Why Choose us?

One of the old phrases that we still sometimes associate with funerals is “… to pay our last respects”.As a society we still link funerals with respect. At various times through life we pay our respects with some ceremony to those around us on special days. Some of the occasions that we mark with ceremony are birthdays, baptism, graduation, marriage, key wedding anniversaries, citizenship, awards for community service or bravery… the list goes on.

So it is appropriate to express our respect for our loved ones at their death by means of the funeral ceremony. Whether it is as simple as a family gathering at the graveside with no-one else present or as grand as a State Funeral televised across the nation from a great cathedral is not what’s most important to us. What matters is that, for a moment, we have put everything else aside to say “This person was important to us in life and deserves dignity and respect in death”.

We understand the importance of memories.

Having a funeral service is helpful because it provides an opportunity to bring old memories together and the opportunity to make new ones. Often a momentous time during the funeral ceremony is the compilation and sharing of stories that give insight into the life of the person who has died. Apart from the summary of where they were born, lived, went to school, worked and the like, this life story (sometime called a ‘eulogy’) will often include stories that give insight into their character. Sharing this information provides us as family and loved ones some “memory pegs” on which to hang our reminiscences of the privilege of knowing them.  It is also our chance to say to others who did not know them well, “See, he (or she) was one of the best!” After all, everybody is somebody’s hero. In addition, a funeral is a time to create new memories. The warmth and dignity of a meaningful funeral with loving and honest tributes is a powerful medicine to help heal the real pain of bereavement. This has even greater significance when death has come suddenly or unexpectedly, or we have not seen our loved one for a long time. Simply getting together with family and friends, experiencing the funeral, seeing the chapel, the casket, the flowers, hearing the words, thinking our thoughts and feeling the emotions can create a special “final moment” movie in our minds.

A personalised funeral.

We are driven by providing you with a personalised funeral tailored to your wishes to help you move forward from the day with the knowledge that you have done the very best to honour and farewell your loved one. 

We’ll give you the time you need.

There is a great misconception in Australia that a funeral must happen within three days: the person dies, we organise the funeral, place a funeral notice in the newspaper the next day, attend the funeral, and then go back to work to give the appearance all is well. The biggest thing we would encourage you as a family to think about, if you take nothing else from this site, is that it takes a significant amount of time to effectively celebrate someone’s life. Take the time to put those special touches into the funeral service, including the things that are significant to your loved one and to your family – what is the rush, who makes the rules? It is our society that gives us the boundaries for all situations in life and these rules are built on others’ opinions, thoughts and feelings; rather than on your family’s needs.We would encourage you to take the time you need and with our assistance, achieve a day that you can reflect on, although sometimes with painful memories, but with the understanding that you had the time, information and the power to decide what was best for the one you love and for your family.

We understand your need for closure.

Closure is about accepting the sad reality of what has happened and beginning to prepare ourselves to live in this new phase of life without the physical presence of the person who has, until now always been there. The creating of new memories as mentioned above is an important part of closure. Another important part of closure is being able to say with assurance and conviction, “This really happened”. Experiencing the funeral ceremony will underline that reality. If our loved one died in pain, or we had to identify them to the police after an accidental death, we are often left with vivid and unhappy memories.The funeral, with its music, memories, symbolism and expression of faith or hope, can often set those memories in the context of a good life well lived and help us reach the starting point of resolving our grief.