help yours. Please call us to learn the details of our memorial service planning process.