How to plan a funeral, step by step

Planning a funeral can feel overwhelming, especially when you’re grieving. It helps to know that it happens in a clear order, you don’t have to decide everything at once, and a good funeral director will guide you through each step. This guide sets out what to do, from the first phone calls to the day itself.

Key points

• Check for wishes first: a will, written wishes or a prepaid funeral plan.
• Register the death before the funeral. The deadline depends on the nation.
• You don’t have to use a funeral director, and you’re free to choose which one.
• Compare prices. Every funeral director must publish a Standardised Price List.
• Only a few decisions are urgent: burial or cremation, the date and the venue. The rest can follow.
• Funerals commonly happen one to three weeks after a death, and sooner for some faiths.

Before you start: check for wishes and plans

Look through the person’s papers for:

• A will. It names the executor, who often leads the arrangements, and may include funeral wishes.
• A prepaid funeral plan. Contact the provider before booking anything. The plan may name a funeral director and cover some costs. Plans are regulated by the FCA; see our funeral plans guide.
• Written or spoken wishes, such as burial or cremation, music, faith, or donating their body. Body donation must be arranged by the person in life; see donating your body to science.
• Faith requirements. Muslim and Jewish funerals often take place within a day or two. See our faith guides.

If you’re planning ahead for yourself, our funeral wishes tool helps you record your choices.

Step 1: The first calls

What happens first depends on where the person died. After an expected death at home, contact their GP (or NHS 111 out of hours) so the death can be confirmed. In hospital or a hospice, staff will guide you. If a death is sudden or unexpected, call 999. Our guide to what to do when someone dies covers this in detail.

You can contact a funeral director at any time, including at night. They can bring the person into their care once the death has been confirmed.

Step 2: Register the death

If a coroner or procurator fiscal is investigating, registration and the funeral may take longer. Check your deadline with our registration deadline tool and read how to register a death.

Step 3: Choose a funeral director, or do it yourself

You can use any funeral director you like, not only the one a hospital or care home suggests. Under the CMA’s Funerals Market Investigation Order, every funeral director in the UK must show a Standardised Price List in branch and online, including an attended funeral price and an unattended funeral price.

• Compare two or three local firms. Start with our funeral directors near you.
• Ask for a written, itemised estimate.
• Read how to choose a funeral director.

Some families arrange everything themselves. See arranging a funeral without a funeral director.

Step 4: Choose burial, cremation or another option

• Cremation is the most common choice and usually costs less. See cremation vs burial.
• Direct cremation has no service at the crematorium; many families hold a memorial later. See direct cremation.
• Natural or woodland burial takes place in a more natural setting. See natural woodland burial.
• Burial at sea is possible but rare and needs a licence. See burial at sea.

Step 5: Book the date and venues

Your funeral director will check dates with the crematorium or cemetery, any place of worship, the person leading the service and the venue for the wake. Early-morning or weekday slots may be easier to get and sometimes cost less.

Step 6: Plan the service

Decide who will lead it: a minister or faith leader, a celebrant, a humanist officiant or a family member. Then choose:

• Music for entering, reflection and leaving. See funeral music, hymns and readings and funeral poems.
• Tributes. Our eulogy guide and eulogy writer can help.
• An order of service. See order of service.
• Flowers or donations. See funeral flowers.
• Extras such as a livestream, a viewing, a special coffin or cars.

Step 7: Tell people

Share the date, time and place, plus any requests about dress, flowers or donations, and whether the funeral is private. Families often use phone calls, messages, social media, and a death notice in a local newspaper or on the funeral director’s website. Say whether there will be a wake and who is invited.

Step 8: Agree costs and check for help

SunLife’s Cost of Dying Report 2026 puts a simple attended funeral at £3,828 on average and £5,140 with typical extras. Costs can usually be paid from the estate; ask the person’s bank whether it can pay the funeral director’s invoice from their account.

If you get certain benefits, you may qualify for a Funeral Expenses Payment (England, Wales and Northern Ireland: up to £1,000 for other costs, plus burial or cremation fees) or a Funeral Support Payment in Scotland. See help paying for a funeral and our cost calculator.

Step 9: The day itself

The funeral director usually leads the hearse, guides mourners into the service and keeps to the timings. Read what happens at a funeral for the running order at crematoria, churches and gravesides.

Decisions checklist

• Funeral director, or doing it yourself
• Burial, cremation or another option
• Coffin, and what the person will wear
• Whether to have a viewing
• Date, time and venues
• Who leads the service
• Music, readings and tributes
• Order of service and flowers or donations
• Cars, and where they leave from
• Wake venue and catering
• What will happen to the ashes, if cremated

A typical timeline

Next steps

• Use our when someone dies checklist.
• Compare funeral directors near you.
• Read up on funeral costs.
• After the funeral, see thank-you messages after a funeral.